The Monkeys Are Back And This Time They’re Bursting Onto iPad: Bloons TD 4 HD
Bloons TD 4 HD ($4.99) by Digital Goldfish Ltd has finally arrived for iPad and it was worth the wait. The much loved tower defence game that hooks everyone from kids to gamers looks gorgeous, and plays beautifully on iPad.
If you’ve been around iOS gaming for a while, you probably know Bloons. It was a hit bubble popping Flash game, which was ported to iPhone in the spring of ‘09. It was followed later that year by equally iconic Bloons TD.
But while the prices jump around, the games have been long-abandoned in terms of updates. So fans were delighted late last year when the fourth installment of the franchise launched for iPhone.
Now, finally, the balloon-blasting monkeys have found a home on iPad. Speaking for my seven year-old son: “it’s about time!”
Bloons TD 4 is tower defence meets monkey-mayhem fun. What the HD version adds are super-crisp fullscreen graphics, single-page game and weapons panel, and precision placement.
Bloons TD 4 HD will absolutely appeal to your little gamer.
How can it miss, with bright cartoonish graphics, an endless supply of destructive monkeys, and balloon-bursting chaos?
But Bloons TD 4 HD isn’t just monkey business. It’s a solid tower defence game too. There are a ton of weapons, even if they are monkey-draped, and a boatload of boards, in-game upgrades, unlockables, and achievements, along with three difficulty levels. It also has Game Center integration.
The GUI is smooth; lovers of the genre will enjoy the fluid experience and the strategic elements they expect from a premium game.
But, what about me? I don’t do tower defence or monkeys. I am the most casual of casual gamers, and being a mum and a reviewer of kid’s apps, I am tired of cute.
Well, I had to spend a lot of time waiting for doctors yesterday, and I wanted a distraction. But I only had my son’s games loaded on the iPad even though he had been rescued by his father hours earlier.
So I decided to give Bloons TD 4 HD a whirl. Several hours and many doctors later I was still totally engrossed. I can only compare it to another TD port that defies easy classification, Popcap’s Plants vs. Zombies HD.
Both games are cute, but self-deprecatingly clever. Both require a lot more strategy and offer a greater challenge than one would expect. And both transcend gender, age and genre.
But both were launched with high price tags, especially for games that pre-exist on a variety of other platforms.
At the original asking price of $6.99 I would have told newcomers to iOS, Bloons TD, or tower defence, to grab this, but would have hesitated to recommend it to iPhone devotees. It’s awesome, but it’s not new.
But it has already dropped to 4.99 with no indication that the price is temporary. At that price, it’s a a good deal for anyone who wants have some balloon-bursting fun on the iPad. Grab it!
