You Shall Not Pass –
Holding the 3DS/DSi hardware vertically like a book, Wizard Defenders is a tower defense style game sort of similar to a real time Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. It’s not bad for a $1.99 downloadable title but the sharp difficulty spikes and overall lacking presentation brings down the entire experience.
This might look complicated but is actually simple to play
Using the stylus on the touchscreen, the goal is to stack three colored wizards either vertically or horizontally. Once a stack of wizards are joined they unleash a magic attack depending on their position on the grid based environment. If three matching wizards are stacked vertically, they will launch a 3-tile spread attack as opposed to stacking wizards horizontally which yields a more powerful concentrated attack. It is similar to any other match-3 title out there but the challenge comes from making quick decisions as the difficulty ramps up quickly.
In fact, the higher difficulty puts this game into the frustrating category instead of providing a genuine challenge. Within just a couple minutes, weak enemies make way for more powerful units and in greater number. This wouldn’t be so bad if the controls were more responsive and the overall gameplay was better balanced. The music also repeats, all sprites are simple pallet swaps, and leaderboards are restricted to local-only. But to be fair, this game only costs a couple of bucks and the shorter game time is better suited to a handheld environment.
Battle heats up quickly
It is a shame because Wizard Defenders has the potential to be a great sleeper hit downloadable title if some elements had just a little more detail but dedicated puzzle game fans might want to test it out if they are willing to sacrifice a couple of bucks.
Not As Good As: Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Also Try: Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders
Wait For It: Meteos 2
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com