Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch

No wonder the game calls itself “the best Tower Defense”

Tower Defense games have come and gone, and in the last decade we’ve seen the genre rise and fall… But it still shows signs of life. Ninja Kiwi studios, specialized in this sort of game, developed Bloons Tower Defense 5 to be the best possible experience for both hardcore fans as well as curious gamers looking for a casual time killer.

Mechanics: 9/10

Bloons TD5 is a Tower Defense game, so your main objective is to prevent balloons (the so-called “Bloons”) from crossing the map and reaching your base, which has a predetermined number of Hit Points it can take. You’ll have to position armed monkeys as sentries to guard the routes the balloons will take. Each popped balloon yields money that can be invested into installing new “towers”, upgrading existing units or activating devastating powers by hiring “special agents”.

Each level is a sequence of 50, 65, 85 or 100 rounds (depending on the difficulty selection), which get progressively harder. You’ll have unlimited preparation time between each round to manage your resources, but you’re also able to do so during battles. There are different kinds of damage (piercing, explosive, freezing, etc) and different balloons will have their own set of weaknesses and resistances, forcing you to adapt, experiment and balance your defenses accordingly. The game will always give you a heads up when a round is about to throw a new kind of Bloon at you, so the experience never feels unfair.

Each of the dozens of units at your disposal has its own upgrade tree, and beyond a certain point it’s impossible to have all the powers on a single unit. It’s important to have many units of the same kind, so that each specializes in a damage type or special property (damage vs reach, area of effect vs attack speed, etc). The game constantly introduces new levels and new kinds of units, keeping the experience fresh and never overwhelming – the rhythm is perfect for players to learn and get used to each tool at their disposal… And the options are countless!

Fun Factor: 10/10

BTD5 is a truly charming game, one that can entertain and hold players. It’s quite hard to pinpoint what exactly makes it so addictive! It may be the way each unit changes visually with each upgrade you apply, making your army look like an expression of your play style. Perhaps it’s the joy of finding your favorite unit and looking for every opportunity you have to put it to use.

Ultimately, the point is that this is a game designed with a lot of care, and you will feel more involved and invested in your little war of monkeys and balloons than you would with any other game that was supposed to be about making decisions, making preparations and then passively watching how the round unfolds.

Presentation: 7/10

Matching the crazy setting, Bloons TD 5 adopts a colorful cartoon visual style. The environments are vibrant and the characters full of personality. The soundtrack, despite being quite good, lacks variety and it’s hard not to feel bothered. You won’t get tired of it, but it’s hard not to notice how this particular aspect of the game got way less attention than the rest.

Final Considerations

Bloons TD 5 proclaims itself to be ‘the best Tower Defense’, and it certainly delivers an experience that justifies the title. The sheer amount and variety of content may look overwhelming, but the game manages to introduce its elements at an appropriate and quite engaging rate, and you’ll end up feeling more involved in its craziness than any other title in the genre could make you.

Scores

Fun Factor = 10
Mechanics = 9
Presentation = 7
Worth the 15 dollars? Yes!

Final: 8.7/10

Reviewed with the Nintendo Switch version.