Legends of Elendria: The Frozen Maiden

As the old saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. You can only listen to the same record or watch the same movie so many times before it becomes an irritation rather than a pleasure.

That applies equally to tower defence games, which have flooded iPhone and iPod touch with examples good and bad.

Clearly, to release a tower defence game in 2010 you need something original up your sleeve and Legends of Elendria: The Frozen Maiden does just that.

At its core, it's a straightforward tower defence game. You're charged with defending a base against hordes of enemies that flood onto the screen in waves via a clearly defined pathway leading directly to the door of your vulnerable headquarters.

By strategically positioning turrets on both sides of that path, you can destroy these cunning beasts before they have a chance to get within spitting distance of your beloved base.

As the game progresses, though, you need more than just brute force to keep the enemies from the gate.

That's where Legends of Elendria: The Frozen Maiden plays its ace card. Augmenting the typical tower defence setup is a living, breathing fantasy world which boasts complex role-playing elements.

For example, after each battle you're awarded experience points, which you use to boost your stats. You're also periodically given skill points to be assigned to different areas such as turret power and magical attacks.

Magic plays a massive role in the world of Elendria. Spells range from temporary power boosts for your turrets to focused attacks which can be directed at particularly stubborn foes. There's even a spell which allows you to freeze oncoming enemies to create a bottleneck and ensure your turrets get as many shots in as possible.

You start off with one basic tower type which dutifully hurls projectiles at the aggressors, but as you move around the large world map you unlock additional structures, each with different qualities. Ice towers don't harm enemies, for example, freezing them instead.

Towers can be upgraded when you have enough Mana points – awarded when you defeat an enemy – and as you might expect some of the more demanding levels become an exercise in resource management: do you lay down as many turrets as possible, upgrade your existing towers or conserve Mana to execute magic?

In this regard, the game is possibly too demanding. The difficulty ramps up at a very early stage, forcing you to replay levels several times until you discover the right tactic. You gain experience points even in defeat, so it's not a total waste of time.

The plot that underpins the action is conveyed via hand-drawn static cut-scenes. While some of the artwork feels a little basic, there's an endearing quality to it. This pleasing aesthetic dovetails neatly with some excellent sound design and atmospheric music.