Ultimate Defense 2 Walkthrough

Tower defense games - while they are some of the MOST popular flash-based and online games around, you can have either a LOVE or HATE affair with these games. True, the pack is lead and headlined by the likes of Desktop Tower Defense which keep fans of the genre coming back for more. HOWEVER, there are A LOT of tower defense games that is mediocre or just bad. Many tower defense games out there are very redundant. Some don't have any replay value, and the list goes on and on.

So where does Ultimate Defense 2 fall under? Is it the good, the bad, or the ugly? As it turns out, luckily, this tower defense game brought to us by Likwid Game Productions fall under the GOOD category. Beefed up with a polished interface, nicely done graphics and visuals, different game play mechanisms, Ultimate Defense 2, without a doubt, stands out from the rest of the pack. It outdoes its predecessor, which was a huge hit when it was released. Graphics-wise, it looks a lot like Protector and it comes with elements that closely resemble the said game like unit levels, upgrades, spells, EXP points, and those are just to name a few.

At first sight, the game play of this tower defense game looks intimidating... it looks like one that has a very steep learning curve. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. One thing that newcomers and even veterans in tower defense games should be aware of is that, unlike MOST tower defense games out there (where the towers fire at anything within their range), the towers in Ultimate Defense 2 fires only in one direction. That said, you should make sure that you make your towers face where they need to fire shots the most. You can rotate your defenders once on every level, however, and you need to plan on when to do this. Otherwise, you won't be able to beat this game.

Also, many of the units available in this tower defense game can only shoot two squares when purchased. That means you may need to build and establish another unit to cover an entire lane, which is usually 3 squares wide. Since you can rotate your defenders once on each level, it's logical that you put your strong defenders and units at the turn positions of the path. By doing so, you can make them face the weaker side first. When they get past that, you can rotate them to the strong side where they will fire constantly for the whole level. I told you! This is NOT an ordinary tower defense game where everything is 'set and forget' as far as towers go. The rotating mechanism of the towers in Ultimate Defense 2 takes a bit of micro-managing skill to master.

Another striking difference between Ultimate Defense 2 and other tower defense is that you do NOT (and cannot) purchase skill upgrades for your defenders. Rather, they need to gain EXP points by killing more enemies. This is another thing you have to take advantage of. You want to place your strong towers in a way that they most of the kills. Not only do these stronger towers easily kill enemies. This allows you to take their firepower to the next level. You can also unlock new defenders by killing monsters, completing levels, and gain MORE goodies by digging for those treasures.

Moving forward, let's have a closer look at the spells and items. Your skillful use and timing for these spells can spell (no pun intended) the difference between victory and defeat. You need to keep an eye on your mana pool as you need to have some especially during critical moments. They are important for preventing those creeps from leaking. During the early phases of the game, the poison spell just OWNS! However, since this is a damage-over-time (DOT) type of spell, you need to cast it early on in the level as it takes quite a while to kill an enemy. On the other hand, if you want something that would insta-gib those creeps, a spell that would obliterate them without any delay, the lightning spell is a good one to pick. This is unlocked shortly after the game starts.

I MUST say that this game is a breath of fresh air, especially in the tower defense game genre. I don't know any other TD game where micro-management takes the front stage and is needed for victory. This need for good micro-managing skills alone makes the game MUCH more involving and absorbing compared to its brothers and sisters. Nah, this isn't a game where you can build your defenders then sit and sip on your cola as your towers do all of the dirty work for you. You need to actively rotate your defenders, time your spells, and those are just to name a few.

After a level or two, you should have more than enough dough to buy 2 Dragons. At this point, you shouldn't have trouble winning the game unless you screw up too badly. The pair of dragons (combined with a ninja for good measure) should be enough to eliminate all of those pesky creeps until the end of the game. One more reminder you should keep in mind is that you should never stop digging. I dug every single square I didn't need and it has rewarded me with 10+ mana potions at the end. It came in very handy for casting those spells and getting rid of those level bosses.

After building those dragons, build some more, toss in a couple of ninjas, and don't forget to keep digging. Along with that, you should save as much cash as you can. If you are able to start a game with more $3800 (and YES, this is doable), you should coast your way to victory.

Summing things up, this is one of the BETTER tower defense games you could lay your hands on. It took about an hour or so to figure out how to win. It's NOT easy, BUT it's NOT too difficult that it frustrates you and makes you pull your hairs out. Give it a shot and see what I'm talking about.