Defenders of Suntoria Review - App Review 4U

Defenders of Suntoria Review

Defend Your Wallets!

Tower defense games have managed to adapt to Android platforms with relative ease over the years. Due to the limited controls on touch screens, the genre has thrived by implementing simple actions used in complex encounters. Unfortunately, the genre has also adapted the freemium business practices of most other mobile games. Defenders of Suntoria, like its predecessors, falls into this trap by demanding its players spend real world currency in order to maximize enjoyment, as opposed to respecting their time and money.

As with almost every other tower defense game, the main goal is to build weapons and traps in order to fend off waves of enemies before they reach their target. simplifies this further by locking where you can build things on the map, as well as showing the enemies’ paths. The first few levels are simple enough. The game gradually introduces the player to new weapons and traps, in addition to different enemies, reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed. Players are rewarded with stars at the end of a mission, which can be used to purchase items and upgrades. The number of stars rewarded depends on how many enemies are allowed to reach their goal.

The main thing has going for it is the way it implements hero units. Heroes not only serve as powerful tools to help fight enemies, but they are also completely upgradable. You’ll start with a ranger who attacks using a standard bow and arrow. As players progress new weapons and gear become available to enhance heroes’ speed, attack power, and health. Not only that, but additional heroes such as a knight, a barbarian, and a mage can be acquired, allowing for multiple heroes on the battlefield at once. Having more than one hero available in one fight is a great feature, and you will certainly need them in order to have any prayer to complete the later levels.

Around the sixth mission or so, the game suddenly hits a huge difficulty spike. Missions that were previously trivial become almost impossible, which is sure to make even the most patient players frustrated. Chances are, even if the player has been spending in-game currency on items and upgrades, they will still find themselves hitting a wall. This is the point where the game’s micro transaction-riddled store rears its ugly head.

Everything from items, to upgrades, to gear and even heroes, are available to purchase with real world currency, which wouldn’t be as big of a deal if the same items weren’t so astronomically expensive for in game money. While the game does allow you to revisit previous levels and complete different challenges to earn more stars, even those aren’t enough to buy the best items unless you grind every single last one of them. Even then, chances are you still won’t have enough stars to buy the necessary upgrades and heroes for finishing the later stages unless you buy them with actual dollars. What might be the biggest slap in the face, though, is the way hero respawns work. If a hero is defeated, you must either wait an hour (that’s right, an HOUR) for the hero to respawn, or you can pay real money to speed up the process. Since playing the game without a hero is essentially suicide, you are pretty much screwed if you don’t want to pay.

Designing a game around requiring players to spend real money to get the best experience is bad enough, but when the game goes as far as to punish them for not spending money, there’s no excuse. is a prime example of that. Sure, you COULD try and play through the entire game without spending a dime, but unless you are a masochist, you’ll most likely either end up giving in or quitting the game entirely. Personally, I would choose the latter option.

Supply Hardcoredroid

Defenders of Suntoria Review - App Review 4U