Looking for the Best Tower Defense Games for Android to add to your gaming arsenal? Our team of Mobile Gaming nerds researched over 20 different tower defense games and played nearly half of them. In total, we checked over 65 reviews and spent nearly 60-hours of gameplay.
What is a Tower Defense Game?
Tower Defense is an interesting genre and can be traced in the ’80s with Space Invaders. Space invader was first developed in 1971 by the video game genius Tomohiro Nishikado in Japan and became a success in the early ’80s as the best selling game.
Nishikado took inspiration for the “space” theme from Star Wars; players control a spaceship (or cannon) that move horizontally across the screen firing at incoming aliens.
The concept of having to “defend” against enemies is what skyrocketed its popularity, as well as its intuitive gameplay and theme. You may think this was a simple idea, but in the ’80s, there were many technical limitations and technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today.
What is a good Tower Defense Game?
A good tower defense game has simple gameplay and many different towers, abilities, and maps. Tower diversity is important; being able to choose which tower you want to use adds depth to the gameplay. If there is a lack of towers, the game becomes dull. I usually stay far from any games that don’t have at least 8 different towers to choose from.
I prefer difficult tower defenses that require unique strategies to beat them and tend to dislike short or easy gameplay. I fully understand the appeal to casual gamers, but a great tower defense has a great mixture of casual gameplay and challenging modes.
Why is Tower Defense Games So Popular Today?
The idea of having to ‘defend’ for your survival is integrated into our evolution. We as humans are always operating in a survival state and the fear of not being able to defend your territory is what evolved us from Homosapien into modern humans. This is what created tribes and nations. This is why the Tower Defense genre is so popular, people love to defend and conquer – It is within our human nature!
Today, you will hundreds of defense games for iOS an Android. Our team had to be very picky with games having too many negative reviews or toxic advertisements we all hate.
But, that doesn’t mean the games not listed here aren’t fun to play! We just haven’t come across them. Please comment if you have any for us to check out. Visit CrushThePixel for more mobile gaming news.
Editor’s Choice: Bloons TD 6
Bloons TD 6 comes atop our list as one of the most epic Towers Defense game. Use a variety of Monkey Towers with different abilities and powers to protect yourself against epic balloons that to be popped quickly.
Choose between 8 different heroes to lead your team to victory. Each hero has special activated abilities that you can use against incoming balloons and assist your towers.
Each tower is categorized by Primary, Military, Magic cand Support. Each category has 5 or more different monkies to use during the battle and has 17 unique abilities, split out into 3 different skill trees that can be upgraded by the player.
Out of the box, you have 31 challenging maps and can choose between Easy, Medium and Hard. Easy means the balloons move slower and you have extra lives to get the feel for the map. The medium will give you reduced lives and rewards you once you beat round 60. Hard have faster moving blooms and only 100 lives. Beating round 80 gives you a gold medal for the track.
The beauty of Bloons TD6 is the strategy required to successfully beat harder rounds. Balloons start off as a normal type and get more powerful as the rounds increases. Certain levels will spawn MOAB-class balloons, which are fortified blimps.
TD6 is great for anyone looking for a unique strategy defense game, where you can create and deploy your own strategy. Ninja Kiwi is constantly updating their game with fresh content to keep you coming back for more fun.
Kingdom Rush: Frontier
Kingdom Rush: Frontier is our all-time favorite tower defense game developed and published by Ironhide Game Studios. Defend your kingdom against a horde of enemies and use a variety of towers and spells at your command.
Enjoy 24 different levels, each having 3 difficulties to put your tactical skills to the test. There are four main towers to deploy along the side of the map, which includes magic, ranged, melee and artillery.
Throughout the game, defend against 62 unique enemies and an endless mode of a non-stop challenge. Choose from 16 heroes with their own special abilities and play style. The first four heroes are available for free, but the rest are paid in-game for mobile devices.
Download Kingdom Rush: Frontier
Our All-Time Favorite: Kingdom Rush Vengeance
Kingdom Rush Vengeance is the 4th installment tower defense game by Ironhide. Vengeance is a follow up to Kingdom Rush: Frontier. Play as an evil wizard, Vez’nan, returning to Linirea to take full power of its land.
Choose between 17 different towers and equip 5 to create your own strategy of different towers against each challenge you face. Although, there will be challenges where certain towers are needed in order to defeat the map. There are 30 upgrades that you can spend on to improve your towers and items strength.
Heroes in Kingdom has 5 unique abilities to destroy the horde of enemies coming your way. Heroes are an important strategy and help you effectively farm away certain mods that can put pressure on different lanes. But, your heroes can die – so you can to micro-manage their position.
Download Kingdom Rush Vengeance
Realm Defense
Realm Defense is an addictive Tower Defense game for Android. There are over 300 levels and a variety of enemies to defend against. What makes this game unique and fun than any other tower defense game is its progression system.
Unlock different realms and maps, which gives you different towers, abilities and hero’s to choose from. But, you may find it challenging to progress further without investing into gems and left grinding the same levels. However, if you don’t mind the grind, Realm Defense is definitely a game to try.
Empire Warriors TD
Tower Defense Crush: Empire Warrior is currently getting praise as the main competitor to Kingdom Rush. Both are very similar games; choose between unique towers and heroes with unique abilities to destroy the horde of enemies coming your way.
Empire Warriors advantage are the number of rewards you are able to acquire while playing the game and completing each level. You can acquire gems to purchase and level your hero. Gems are also rewarded after completing quests, events,
Kingdom Defense: The War of Empires
Kingdom Defense is an epic tower defense game, where you defend against a horde of evil monsters, wizards and orcs with special towers, heroes, and abilities. The cute art style and casual gameplay can get you hooked for hours.
The Most Challenging Towers Defense Game: Grow Castle.
Grow Castle is on our list as one of the most challenging tower defense game to date. The graphics may not be appealing to most gamers, but the gameplay makes up for it.
Protect and upgrade your castle against upcoming waves of enemies. You begin the game with a group of town archers and heroes as your primary defense. Choose between 30+ different heroes, each with their own special abilities to wipe out the enemy force. You can also equip powerful items on your heroes to make them stronger for wave battle.
Grow Castle is very dependant on gold as the main source for your economy. You can purchase gold in the shop, farm waves whie you sleep or sell items in the market. Gold is used for upgrades and purchasing heroes to grind waves faster and more efficient.
If you are competitive, join a guild for weekly tournaments or rank up by progressing through as many waves as possible. Levels can go above 10,000, so be prepared to grind!
Cat’n’Robot: Idle Defense
Similar to Grow Castle, build up your army and tower in this one-tap tower defense game. Equip your tower with various robotic gadgets, each having their own abilities. You also can combine these gadgets to fully customize your tower.
Your cats will be defending against the various creeps and monsters that you will encounter in the world of Cats n’ Robots. Unlike other tower defense games, there is a ranked ladder and PVP. This cute and fun game is definitely worth your time.
Toy Defense Fantasy
Defend your castle against dangerous dragons and trolls in this addictive tower defense strategy game. Build up your army and fight off a horde of enemies wanting to destroy your kingdom.
Deploy torrents, magic
Download Toy Defense Fantasy – Tower Defense Game
The Most Fun Tower Defense Game For Android: Plants vs Zombies
Planets v.s Zombies is an award-winning tower defense, strategy game. Grow powerful plants to defend against a horde of zombies trying to attack your home garden.
Collect hundreds of different plants to find the perfect strategy as you complete level. There is also a leaderboard to test your skills against other players for the highest score.
Surprisingly enough, EA has kept this game updated and fresh to keep us coming back for more. Getting started, you are introduced to the mode Adventure. There are 5 different challenges in this mode, each having 10 different levels.
As you successfully complete each level, you unlocked different plants and abilities to use against the mass mobs of zombies. The challenges becoming increasingly difficult, forcing you to think quickly and use your economy well. The economy is based upon how many “Sun” you collect during your battle, which you can use to for your garden defense.
We definitely recommend Plants v.s Zombies if you are looking for a tower defense game that is both challenging and casual.
Castle Creeps TD
Castle Creeps is a fun and challenging tower defense game. Similar to Kingdom Rush and Realm Defense, assemble your hero and troops against a horde of enemies. The gameplay of Castle Creeps TD is simple and easy. Select between various posts on the map to deploy your 4 upgradable towers.
Each hero and tower can be leveled and upgraded with gold and gems by purchasing chests in-game. Tower chests can be purchased with Gold, Hero Chests with Keys and Mega chests with gems.
Now, this may concern you if you are a F2P player. In the beginning, the levels are easy to play through. But, as the challenges get harder, your hero and tower upgrades are necessary. Therefore, you will eventually hit a wall in your progression if you do not get the upgrades required.
If you don’t mind spending a bit of cash for further progression, while supporting the developers, we recommend Castle Creeps due to its polished gameplay and features.
