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Today at the gym, while others were doing this:

I was doing this:

(playing…)

I know, it’s not exactly what you are supposed to do in a gym, but I’m addicted.

I’m addicted to tower defense games. Especially Field Runner.

If (like me few weeks ago) you never heard the term Tower Defense before, here’s some Wiki stuff:

“The goal is to try to stop enemies from crossing the map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities and costs. When an enemy is defeated the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers”.

I see it as a combination of a strategy game (but a very basic one) with some elements of luck and gambling.

The result is a great way to pass the time but also a horrible way to waste important time.

In any event, here’s some of the games I like under this genre:

Field runner:

Field runner is the first iPhone game I’m actually playing!

I have installed over 100 games but nothing was really worth spending time on.

But all of this has changed now, I’m totally addicted to this great game. It has good animation, fantastic sounds, perfect user interface which makes it a perfect game for me.

The thing that makes this game so great is that you control the course of the enemies as you can simply design a path/maze where they will have to walk through. (see video below)

Creeps:

OK, so now that I’m totally addicted to tower defense games, I was certain it will be easy to find lot’s of great games from this genre.

Well, I was wrong. There are plenty of BAD ONES. iPhone has few more which I immediately deleted, (you know, deleting… the thing you do after installing 70% of the iPhone apps)  and winMo actually does not have so many alternatives.

One good alternative for the iPhone, is the Creeps.

Creeps is really great as well. The path is given, but you have to not only defend the bed, but also to destroy some fixed elements in order to make room for more weapon.

It has some great sounds as well, and it’s a lot of fun.

The game includes many levels and a lot of weapons, which is also fun.

TapDefense (the only freeware in this post…)

TapDefense is the free alternative for Tower Defense games (iPhone). It was promoted as the best free iPhone game in 2008, but I have to admit I think that Field Runner is much better mainly due to the ease of operating the game and user interface.

I started using TapDefense but stopped after a short while… who can play it when Field Runner is installed?

Nevertheless, if you are looking for something completely free, this is an option.

TapDefense is freely available for download in App Store. You can download it via this direct link.

2 Windows Mobile alternatives:

If you are looking for a TD game for windows mobile, here’s the only ones I found so far that looks cool:

Azgard Defence

From the developers MoreGames Entertainment, who has made great games for our Pocket PCs like Orions: Legend of Wizards and Enslave, here’s the winMo TD game called Azgard Defence.

It’s not so new, but looks like it has a lot of features:

* Over 20 creatures: Demons, Ogres, Ghosts, Dragons, Knights, etc.
* 15 Tower types, each with it’s own attack. This includes Poison, Corruption, Fire, Splash, Slow, and more.
* Level Editor to build your own maps.
* Amazing visuals, particles, explosions.
* Save/Load at any time.
* Music, Sound effects, Levels of diffuculty, etc – just everything to make sure that you will enjoy this game at a maximum.

You can try Azgard Defence for yourself here or buy it from ClickGamer.

Resco Defender

This one is another alternative, although I must admit it doesn’t look so great.

Nevertheless, here’s some screenshots and a link, in case you want to try it out:

Check out Resco Defender

That’s it for today, I’m off, have to take my daily Field Runner doze…

Gil Bouhnick (59 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Gil Bouhnick is a guest writer at MobilitySite and the owner of The Mobile Spoon. He is a Director of Mobile Solutions at ClickSoftware, running ClickSoftware's MobileFever, and constantly trying to examine new mobile trends and technologies.