Lair Defence: Dungeon

Lair Defence: Dungeon by DroidHen Publishing is a cool tower defence game currently available on the Appstore and Android Markets. The game puts the player in control of a nest of dragons, who must defend said nest against swarms of nasty humans. 

As tower defence games go, this one is pretty standard, but a lot of fun. Enemies enter the map at certain locations, travelling towards your nest along fixed paths. Within the nest is a number of eggs. When an enemy picks one up it will then try to leave along the same path to take it off the map. Once all your eggs are gone you lose. Each level pits the player against a set number of enemy waves, the goal of the game being to survive all the waves with at least one egg remaining.

Along the paths, the player can place dragons in static locations which then attack enemies as they move past. When an enemy dies it drops food which can then be used to place more dragons. There are 3 types of dragons; fire, frost and poison. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses while being more effective against different types of enemies. They can be upgraded to make them more powerful. The higher level dragons possess unique abilities which can make a big difference when properly used. Each time a dragon is placed, the cost of that type of dragon increases. There is a total of 6 worlds, with 8 levels respectively. The different worlds all look unique and need to be played differently, each with their own paths and layout.

The three types of dragons attack differently. Fire Dragons emit a constant beam of fire that are very effective against high hit point enemies, but have a very short range. Frost Dragons fire individual projectiles and have the longest range while the Poison Dragon attacks cause damage over time. There are many different enemy types. Some are more vulnerable than others to certain types of attacks, so the player is prevented from using the same types of dragons too often. Some have special abilities like being able to turn invisible, regenerate health or have a protective shield. 

You have a mana supply which is used by two offensive spells, one rains down fireballs in a small area, very useful for stopping a group of enemies that has broken through to your nest. The other is an ice spell that freezes all the enemies on screen, giving your dragons more time to cause damage. Mana regenerates on its own, but the rate of which it does so can be increased by placing dragons on special mana fountains. These are placed randomly amongst the building spots in each level and for the player to have any real chance of winning they need to cover all of the available fountains.

Occasionally, slain enemies will drop coins. These can be collected and then used to upgrade your abilities. There is actually an impressive array of upgrades available. The dragons and spells can obviously be improved as can things like your mana regeneration rate, the amount of food you begin the level with and the amount of food enemies drop when they die. You can also increase your total amount of eggs and give them the ability to automatically teleport back to the nest if they have been removed for a certain amount of time. You can only reach the upper level upgrades in the higher difficulty levels which gives the game a good bit of replay value. 

The learning curve is just right for this type of game. The challenge increases steadily, however this is offset slightly as the player improves their overall skill level. Money is accumulated relatively quickly, however the price of new and improved skills increases dramatically with each purchase. There is the option to buy more coins from DroidHen, but iv never needed the option so far. It is extremely satisfying to win, especially the later levels that can take many attempts to complete. 

Lair Defence looks awesome. The artwork in the title screen sets the bar up high and thankfully the rest of the game doesnt disappoint. There are a ton of enemies, all of them looking interesting and animating smoothly. The games 6 worlds all look amazing, each one richly detailed and colourful. The dragons themselves look cool, getting larger and more fearsome as they are upgraded. The music is suitably dramatic and fits the game perfectly as do the various sound effects.

Best of all, the game for Android at least, costs nothing. When it comes to free android games, you must be prepared for the inevitable popup ads that can occasionally distract or even disrupt gameplay. A good example is the free Angry Birds games where the ads actually block parts of the play screen. Thankfully, with this release the ads are limited to the menus and title screen leaving game play unspoiled. If your looking for a decent tower defence game that is addictive and lots of fun, check out Lair Defence: Dungeon. Lair Defence: Shrine is another release from DroidHen, which is basically the exact same game with different levels. I would recommend Dungeon over Shrine but its not a big deal as they are practically the same game. 4/5 Stars.