Lego Bionicle Defenders

It's easy to become addicted to something – whether it be a compulsive desire to check Facebook every five minutes or a penchant for ladies in pencil skirts (miaow) – and gaming is no different. Tetris, anyone? More recently, the popularity of Tower Defence games has skyrocketed, with thousands of you whiling away your lunch hours on battlefields.

Lego Bionicle Defenders is one such game. The idea is a simple and repetitive one, but, as with the aforementioned block-builder, you might start getting withdrawal symptoms if you don't get your daily fix of destruction.

My name is Dan, and I'm a Legoholic.

Set in an underwater universe, the goal of the game is to position various elemental towers around labyrinthine paths, destroying wave upon wave of evil sea creatures (known as Barraki). You receive money for critter obliteration, which is then used to bolster your defence. If just one of the blighters reaches your base, however, it's game over.

There are five different enemy types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Eels for example move quickly but are easily destroyed with air-blasts, whilst Jellyfish move slowly but can sustain more damage overall. It's a simple system that does well not to overcomplicate things, and allows the game to flow at a swift pace.

Campaign mode consists of 16 missions and, most importantly for a strategy game, the difficulty curve is spot-on. The first few levels ease you gracefully into combat, without spoon-feeding you war tactics. Handily, any new items that you unlock are briefly described in the menu before gameplay begins – a nice touch that adds further polish to an already glittering display.

Maps soon become more complex, though, and defensive positions need to be carefully structured. The Barraki grow deadlier, traversing multiple paths and attacking in large groups, and so what at first resembles a playground brawl soon looks more like The Battle for Middle-earth. Thankfully, it's never so frustrating as to bring violence upon your handset.

Survival mode, meanwhile, pits you against a never-ending onslaught of creeps. When there are 30 starfish being electrocuted onscreen and missiles ready to be launched towards an army of crabs, you really have to keep your wits about you. It's controlled chaos, and utterly engaging.

Visually, it sucks you in right from the start. The menu system is impressive, flashing between screens in true sci-fi fashion, and even the loading bar looks high-tech. The 2D environments don't offer much variety, but this is easily forgivable when your defence fires up. With up to 100 towers blasting away on your display, you can't help but become immersed in the battle.

Lego Bionicle Defenders offers outstanding value. The campaign can take anything up to seven hours to finish, which, considering the similar length of some home console games, is impressive to say the least. Add to that a robust Survival mode (more maps would have been the icing on the cake) with online high-scores, and you've got the perfect weapon for killing time – a habit you won't want to kick.

Lego Bionicle Defenders

Addictively simple yet ultimately rewarding, Lego Bionicle Defenders is as solid a tactical romp as any
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Dan Spooner
Dan Spooner
Dan Spooner tells really bad jokes. Really bad. For his first game review the opening line read, "The only backgammon I'm familiar with is cooked and served with eggs!" We made him change it.