Game Reviews

Bloons TD 6 review - A tower defence series that's starting to show its age

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iOS
| Bloons TD 6
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Bloons TD 6 review - A tower defence series that's starting to show its age
|
iOS
| Bloons TD 6

It's not exactly unfair to say that the classic tower defence template feels a little on the worn out side. There are some great games in the genre, but to stand out nowadays a dev needs to do something pretty special.

Which brings us to Bloons TD 6. It's a game the relies heavily on the past, and while it looks lovely, it doesn't add anything new to the formula we're all starting to grow a little tired of.

Sure, there are monkeys and balloons, but there's a lack of tactics and strategic thinking here that makes the whole thing feel pretty darn flat.

Bloon over?

Each fight takes place on a map. There's a path running through that map, and it's up to you to place your monkey forces to ensure that none of the evil balloons make it all the way along that path.

There are loads of monkeys to choose from, but you need to unlock them through play. There are monkeys with darts, monkeys in places, pirate monkeys, ninja monkeys, and monkeys that can fire out blasts of magical energies.

Bloons TD 6 iOS review screenshot - A spiral map

To be honest though, it doesn't matter what monkey you're using, the tactics are almost always the same. Defend the choke points in the map and there's a very good chance you'll easily get through all 20 waves.

The game does have a few tricks up its sleeve though. Each of your monkey towers has its own upgrade trees. And some balloons later in the waves can only be killed by simians that have the right upgrades.

Bloons TD 6 iOS review screenshot - A Cubist level

But, in easy mode especially, you get so much cash from the slaughter that it's simple to just build up whatever you want. Things get more challenging in the other modes, but the same basic principles hold throughout.

Monk on

There's some light fun to be had here, but in the end that's all that Bloons TD 6 offers. It's a shiny gewgaw, full of explosions and monkey antics, but once you're past all of that there's not really anything to write home about.

If you're desperate for a new trad TD game, then this one doesn't really put a foot wrong. Everyone else is probably better off looking elsewhere though.

Bloons TD 6 review - A tower defence series that's starting to show its age

Bloons TD 6 follows the tower defence template pretty much to the letter, but there's nothing here for people sick of the genre
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.