Defender II is a tower defense game in which you need to defend your castle from invading monsters in real time.

What is Defender II all about?

As with the first version of Defender for Android, players guide the castle defenses against oncoming waves. It is only required to aim and the castle fires arrows. Defender also includes magic spells to defeat multiple enemies with area damage or effects.

Defender II also includes upgrades to castle defenses and leveling the spells in the game for greater enemy damage or defense points. As you get into the game you'll find it difficult to progress very far without leveling up. This can be remedied quickly with an in-app purchase, or by keeping playing the lower levels to build up game currency.

Unlike the original version, Defender II includes a Battle mode, in which you take on other players online in head-to-head matches to see who can stay on the longest without getting their castle destroyed. This is good fun if you're matched with someone of your level, but often Defender II will put you up against people who are obviously way above your league, which gets annoying.

How to play Defender II

Defender II is pretty easy to pick up and start playing, and there are on-screen hints at first that tells you how to play the game. Essentially you just need to point your arrow in the direction of the enemies and tap the screen, or hold down for continuous bursts of fire. To cast a spell you just drag the magic icon into the area of the screen you want to affect.

The upgrades menu in Defender II is easy to get your head around, too. All of the various upgrades, power-ups and spells have an explanation to tell you what they do.

Graphics in Defender II

The graphics in Defender II are attractive enough, but nothing to get really excited about. There's little animation happening on the screen other than the monsters that are coming towards you, and the backgrounds are static. Still, this helps in a way because it allows you to focus on the next enemies you should target.

The verdict

Defender II is an enjoyable tower defense game that can be played for free if you have enough patience. Despite the introduction of a multiplayer battle mode, it doesn't bring much originality to the tower defense game genre, however.