Posted by:Nicholas Barr
05/14/2009

Several days ago I wrote a blog post about "Plants vs Zombies" and how kick ass the game was. This rekindled my tower defense spirit and I decided to jot down some of my personal favorites. I am leaving out "Warcraft's" tower defense game for reasons unspecified, and because it's old. My following list is the tower defense games that I have found to be the best developed in the gaming industry. I am taking in account every aspect that makes a game great. Enough nerdy crap out of the way; on to the list.

5.) Comet Crash
Comet Crash is a PSN (playstation network) game, and it's main hook is that it is a regular tower defense game that also has you going on the offense. You build towers that protect you from the enemy onslaught but you also build up your own army of varying unit types to conquer your adversary. The presentation is pretty bland and the gameplay may result in turtling every time, but it's still pretty innovative and balls of fun.

4.) Defend Your Castle
Usually, when you think of tower defense games you think of the deepness and strategy of the gameplay. "Defend Your Castle", on the other hand, makes you frantically protect your castle from stick figures and pop top enemies. You also have upgradable towers that act as a plethora of different things like: bombs, mages, and archers. But you mainly use your cursor to throw the little stick enemies away from your castle. The game is 5 bucks on Wiiware; it can be pretty shallow but also really fun.

3.) Plants vs Zombies
Yes, the aforementioned game of agriculture. I have been playing it a ton since it came out. The game feels very different from past tower defense games mainly because there are several different rows from which the enemies attack. You have to build defenses from every particular row in order to succeed. On top of that, you have to pick your towers before the round starts based on what kinds of zombies you'll encounter. The whole game is very innovative to the genre. Giving you the option to pick whatever towers you want makes it feel like there are several different ways to beat it. The art design is also very light hearted and stays true to other PopCap.com games. It's for the Mac and PC: check it out Here

2.) Pixel Junk Monsters
This game is absolutely brilliant. Great art, superb music, excellent design, and I can't say enough good things about it. You play as a little tribe guy that, surprisingly, you control. Other tower defense games act as if you were playing god, building random towers with arbitrary money. In "Pixel Junk Monsters" you control this little guy as he builds towers and upgrades them by dancing on them... yes dancing. You obtain money by physically collecting it from downed enemies. Finally, one of the best parts is that it has multiplayer. So, even someone who's not great at games can go around dancing on towers in order to upgrade them. Awesomeness for everyone.

1.) Desktop Tower Defense
This game is starting to show it's age a bit, but it is still the best tower defense game made. The concept is simple but it is so rock solid that it makes for some of the best design choices ever made in an indie game. You build towers and create mazes in order to slow down and juggle your enemies. The towers are so evenly designed that there is a lot of room for strategy. The art is also great for an indie game. At first glance, it seems kind of silly but you soon see the charm it has to offer. Out of any tower defense games, I have spent the most time on "Desktop Tower Defense". By the by, it is a free game so play it here: Desktop Tower Defense