Crystal Defenders: Squeenix Tower Defense for XBLA Out now!

hamburger helper

Oficial Website

XBLA - Release Mar 11 2009
PS3 - Release TBA
WiiWare (Called Crystal Defenders R1) - Release TBA (North America) February 2009 (Japan)


According to a purty reputable source, Square Enix is bringing Crystal Castles to XBLA this Wednesday for 800 points ($10). Whooo wheee! From Wikipedia:

"Crystal Defenders is a tower defense video game by Square Enix. The game was originally released under the title Crystal Guardians for mobile phones. Versions for iPhone, iPod Touch and WiiWare were later released under its current title, and the game will also see release on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

Crystal Defenders takes place after the events of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift and features units from the Final Fantasy Tactics series. The objective of the game is for the player to stop waves of monsters from stealing a cache of crystals in a maze by strategically positioning units to destroy them before they escape with their loot. Each unit has their own special attributes, and have particular strengths and weakness against certain enemies.

The game features 300 stages spread across three chapters of increasing challenge."


Screenshots:

Only xbox 360 screen I could find:


iPhone/Wii Screens:

Movies!

Trailer (iPhone Version):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEft6qKt0t4

Gameplay (Wii)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ2wDsBzoEM&eurl=http://www.andriasang.com/e/blogs/anoop/2009/01/27/crystal_defenders_playtest/&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdVKLjfTjic&eurl=http://www.andriasang.com/e/blogs/anoop/2009/01/27/crystal_defenders_playtest/&feature=player_embedded

The Wii and Xbox 360 version seem to differ slightly according this source:

"Unlike the WiiWare version the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version is an upgraded port of the iPhone Crystal Defenders game which contains 300+ stages spread out over three scenarios from the Japan-only mobile phone game Crystal Guardians: W1, W2, and W3. Crystal Defenders R1 also has less “characters” or towers than Crystal Defenders. Only the soldier, black mage, white monk, archer, time mage, thief, and dragoon towers are in Crystal Defenders R1. Square Enix’s announcement also mentions this game is designed for first time players to learn how to use the the basic towers. "

I Wish there was more media, but there are some iPhone reviews that indicate this is geared toward a more hardcore crowd, complaints seem to focus on a poorly optimized interface through the iPhone controls. IGN wrote:

"The control does not take advantage of the touch screen in any reasonable or expected way. Instead, you use a virtual pad on the bottom half of the vertically oriented screen to move a cursor and place your defenders. It works, but it is clumsy..." 7/10.

Other reviews/previews:

AppVee (??) gave it 3.8/5
A playtest of Crystal Defenders R1
IGN Gives Crystal Defenders 5.5


I'm partially ignoring the Wii version due to limited time, I will add more screen shots and info as it's released. Anyone picking this up Wednesday for arcade? Or is everyone just getting Peggle instead?

I'm getting both

Shady3011

Tried the demo on my iPhone. It's a neat little spin on the tower defense genre with FF Tactics. $10 is too much for what it is though.

urahonky

Fuck that. $10 for a Tower Defense game is perfect. :P

But seriously... I'm a TD whore so I'll buy this day one.

Darmak

Hahaha, that's pretty awesome. I might pick this up once I get my 360 back.

RainbowDespair

Wow, this came out of left field for me. I've liked the free Tower Defense games I've played online and I like Final Fantasy so this is a no brainer.

chasehatesbears

So the Wii version has less towers and stages? Weak.

hamburger helper

chasehatesbears wrote: »

So the Wii version has less towers and stages? Weak.

Yeah, from what I've read it's a dumbed-down version.

chasehatesbears

hamburger helper wrote: »

chasehatesbears wrote: »

So the Wii version has less towers and stages? Weak.

Yeah, from what I've read it's a dumbed-down version.

Makes sense, I feel dumb for buying a Wii

jeddy lee

This... looks less than amazing. What we need is a Fort Condor game.

MinionOfCthulhu

hamburger helper wrote: »

chasehatesbears wrote: »

So the Wii version has less towers and stages? Weak.

Yeah, from what I've read it's a dumbed-down version.

Why would they dumb down...a cell-phone game? Certainly the cell phone is nice, but still...
So what, the 360/PS3 version is the better version? More classes and levels? It better have Gria.
Fake edit: I squinted at one of the screenshots and success! Gria! They're awesome.

urahonky

jack eddy wrote: »

This... looks less than amazing. What we need is a Fort Condor game.

Fort Condor was a great minigame. Im angry they haven't made another like it.

Kris_xK

Looks interesting. I love TD games, and the presence of FF characters might be enough to set me on a FF:Tactics stretch again.

If it was more than 800 points I'd prob pass, but I've spent $10 on way dumber shit before.

Burtletoy

I'll be buying this tomorrow after work.

elliotw2

Hope this is less shovelware feeling than the iPhone one was. It looked and felt like a port of a DS game, complete with splitting the screen in half, and the bottom being used as a trackball for the cursor

Zoku Gojira

Sweet, I was hoping for a good XBLA tower defense game.

Does seem strange that it has finite stages. A tower defense game with an ending?

Dranyth

Defense Grid has an ending. Speaking of that, I wonder if they're still going to do some DLC for that one...

Vincent Grayson

Zoku Gojira wrote: »

Sweet, I was hoping for a good XBLA tower defense game.

Does seem strange that it has finite stages. A tower defense game with an ending?

Every worthwhile TD game I've ever played has an ending.

edit: Anyone know what time new games tend to go up?

greeble

Wow this game looks like a bad port. They don't even seem to use the whole screen. I know you guys like your Final Fantasy and all but surely there are better games to spend your money on.

Vincent Grayson

greeble wrote: »

Wow this game looks like a bad port. They don't even seem to use the whole screen. I know you guys like your Final Fantasy and all but surely there are better games to spend your money on.

Have we even seen screens/gameplay from the 360 version? That's the only one of interest to me, fuck the Wii version.

greeble

That first screen shot is obviously from the 360 because of the button guide. And look how tiny the actual game screen is. Its almost insulting that they would try to sell this for $10 when you could get PJ Monsters, Defense Grid or Savage Moon for that price.

EskimoDave

I've never played a tower defence game. I guess its demo time tomorrow.

I become a slut when it comes to Square.

Vincent Grayson

greeble wrote: »

That first screen shot is obviously from the 360 because of the button guide. And look how tiny the actual game screen is. Its almost insulting that they would try to sell this for $10 when you could get PJ Monsters, Defense Grid or Savage Moon for that price.

True...but 300 stages sounds promising.

If nothing else, MS's mandatory demo policy will make it easy to decide.

UnbreakableVow

EskimoDave wrote: »

I've never played a tower defence game. I guess its demo time tomorrow.

I become a slut when it comes to Square.

Prepare to be bored out of your damn mind.

Elimination

Square should release a Blitzball arcade game. I'd buy that instantly.


and to everyone who thinks this is too expensive, you guys aren't taking the obligatory Square-Enix surcharge into account. You have to pay at least $5 more than you should for having the privilege of Square's name being put on something, like durrr.

MinionOfCthulhu

Elimination wrote: »

Square should release a multiplayer Triple Triad game. I'd buy that instantly.

APZonerunner

MinionOfCthulhu wrote: »

Elimination wrote: »

Square should release a multiplayer Triple Triad game. I'd buy that instantly.

I'd like Triple Triad and Tetra Master in one. I kept my subscription for Tetra Master online literally for months after I cancelled my FF11 subscription. It rocked, especially vs real people.

EskimoDave

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

EskimoDave wrote: »

I've never played a tower defence game. I guess its demo time tomorrow.

I become a slut when it comes to Square.

Prepare to be bored out of your damn mind.

Hey, I tried to play Project Sylpheed. Twice. I think I can take this.

FyreWulff

It's a lazy port of DS-> 360. I mean, look at the screen. It's just the DS graphics with VaselineVision filters put over it.

Elimination

Opinions? Im on the fence. Seems neat to me, i like FF, i like wasting my time in tower defense.

urahonky

I told you guys I'm a TD whore, so I'll be getting it regardless of what you guys say. If you're interested I'll let you know if it's worth the money.

urahonky

Okay my synopsis:

If you like FF games, and want to kill some time with a TD game, I'd probably get it. The music alone is enough for me to enjoy the game (I love FFT:A's music) but they have things like Summons and stuff to keep it real.

It seems a little harder than other TD games, but I didn't really get time to plan it out (I was rushing through it as fast as I could so I could let people know what's up) in advance. Regardless I have to finally start on my project... But if you like FF games and like TD games I'd say go for it.

If you don't like FF games but TD it might be okay. Try the demo and see if it tickles your fancy... But if you're jonesing for a really GOOD TD (and own a PS3) I'd definitely buy PixelJunk Monsters.

RainbowDespair

I'm no expert on Tower Defense games (I've only played the random Internet one, don't have a PS3 otherwise I'd get Pixeljunk), but I really enjoyed the demo. Excellent music, cute graphics, solid gameplay. If I had 800 points instead of 600 something, this game would be bought now. As it is, it'll be the first thing I buy next time I buy points.

Elimination

RainbowDespair wrote: »

I'm no expert on Tower Defense games (I've only played the random Internet one, don't have a PS3 otherwise I'd get Pixeljunk), but I really enjoyed the demo. Excellent music, cute graphics, solid gameplay. If I had 800 points instead of 600 something, this game would be bought now. As it is, it'll be the first thing I buy next time I buy points.

Hmmmmmmm....i will try the demo now i think, then go pick up some pointses shortly if its good.

sethsez

FyreWulff wrote: »

It's a lazy port of DS-> 360. I mean, look at the screen. It's just the DS graphics with VaselineVision filters put over it.

It's not a DS port. It's not even an iPhone port. It's an iPod port. As in, the music players with the click wheel.

There is nothing worthwhile about this beyond it being an entry into an inherently entertaining genre. Unless you must own every tower defense game ever made, there are better options.

hamburger helper

The demo was pretty entertaining - I'd say the price point matches the quality. What I found a little off-putting was the weird lag of control and the small screen.

I'll buy this after payday.

SilentCoconut

The actually gameplay is alright, but it's a tower defense game, and plays like any other entry into the genre. Also, the controls were obnoxious and the graphics are far lower quality then we should be expecting at this point. I know it's a port, but every single part of the game screams "cheap cash in." $10 for this is an insult, unless you literally own every other 800 point game on Live Arcade. And you can get a better tower defense game in Desktop Tower Defense for free.

mastrius

SilentCoconut wrote: »

The actually gameplay is alright, but it's a tower defense game, and plays like any other entry into the genre. Also, the controls were obnoxious and the graphics are far lower quality then we should be expecting at this point. I know it's a port, but every single part of the game screams "cheap cash in." $10 for this is an insult, unless you literally own every other 800 point game on Live Arcade. And you can get a better tower defense game in Desktop Tower Defense for free.

After some things Ive bought for 800 points I can say now that this would not shame me or make me feel bad in any way. At all.

Elimination

Hmmm..still a little on the fence....i dunno if its really worth the price. Though the demo was fun, i kinda got sucked into it in a weird way.

Jam Warrior

There's nothing wrong with recognizing that licencing adds value to fans of said licence.

D00M

This was the first time I've played a tower defence game, Both me and the missus are hooked.
However I don't think I would of bothered looking if it wasn't for the FF licence.

RainbowDespair

SilentCoconut wrote: »

The actually gameplay is alright, but it's a tower defense game, and plays like any other entry into the genre. Also, the controls were obnoxious and the graphics are far lower quality then we should be expecting at this point. I know it's a port, but every single part of the game screams "cheap cash in." $10 for this is an insult, unless you literally own every other 800 point game on Live Arcade. And you can get a better tower defense game in Desktop Tower Defense for free.

But what makes Desktop Tower Defense a better game? I just tried the demo and to be honest, I thought Crystal Defenders was the better game in pretty much every aspect except the lack of a mouse and price. CD has better graphics, better music, and a complete leaderboard (DTD only has top 100). I really like that in CD, you know what route the monsters are going to take (unlike DTD where it seems kind of random) and how in CD, each wave doesn't start until you want it to (I want a relaxing strategy game with my tower defense games, not a twitch shooter).

Plus, I really think a solid license adds a lot to the genre. Crystal Defender was a lot easier for me to get into, because the jobs & their abilities made sense to me as a Final Fantasy veteran so I could instantly focus on strategy, not learning how to play. With most other tower defense games, there's a steep learning curve as I try to memorize the difference between the tower with the squiggly lines, the circle tower, and the blocky tower, but not so here.