Alien Creeps TD Review (iOS)

Mobile platforms and tower defense games seemingly go hand in hand, at least judging by the myriad of such titles that have appeared for smartphones, tablets, and all sorts of other handheld devices in recent years.

Alien Creeps is among the latest tower defense games to invade mobile platforms, starting first with the iOS one, appearing for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. The title, made by Outplay Entertainment, has just been released worldwide and promises to add quite a few new elements to the age-old tower defense recipe.

These include moveable hero units, varied yet few towers to keep things simple, and plenty of upgradeable things to add depth to the whole experience.

Does Alien Creeps TD manage to make a good impression or should we send the creepy aliens back to where they came from? Let's find out.

The tower defense genre already has quite a lot of tropes and core elements, and Alien Creeps TD doesn't try to mess with most of them. You are tasked with defending a gateway from the waves of aliens that spawn at different points on the map. In classic style, they follow a course towards the goal and you need to set up towers in the different available spots along the way to stop them. You have a limited number of lives and each alien that passes through the gate subtracts from that.

Survive the aliens

In order to further aid your alien killing efforts, you have a hero unit on the battlefield that can be moved around independently of the actual layout and available tower slots. There are multiple heroes in the game, ranging from regular burly commandos, to specialized units. All of them are pretty deadly but still vulnerable if the alien horde is too menacing. As standard, only the commando is available, while the other two units cost real-world money to unlock.

In times of panic, you can also call in a chopper filled with infantry units or an airstrike to take out a big portion of the map. When things really get intense, you can use the limited charges found in the Tesla tower, which is set up by the game on each level. As standard, there are three charges on the Tesla tower but you can pay with gem refills.

The game's difficulty is a bit steep, and while you'll barely have any problems with the initial 2-3 levels, things get much tougher from then on, especially due to new and quite annoying species of aliens that are introduced along the way. While I understand that the game is meant to be challenging, the lack of difficulty levels makes it hard to get past the initial few levels.

However, for those that are glutton for punishments, each level can be played in a standard Campaign mode, as well as in tougher Veteran and Spec Ops ones, which provide a bigger challenge, more health for your enemies, and a limited number of special reinforcements or air strikes.

Of course, like any good tower defense game, Alien Creeps TD offers more than just a campaign with different levels, as it also features an in-depth upgrade system for your towers, your reinforcements, and your heroes.

Also, like any good free-to-play game out there, the title features a double currency system, using in-game credits, which are earned by completing missions, and gems, which are earned by spending real-world money via microtransactions (in-app purchases). A few also drop when killing foes.

Any research upgrade requires a certain amount of time, and if you're not willing to wait, you can spend gems to instantly complete it. The times, at first, aren't that lengthy, but things get much more serious as you progress, effectively stopping you from playing, or at least from succeeding without that upgrade.

Gems can also be spent in serious situations where you run out of the allocated reinforcements or air strikes, to add a few more and help win the level.

In order to gain some extra gold, gems, or reinforcements, you can also access the special Challenge section of the game, which sees players try to defend different levels with just one life against foes for an unknown number of waves. At the end of each stage, you can cash out on your rewards or continue playing for even bigger prizes. If you fail, however, you lose everything.

Enemies are pretty varied, ranging from your regular foes to smaller, more agile ones, or some that provide shields for their allies. Tapping on them reveals a few details but not that many, so don't expect any help about their weaknesses and other such things. Quite a lot of specialized units are present, including some that can only be hit by towers or others that can only be destroyed by humans. There are also some really bulky foes that take a lot of punishment before they go down.

In terms of visuals, Alien Creeps TD delivers a pretty great-looking experience, with an attractive style that is just cartoonish enough to stay attractive, yet not enough to feel like a kids game.

The soundtrack is pretty good, but during lengthier game sessions, you might want to mute the sound in order to avoid the repetitive songs or audio cues concerning heroes, units, and more.

Seeing as how it's a mobile experience, the battery consumption is a key aspect of the game. On an iPad, the consumption was relatively high and the 3D visuals caused the device to heat up.

Lots of challenges are present

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion