Toy Defense 2 is the sequel to last year’s hit, Toy Defense. Though the gameplay remains pretty much the same, there is a noticeable difference of the setting, which changes from World War I to World War II, leading to brand new battles.
Set in WWII, Toy Defense 2 presents 72 levels across three historic battles: the Battle of Stalingrad, Operation Crusader, and Operation Overlord, each of which contains 24 missions. The three battles are playable at the same time. What’s achieved in one battle remains effective in the others. As for the missions contained in each battle, players need to complete and unlock them one by one instead of playing them in any order.
As a tower defense game packed with intense action and strategy implementation, Toy Defense 2 asks players to act as a military commander, defending against the enemies and holding the base.
The game offers four types of defense forces: rifleman, artillery, interceptor, and ack-ack. Riflemen are effective against infantry while ineffective against armored vehicles. Artilleries are limited to ground targets and are extremely effective against vehicles. Interceptors excel against enemy aircraft. Ack-acks are only effective against air targets. Each type of unit can be upgraded with five or six special items, varying from battle to battle as shown clearly by the tree diagrams in the game. For example, in the Battle of Stalingrad, players can upgrade riflemen with Striking Bullets, Incendiary Ammunition, Infantry Destroyer, Barbed Wire, Czech Hedgehogs, and Canister Shot. In Operation Crusader, players can upgrade them with Canister Shot, High-Impact Canister Shot, Transforming Ammunition, Czech Hedgehogs with Barbed Wire, Superplastics, and Impassability. As a result of this upgrade system, players can select from a wide range of over 60 kinds of forces to form a military unit.
The game also provides a great arsenal of valuable special abilities that can help players fulfill a mission. It includes Maintenance Personal, Freezing, Defensive Strike, and Hand of God. Defensive Strike can deal a lethal blow to all the enemies around the base. It is extremely useful when players fail to prevent waves of enemies from approaching the base in time. Hand of God allows players to destroy any enemy on the screen by simply tapping on it. Hand of God can be used once every 60 seconds and its flexibility makes it powerful enough to turn a losing battle around.
When it comes to deployment, the game provides a very limited number of effective locations specific to different unit types. That is to say, some locations are only available for riflemen so artilleries can’t be deployed there. As a matter of fact, most locations are open to riflemen only. Deploying a rifleman or a weapon consumes a certain number of dollars and killing an enemy generates some. Once you have gained enough money, the forces you can afford will be highlighted. Players can deploy units simply by dragging them to an effective target location.
At the beginning of a battle, the types and waves of incoming enemies are displayed at the top of the screen. It’s also marked which direction the enemies are coming from, so players can deploy forces accordingly. During a battle, players can upgrade and repair a weapon at the cost of dollars. When a battle ends, players can withdraw some of their most powerful riflemen and weapons to take into next battle, in which players can deploy them at a lower cost. Initially, players can take two after each battle. If they want to take more, they will need to buy extra slots with stars, which players earn based on their performance after each battle.
With the bird’s eye view the game provides, players can grasp the whole picture of a battle easily, but cannot see any details of the weapons. As a result, players cannot fully appreciate the weapons, even though they are based on actual WWII equipment. The models are simple and crude. Overall, the WWII theme isn’t exploited adequately in the game. What a shame!
Toy Defense 2 is a satisfactory game, but whether it can reproduce its predecessor’s success among numerous similar titles like WhereWars™ Island Defense and CarrotFantasy is questionable.
iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toy-defense-2/id618983524?mt=8
Google Play link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.melesta.toydefense2&hl=en
