This Tower Defense type game, designed to be the worst game ever created, features cartoon hand drawn graphics as well as multiple campaigns. Players can look forward to 3 difficulty levels and more than 36 levels, 4 themes, and a survival mode.

Crap of Defense normally sells for $1.99 so, check out the game while it’s free!

Genre: MMO, Fantasy
Number of Players: One
Publisher: Rayflame Entertainment
Official Website

PASS

The story is set in a fantasy world, where a war between the humans and the orcs has raged for many years. There remains a legend of a forbidden romance between a female human and a male orc that ended in tragedy when discovered, only to introduce a new enemy – the demon race. The three races now fight against each other for ownership over this world, Zeniken.

Players choose their race: Human, Orc or Demon and go about building their empire through the allocation of resources through a timed series of tasks. These tasks can be sped up by the use of magic; the ability to do so gained by either ‘bonuses’ by carrying out side missions, or by purchasing gems with real-world money. Tasks can take a while to complete and the time can be passed through the in-game chat, mini games or of course by letting the game run whilst doing other things (which is perhaps the original intention of this type of game).

A fairy starts newcomers off with an in-game tutorial (albeit peppered with many typographical errors) but the best place to start is actually the forums for step-by-step guides on how to start the game and how to build on that start.

The forums are definitely the strongest asset in the game, with guides from how to train units, scout an enemy’s castle, fend off an attack (would you believe chatting with the enemy using the in-game communication system might be your best option? What a civilised bunch!), to even getting through the game without paying a cent.

As a flash-based game housed in your browser window the game is not the fastest or prettiest in terms of graphics – but this pays off for the average user who would leave a session running for hours on end in the lack of download required to play. I played LoE for a good four hour session at one stage and it barely made a dent in my bandwidth allowance (unlike games such as WoW or even Modern Warfare 2 which can use up quite a bit of data whilst updating from the server).

Lords of Evil has not long finished beta testing and while it still leaves a lot to be desired, it has a strong community following that is eager to get the bugs ironed out and to promote the game.

Unfortunately I’m going to give Lords of Evil a pass. I thought Farmville moved at a more exciting pace.

However, if you want to give it a try, webmmo.com is offering a two-for-one sale whereby every gem purchased in game will receive another gem free, as a launch special. This offer runs from 00:00 on 2/28/2010 to 3/4/2010 24:00.

Rated: 4+
Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Intersog Game Studios
Release Date: February 3, 2010

BUY

As you defend towns from waves of attacking monsters, you progress through the game and on to other towns. The levels are challenging and it helps to know which spells to upgrade for each monster. The levels were so challenging that I really worried when I wasn’t able to successfully defend a town. Intersog kept this possible frustration in mind and as a result, players can choose to either redo the level or just move on to the next challenge.

The graphic are well done. I appreciated being able to pinch the touch screen to zoom out and allow me to see more of the action and approaching invaders. The music and sound effects were not only appropriate to the game, but also added to the action. Because the levels are so challenging, the repetitive nature of the game doesn’t distract from the fun.

Hellemental is currently available from the Apple Apps Store for $2.99.

Review product was provided by Indie Developer Consulting on the behalf of Intersog Game Studios, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

The catch: You have to design the game.

The downsides: Well, there are none. A cash prize (current amount undetermined) will be awarded for the best Flash-based game based on and inspired by the characters, all of which can be found at the Sneables website. Michael Pellegrino, founder of 2day&2morrow’s Creations, isn’t expecting extensive gameplay testing or game design documents – right now, a fun and cute idea is all you need.

Ideas can be submitted at Sneables.com, where more information will become available this month.

The game was built with the Unity 3D engine, an engine more and more indie developers are using, which also offers brilliant 3D game-play within the player’s browser.

“We strongly feel the potential for high quality browser-based 3D games has barely been scratched, especially in the multiplayer realm,” said Austin Lane, Co-Founder of Muse Games. “Guns of Icarus is our first effort to change that.”

You can download the game and try it for free now, or purchase unlimited access for only $8.

From the BlockParty page, players can access their game accounts, launch games from the page, and interact with other Nexon players. There is also an update feed that will be included that will post the player’s achievements via the Party Feed. Customizable player profile pages, buddy lists and search tools are also a part of the new service.

While the site is up, the service is still in beta.

From the official press release:

“BlockParty will be one part games, one part portal with a twist of social networking.  Nexon America’s goal for BlockParty is to create the biggest online party with great games and awesome gamers,” said Min Kim, Nexon America’s vice president of marketing. “BlockParty will allow Nexon to better serve our players by extending the community experience to a central web-based communication hub. BlockParty will also make it easier for players to access Nexon’s growing list of games, and at the same time, allow them to share their online gaming adventures with their friends.”

The BlockParty initiative has been underway at Nexon America for several years, and with its inception, will be the only complete service delivering high-quality free-to-play games through a portal with a robust social gaming network. New and current players will be able to access all the features of BlockParty by using a Nexon Passport, which can be signed up for in just minutes.

“Joining BlockParty and having a blast will be extremely easy,” added Kim. “Nothing is going to change about our games — still fun, still free.  The addition of the social network elements at BlockParty will be familiar to most Internet users and we expect current players to forge even stronger relationships with their in-game friends and new players to quickly make friends and dive into the community.  BlockParty is really about fun and friends.”

Come join us at Pogo.com THIS SUNDAY at 7 pm Eastern/ 4 pm Pacific where we will be playing 3 fun, social, casual games in exclusive GamingAngels rooms and handing out all sorts of fun Pogo prizes! You will win just by playing!

We will be playing Poppit, a fun balloon-popping color matching puzzle game which is a Pogo.com favorite, Yahtzee Party, a cool spin on the classic dice throwing game I know I always played growing up, and Bingo Luau, a great social way to play pattern Bingo in a sweet island atmosphere.

Join us in the "Ze Gaming Angels Party" rooms in the "topics" tab in Poppit, the 3-card "Speedy" tab in Bingo Luau, and the "Classic" tab in Yahtzee Party. There are three rooms in each game, you might have to click on these tabs and scroll down to see them.

Stop by any of those rooms and play with us! Just for doing so, you will win one free month of Pogo.com's premium service, Club Pogo! Plus throughout the evening we will be offering ways to win even more Pogo swag packages, including backpacks, water bottles, downloadable games, and much more! Sign up today at Pogo.com and post your screen name below.

When the games start at 4pm PST, here's who you can look for and where:
Dawn (Pawsadawna) Bingo Luau
Annette (YukiGAP) Poppit
Trina (GamingAngel) Bingo Luau
Stealthyslyth (Stealthyslyth) Yatzee Party
Naomi (NaomiGA) Poppit
Cherith (ClovebessEO) Yatzee Party

Plants vs Zombies

It is no secret that Dawn and I love PlantsVsZombies. PopCap Games is sharing the love and allowing potential ZomBotanists the chance to try out more modes using the Flash Version which launched today, accessible via the PopCap site.

The Flash version of Plants vs. Zombies includes:
-3 available game modes (Adventure, Endless Survival, Vasebreaker)
-14 levels of Adventure mode
-A zombie not found in the PC version!
-6 zombie types and 12 plants with which to stop them
-Graphics and gameplay faithful to the PC version
-Unlike most of our web based games, PvZ streams in the music of the PC version as you play
-Enhanced performance features of Flash 10

You can visit the Flash page for PlantsVsZombies here! Soak up some sun, grab your rubber ducky and get ready to enjoy some extremely great gaming!

The gameplay itself will be an action packed sidescroller, with interesting original character and creature design. There will be unique dungeons for players to enter together, as well as a Player vs. Player fighting system.

Dungeon Fighter Online will be released later this year for PC.

Platform:

Buy

Graphics:
The graphics are really nice. This is a good thing, since most of the game involves the finding of objects hidden in the scene. The backgrounds have a really beautiful style to them. The lighting in some scenes just adds a little more of a challenge to the game itself. Really, there’s very little to complain about here.

Controls:
The controls are simple enough. Everything is done with the mouse. The player clicks on things to interact with them. If the object can’t be used, then nothing happens. There is also a journal that keeps track of important events, shows how many dream jewels you have filled up, and a map that has all of the locations the player has visited. The crystal ball is the biggest help. When it is clicked on, the man in the ball gives a little hint on what should be done.

Flow:
The game has a wonderful flow. The story progresses nicely and it is pretty easy to follow along. Things from the other two games are explained a little more, and the story continues on. It gets a little tiring if you’re in a real rush to get through it because there are numerous times that you have to go back to old areas with new items.

Fun Factor:
This game was a lot of fun, and I was a little surprised. There are a lot of seek-and-find games out right now, but this one stands out. Even if you haven’t played the other two games in the series, you can dive right into this one and still enjoy it. With really nice background graphics makes it a little easier to find some things, but this game isn’t without it’s little challenges when it comes to finding things in the graphics.

Female Factor:
Most of the cast is female. The main character you play as is a woman named Faye searching for her missing daughter with the help of a man in a crystal ball. The daughter plays an important role in the storyline. Near the end, you meet Lilith, the ruler of the faeries. There are a couple of characters mentioned in passing, but very few of them have genders or even names.

Replay Value:
There is definite replay value to this game if you’re really into puzzle games and looking for hidden objects. Not only is there always a chance to find things quicker, there is a scoring system and a global high-score list. In replays, some objects will be moved, so it isn’t the exact same each time. The game is a little short, though, so someone with a free weekend could sit down and play straight through it.

I found it easiest for some of the harder puzzles to keep a piece of paper next to me to jot down little bits of information that the journal and crystal ball might not be able to help with. Overall, this is a lovely game, though a little short, and I’d definitely recommend buying it.