| Crystal Defenders | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Developers |
MSF/Winds |
|
Platform of origin |
Mobile phone |
|
First release date |
January 1, 2008 |
|
Genres |
Turn-based strategy, Tower defense |
Crystal Defenders 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.
Release[]
Crystal Guardians
Crystal Guardians 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.[citation needed]
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).[citation needed] The PlayStation 3 and Xbox Live Arcade versions are enhanced ports.
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)
Symbian
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.[citation needed] 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.