Samurai Defenders Review

Samurai defenders is a tower defence game available on the Nintendo 3DS and on android. This review is of the 3ds version. It’s a simple game to play and easy to learn. The game is set during the Sengoku period of Japan (the warring period of feudal Japan) as you defend your territory from invading armies and their generals. There isn’t a major story to follow but it doesn’t need it, all you need to know is you need to defend your base against enemy waves and the bosses running these armies.

The game starts you off with the main doors to your territory with an archer on the roof, where you have control of where he shoots his arrows with the touch screen or with the thumb stick depending on what you prefer. As waves of enemies come at you in separate lanes, you must react quickly and strategically to clear the waves of enemies before they start breaking down your doors. That’s not the only soldier you get, there are different types of extras you can get to help you defend yourself. Starting off with swordsmen that you can summon to help you out using up your MP. Having a row of four swordsmen to take on enemies as they march forward or use them to block attacks from long distance enemies. You have a loadout for what three support units you want for each level and so you can customise it for different levels, using two or three of the same unit if you need to.

That’s not all you get as you clear levels you also earn bronze and gold coins. The bronze coins are used to upgrade your archer and your base. For the archer you use the coins for improving the power of his shots and the speed he fires them. Allowing you to contend with stronger enemies as you work your way through the levels and take on different types of enemies and larger numbers. You can also buy more archers as you will realise after a while that one archer isn’t enough to contend with the heavier waves. You can also use the bronze coins to upgrade the HP and MP of your base. Giving yourself that extra help can help you adjust to different enemies and give you that bit more time to take on the waves or set up your strategy.

Then you have the gold coins which are used to purchase new support units and increase their levels and stats. Like with the swordsmen, you can upgrade them to increase the number of soldiers and cover more lanes and counter more enemies. You can also buy a character to repair your base if your HP gets too low, buy pikes to block enemies and give you more time to prepare, artillery to take on the bigger enemies. You can also earn achievements as you play through and this give the game a bit of replay ability for those achievement hunters. So you will have to think carefully on what you want to spend your coins on as this game does have somewhat of a level grinding mechanic but an enjoyable one that allows you to plan and try different strategies on enemies and find out what’s the best tactic.

Samurai defenders is a fun tower defence game with a simple and interesting upgrade system that does make it standout especially with their being so many tower defence games around and on android and IOS alone. It’s an easy and simple game to understand and play, with fun looking character sprites.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.