Crystal Defenders

Crystal Defenders
Artwork for the second game in the series
Genres	Turn-based strategy Tower defense
Developers	MSF/Winds
Publishers	Square Enix
Artists	Ryoma Itō
Platform of origin	Mobile phone
First release	Crystal Guardians January 1, 2008
Latest release	Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm May 13, 2009

Crystal Defenders (クリスタル・ディフェンダーズ, Kurisutaru Difendāzu^?) is a series of turn-based strategy video games developed by MSF/Winds and published by Square Enix. It comprises several iterations released for mobile phones and through online video game delivery services. The games are set in the fictional world of Ivalice and features job classes, monsters and summoned creatures from the tactical role-playing game Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift.

Gameplay

The games are turn-based; each turn the enemy monsters advance one or more spaces and attack the player's units if they are in range. The player must adjust the positioning of their units to either block the monsters from advancing and/or attack. There are different unit types that are provided for the player at the beginning and at various points of each map, each having different attacking capabilities and stats.

Releases

Crystal Guardians

Crystal Guardians (クリスタル ガーディアンズ, Kurisutaru Gādianzu^?) is the first iteration of the series. It was released for mobile phones and in Japan exclusively, on January 1, 2008 (i-mode), April 1, 2008 (Yahoo! Keitai) and June 19, 2008 (EZWeb). The objective of the player is to stop waves of monsters from stealing a cache of crystals in a maze by strategically positioning units to defeat the monsters before they escape with their loot.

Crystal Defenders

Crystal Defenders, the second iteration of the series, features a gameplay similar to Crystal Guardians and was released in chapters of increasing challenge (W1, W2 and W3 for most platforms, and R1 and R2 for the WiiWare). The PlayStation 3 and Xbox Live Arcade versions are enhanced ports.^[1]

The game was released worldwide, for the following platforms:

• iPod Classic and iPod Nano – December 23, 2008 (W1 and W2 only)
• iOS – December 23, 2008
• Xbox Live Arcade – March 11, 2009
• PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3 – August 6, 2009
• WiiWare (Japan) – January 27, 2009
• WiiWare (North America) – April 20, 2009 (R1) and May 18, 2009 (R2)
• WiiWare (Europe) – April 24, 2009 (R1) and May 22 (R2)
• PlayStation Store for PlayStation Portable – October 29, 2009
• iOS (iPad-optimized) – July 1, 2010
• Windows Mobile - December 8, 2010
• Android - January 25, 2011 (W1 and W2)

Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm

Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm (クリスタル・ディフェンダーズ ヴァンガード・ストーム, Kurisutaru Difendāzu Vangādo Sutōm^?) requires players to defend their position on the right from monsters that are invading from the left side. It was released worldwide for iOS on May 13, 2009, and is the first Square Enix game to be designed especially for a touch-screen.^[2]

Reception

Overall critical response to the series has been mixed, with some reviewers praising the gameplay and others criticizing the simplicity of the engine and high number of ports. The second game has a Metacritic score of 52 out of 100 for the Xbox Live Arcade version, 63 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version and 62 out of 100 for the WiiWare version.^[3][4][5] The third game was scored 8.0 out of 10 by IGN.^[6]

References

1. ^ Which Version Of Crystal Defenders Should You Get?
2. ^ CRYSTAL DEFENDERS VANGUARD STORM Press Release
3. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/crystal-defenders
4. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/crystal-defenders
5. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/crystal-defenders-r1
6. ^ http://wireless.ign.com/articles/982/982632p1.html

External links

• Official Crystal Guardians website
• Official Crystal Defenders website
  • WiiWare North American version website
• Official Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm website