This walkthrough for GemCraft gives tips and tricks and individual level tips for this new type of tower defense game where you put gems into towers to attack the creeps on the path.  Different colored gems give different abilities such as chain attack or splash damage.  There are many levels to defeat, which leads to lots of gameplay.  If you play GemCraft on ArmorGames.com, there are extra features available.  Here is the link to the game on ArmorGames.com.

http://armorgames.com/play/1716/gemcraft/

Combining two gems of the same level makes a gem of the next level.  Each gem color has a different special ability with it.  If you combine two different color gems, they get penalties to their effects but they do both special abilities.  Fill up all of the towers and create extra ones.  You can move gems at any time in and out of towers, but they take some time to activate at any new location before they start firing.

Generate gems before you decide to use them.  Always try to combine them with gems of the same level for maximum effect.  After you generate a gem decide which gem to combine it with based on its color.  Bring that gem out of the tower, combine it, and put it back in quickly.  If you drag one gem to another tower with a gem, both gems will switch places.

For maximum points on each level, be sure to click on the waves on the left to make them come early.  The earlier you make them come the more points and mana you get.  Send them as quickly as you can handle.  If you have extra mana, upgrade your mana regeneration, since this gives you more points also.

Each color of gem has a different special ability that it gets.  Each level has a limited number of gems available.  Strategically decide which to combine for maximum effect.

Red Gems: Splash Damage
Orange Gems: Steal Mana
Purple Gems: Reduce Armor
Green Gems: Poison
Yellow Gems: Triple Damage
Lt. Green Gems: Chain Hit
Blue Gems: Slow
Lt. BLue Gems: Shock

If you can’t beat a level to Glowing Frame, move on to the next level and come back.  As you go up in levels and gain more powers, you will be able to come back and defeat them.  The key to earning the most points is sending many waves at once.  Once you get the free gem skills and extra mana to start skills up to max, you’ll start with lots of gems.  Combine them, build some extra towers, and huddle them around the beginning of the path.  Put some water pits in to slow down the creeps.  Then send the first 6-8 levels in.  Keep sending them 2-3 at a time.

Be wary of the fast monsters.  They can run by all of your gem towers while they’re busy with the slower monsters.  It’s good to have the whole board clear when you send them, or to have a second set of gem towers later in the level that can knock out the ones that get by.

Here are some advices on specific levels.

8 waves: 790,000 to Glowing Frame (Splash, Steal Mana, Reduce Armor)
More mana means more points, so Steal Mana is a great choice as is Splash.  Reduce Armor doesn’t do much good if you only hit once.  Combining Steal Mana and Splash isn’t bad either.

12 waves: 1.15 Million to Glowing Frame (Poison, Triple Damage, Chain Hit)
Put a Chain Hit in the right tower, green on the top, and yellow to the left.  Try to keep them pure.

15 waves: 1.3 Million to Glowing Frame (Slow, Chain Hit, Shock)
Get a pure chain hit, and two other towers.  Flood them in 6 waves at a time.

18 waves: 1.6 Million to Glowing Frame (Steal Mana, Reduce Armor)
Steal Mana all the way and go for a highest score.  Flood them in 6 waves at a time.

20 waves: 2.02 Million to Glowing Frame (Triple Damage, Splash, Slow, Steal Mana)
Build lots of towers and put gems right at the beginning to cover the whole first turn.  Flood them in 6 waves at a time.

24 waves: (Poison, Splash, Steal Mana)
Splash Damage and Steal Mana are really awesome in combination.

26 waves: 2.65 Million to Glowing Frame (Triple Damage, Chain Hit, Reduce Armor)
Chain Hit is useful on its own if you can grow a good sized gem.

28 waves: 2.82 Million to Glowing Frame (Triple Damage, Splash, Slow, Steal Mana, Shock)

32 waves: 4.03 Million to Glowing Frame (Splash, Slow)
Slow and Splash are natural allies.  Try to keep the gems separate.  It’s easy with only two of them.  Build towers all around the entrance and kill them all quickly.

32 waves [EPIC]: 4 Million to Glowing Frame (All 8 Colors)

40 waves [HIDDEN]: 4.8 Million to Glowing Frame (Poison)

How to get through all eight levels of tower defense fun with a RPG theme.  It’s quick to get through, and pretty easy.  Brought to us by Crazy Monkey Games.

http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/Ultimate-Defense.html

To start, make sure that whenever you buy anything, you place it so it crosses the whole path, if possible, and it’s not on a corner.  Also, put it as close to the beginning as possible so you’ll have time to react in case something leaks.

Level 1
Build three archers on one side, and two on the other.  As soon as you kill three creatures, build your third archer on the second side far enough down so it will kill any remaining creatures.  Be prepared to build additional archers to get the additional creatures that get through.  For 1-2, build an additional archer on each side.  Again, stay prepared for leaks.  For 1-3, build an additional archer on each side, and again stay prepared for leaks.  You will end up with either 13 or 14 archers, and should be able to take out the boss without poison.

Level 2
Purchase two ninjas for the beginning of the path.  If you did the previous level correctly, you should be able to afford it.  This will take out all the monsters until the boss in 2-4.  Use poison on him.

Levels 3-5
Purchase a dragon and put it right at the beginning.  It will kill all the monsters until the boss.  Use poison on the boss.

Level 6
Purchase a dragon and put it right at the beginning.  Purchase a ninja and put him across from the dragon.  They will kill all the monsters until the boss in 6-4.  Use poison on the boss.

Level 7
Purchase two dragons and put them right at the beginning across from each other.  Hold down shift and click on the tree on the corner to flatten it to make room. They will kill all the monsters until the boss in 7-4.  (you may have to add a ninja to finish off the creature on 7-2)  Use poison on the boss.

Level 8
Purchase two dragons and put them right at the beginning.  Add a ninja for the monsters in 8-4.  They will kill all the monsters until the boss in 8-6.  Use poison on the boss.

Want to play another tower defense game?  Or is it tower defence?  Oh I never know.  Regardless, here is Canyon Defense!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/428553

This is a good tower defense game but the upgrades are a little screwy.  The units you build do not upgrade its attack level but depending on what units you build, you can get different buildings.  For example, if you destroy 5 air units, you will then get this building.  It makes for an interesting game, but kinda makes the game a little easier.  I just played on easy and none of the units made it past the first row of attacks. 

Well lets get to strategy, what I did was I wanted to get as many upgraded buildings as possible, so I just listened to I was supposed to do to get upgraded buildings.  I put most ground units in the first row of the path and then had the air units at the middle.  The only thing I didn’t do is I did not buy any anti-air weapons for the first air attack and could not destroy them.  Once I learned my lesson, this did not happen again.  I am sure that harder levels are harder, but I would of rather easier to be, well harder.

That was my strategy, what is yours?  Please include in comments section.

Do we have a good game to provide a walkthrough for?  Of course we do!  The game?  Goblin Defense 2 of course!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/425403

This game has the same look and feel of many games like it before, but what is not to like about these games?  Well lets get into the knitty gritty shall we?

In the beginning levels, I focused my money in speed.  The faster you can shoot the arrows, the quicker the units would fall.  That was my thought process anyways.  Then, when three arrows didn’t stop the Goblins anymore, I invested some capital into Damage.  Continue this process until you start earning more money than you can spend.  At this point, invest in the Wizard Turrent.  This weapon is great because it can take out some of the closer units while you are focusing on the farther ones.   Keep your health up, for you do not want to have your archers die on you!

Continue along this strategy until you have upgraded everything.  At this point, there is no savior, and the archers know it.  It is their job to hold a fort that will eventually be consumed by Goblins, but the question is when!  Good luck and happy killings.

That is my strategy, what is yours?

Well I have been disappointed in the game front until I stumbled across Undefined Protector! It is awesome!

http://www.kongregate.com/games/undefined/protector?gamereferral=protector

As always, this is a work in progress. I will post as far as I get per each stage. My strategy is not always the best so if you have a better way, feel free to add. If it is good, I will add it in the post with your name associated with it. I am a big fan of giving credit where credit is due!
Purple mage - electric
Blue mage - slow
Red mage - Splash
Green mage - poison
Dexter - critical

Homegard keep - 10 waves

Put two defenders up front and had three mages in back. I focused leveling up on the defenders and then hit up the mages. This worked well for all waves except for the bats. The defenders cannot hit flying objects.

Village of shaven

invest in red mages. I placed two red mages in the front and one in the middle platform. Ad more red mages as needed. With the red mages, you shouldn’t have a problem with this stage

Village of skipper

Invest in red mages. Red mages work well for undead beings. When the weakness is grey (I am assuming sword and that nature…) invest in dexters. With the combination of red mages and dexter’s you should not have an issue with this stage

Shoreview Inn

You should not focus on any one type but scatter them all across the field.  Find out what the next wave’s weakness is and focus on that.  In the beginning, build units that the wave is weak on and as the waves go on, upgrade units that the wave is weak on.  You keep that up, the waves will fall down!

How about another tower defence game? That seems like a great idea! The game? Strategy Defence 3! As always, here is the link.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/421326

When you play this game, it is just a pleasure. You have a nice balance between attack and defence all throughout the game. Every few minutes, the towers and weapons upgrade so the game never grows boring. With that said, here are a few tips to get you through the game.

1. Start the game off with defence. Always upgrade your towers. They come in handy if your offense has been compromised.

2. Sometimes the best defence is a good offense. Let your money grow and then blitz the other end. Attacking in waves seems to yield a better result than attacking more slowly.

3. When time comes, defend the seas and land. Attack both sides so the towers can not focus its attack on either the land or the sea.

4. When the time comes, defend the seas, land, and sea. The air units do not attack the sea units. If your opponent is building air/sea units, you need to match that otherwise, it will get through your line.

Well, sometimes it is as simple as that. I wish you luck and feel free to share any extra tips!

And the next game on the block for Tower Defenses is…… TURRENT WARS TOWER DEFENCE!  YEAY!!!!

http://www.towerdefence.net/games-3-Turret_Wars.php

What is nice about this game is that it is simple.  You have a board and then you have the ability to build towers.  Where ever you build towers, enemies cannot walk across (unless they fly) so you can make a maze to block your enemy to making it to the end of the board.  The only thing I don’t like about these types of games is, I would rather a set path the enemy comes down.  Making them come from everywhere makes my head spin

My strategy for this game is to put up a maze of the cheapest unit (cannons) and then use the slower down piece (shock tower) to cause the enemy to slow down the pace.  Then I can put other stronger towers in the maze to cause more damage.  On the later levels, you certainly have quite the maze built up!

The one thing I don’t like about this game is it is not unique…it is just like all the other tower defence games out there.  There is nothing in this game that sticks out for me.  With that said, I will give the game a 8 for initial gameplay.  Addicting as ever, replay value is a definite 10!

Good luck and happy killing!

This week, I think it shall be deemed Tower Defence Week!  I plan on going through some of the more popular Tower Defence games and giving them a good ol’ review and walkthrough.  The first game on the block is Onslaught Tower Defence!  As always, linking for your pleasure!

http://www.towerdefence.net/games-24-Onslaught.php

This tower defence game is rated 4.9 out of 5 on towerdefence.net, and its ranked so for good reason.  The game does not have the graphics that other tower defense games do, but it certainly has the action and thrill!  My ratings go on another scale so lets get that out of the way!! Initial gameplay is a 8 while replay value is a 10.  I find some of the menus to be bulky and hard to navigate but once you get the system down, its a great game.  As I was playing, I jotted down the stats to the upgrade towers.  The attack towers are all very straight forward but the upgrade towers are a little cryptic. 

rateupexchange - Cost 1200 damage -40 range -10 rate +60 - This means that you will increase your rate by 60 points but decrease the other stats.  Very deceiving upgrade.  I find all exchange towers just not worth investing in…

damage up - Cost 5000 +40 damage - no side effects

range up - Cost 2000 range +100
rangeupexchange - Cost 1000 Range +100 rate -25 

rate up - cost 3000 rate +120
damageupbig - cost 8500 damage +40
damageupbigexcghange - cost 3500 damage +100 range -30 rate -30

With that said, I got up to wave 153 using mostly missile towers fully upgraded.  Again, the game is great and I recommend playing.  Feel free to share your strategies for this game and lets find one that is completely kickass

Did anyone say Tower Defence?  No?  That’s because this isn’t QUITE a tower defense game but it is pretty damn close!  This game?  Ant Buster!

http://www.addictinggames.com/antbuster.html

The game is simple.  The ants will try to get a piece of the cake and take to the anthill.  Your goal is to stop them.  Put some cannons next to the ants to annihilate them.  The cannons have a limited range but will automatically shoot the nearest ant.  When an ant is selected, it is marked with a target symbol and the cannons will try to shoot them.

When you select a cannon, its possible to visualize some improvements.  Any cannon or improvement have costs.  Also it is possible to undo any improvement and sell a cannon. 

When you kill ants, you get money.  As the ants get more difficult, you get more money for a job well done.  You then take this money and purchase more cannons or upgrades.  The one thing I like about this game is the upgrades.  Depending on what you choose, you make different weapons.  It is a fun twist to your average “tower” defense game.

Now, the strategy I used for this game is built most of my towers towards the ant hole.  I would then build  missile towers and lasers.  I would also use ice towers to slow down the ants on the later levels.  You can use the cannons to block the ants in and make it so they cannot get to the cake.  Eventually they will get through your barrier but you will have a lot of dead ants between then.

 The gameplay for this game is pretty awesome.  The game is very entertaining and I can spend hours playing it.  I give the gameplay a 10.  Replay value is also pretty awesome, that gets a 9.

Good luck and happy ant busting!

I couple days ago, I posted a walkthrough for Helix Defense, and last week I reviewed the Casual Collective, home to the Multiplayer Desktop Tower Defense. Koopa has been reviewing Tower Defense games for quite a long time, and he’s reviewed quite a bit of them. Let’s review his reviews.

Most recently, Koopa did a review of Flash Empires 2: Christmas Crusades. He said it was “cute” and you should play it. Last week, Koopa reviewed the ever popular Fratboy Girlfriend TD. Lots of people have been playing that game, apparently. Last month, Koopa gave a walkthrough and review of Shock Defence, which he said was one of his personal favorite game.  Bloons Tower Defense is a fun game about monkeys breaking balloons, but with small replay value.
So there you have it. I hope that you enjoy these tower defense games.