Review : Crystal Defenders

Square-Enix starts showing some love for Apple. Crystal Defenders is the first love! So, I decided to give it a trial, and somehow paid for it afterward. I guess somehow I just love whatever Square-Enix produces. What is the game then? It is simply a casual game that fits nicely on an iPhone / iPod Touch. For USD 7.99, does it worth it? I guess it really depends. So, the game is simply like the Tower Defense game.

Basically you have to deploy a number of Final Fantasy Tactics characters with different jobs such as soldier, monk, thief, black mage, etc. And, what they are going to do is to beat or eliminate those marching monsters and protecting those crystals from being stolen. Each of these characters has its strength, speed and attack range. So, the player has to plan carefully to deploy the characters because each deployment consumes some amount of Gils, and it is limited. But, you can earn Gils by beating the monsters.


Story: There is no story... So, nothing to say about this. Basically, just deploy as many strong characters as your amount of Gils allow you to to defend your crystals. Another thing, there aren't a lot of levels or scenarios to choose from. In total, I think there are only about 12 scenarios... I mean seriously!
Control: Honestly, the control is a bit clumsy on iPhone. There is a big orb with some directional arrows around it at the bottom of the screen. And, they are not that useful and intuitive. I have to do some trials to know how it works, and the directional "button" certainly is not that responsive.
Graphic: It is satisfying for me. I can really see those cuteness of the FF Tactics characters. And, the presentation is certainly stunning on the small iPhone.
Sound: The quality of sound is cool, but I have to complain about the music. As far as I know it only replays the one song over and over again at the background. I am a bit disappointed, really. I mean Square-Enix should do more than that!

In conclusions, does it worth USD 7.99? Like I said, it depends on yourself. For me it is good enough, but of course always the more the merrier. So, I give it a 2.5 out of 5.