This game is very enjoyable and I see myself coming back to it time and time again. At its core this is a tower defense multiplayer game with easy to learn concepts that allow everyone to quickly play. As you continue playing the strategies and complexities of the game will unfold and that’s when you’ll really start to appreciate the game.
Bloons TD Battles is a completely free game and I really think everyone should try it, even if you aren’t the biggest fan of tower defense games. There are a lot of great things about this game that I’ll discuss but I want to start at the different game modes, one of which is assault mode. In assault mode you not only build towers to defend but you can send balloons (which are what your towers are shooting!) against your opponent. This adds a nice layer of strategy and really makes you think about timing and countering your opponent.
As I mentioned assault mode is one way of playing Bloons TD Battles but there is also Defense which is where you and your opponent both defend against the same waves until one of you is overwhelmed and loses. Another mode is battle arenas where you both get the same towers and see who can best the other, there is even a card battle which I’ll explain in a bit. Besides the variety of game modes there are also clans to join, weekly competitions and leader boards, and an active community so you get matched almost instantly.
I find the game colorful, I like the graphics and think it has good music as well. There is also a variety of maps to play which keeps it fresh, although some are selected more frequently than others. The nice thing is unlike some TD games where you have specific locations to place towers this game allows you to place them anywhere outside of the lane the balloons (enemies) take. So tower placement is key and adds yet another element to the strategy.
One thing that plagues most online games is the ability to chat with others. This is ironic because you want to be able to communicate with others in online games but there is no doubt you’ll run into a troll who just types out profanity. Not in Bloons TD Battles! Their “chat” feature is great and amounts to just emoji’s! Big smiles, thumbs up, Good Job, Oops!, and of course the Destroy!. It’s a fun way to communicate and keeps the unpleasantries of some online communities at bay. Trust me, you don’t want to lose to an opponent that just uses the smiley money!
Speaking of communities, Bloons TD Battles does have clans, and my suggestion is to join one right away. I’d say just join any that are open and don’t require approval until you get more familiar with the game and understand what you want. What are the benefits of joining a clan? Great loot! As you play for a clan you’ll earn keys and those are used to unlock chests for the clan and once you unlock them everyone in the clan gets medallions which are the in-game currency. Another way to earn medallions is to play in the weekly leader board tournaments. I briefly dabbled in the tournaments and even placing 60,468th regionally got me 200 medallions and globally added another 250. Now that I know I can get rewards I may spend more time there!
When you first start out you’ll have unlocked a few towers that will be level two (max is level 4) and you will unlock them as you play. Each match you win you’ll earn XP (double darts on screen shot) and medallions, XP unlocks the ability to buy towers and medallions are what you use to purchase them. There are a lot of towers and a lot of strategies which makes this game stay fresh as you continue to explore all possibilities.
There are also different types of balloons that can help you defeat your enemy, this might annoy you when you first start out. If you don’t have any explosive damage or mages a metal balloon might get by you, if you can’t see camo then a camo balloon will get past you. You’ll learn these as you play. This does bring up one con of the game, I was unable to find any tooltips on what balloons do. My best advice is the more expensive ones are better until you learn what they do. How do you learn? Buy them and see what they do against your opponent! Or you could try Google.
I did mention I’d try to explain what card battles are. Well no one gets to pick their towers or what balloons they send, instead you draw cards and play them. Each card has two options, the top is to build the tower shown, the bottom is to spawn the balloon shown against your opponent. You simply drop the card on your side of the screen or against your opponent. That’s it! It’s not my thing but I appreciate it’s another way to play and mix things up.
One big tip I have for you when you first start out is at Round 6 green balloon spam can win. Until you get tower level 4 and bigger towers most games end around Round 18 or 21 because you can spawn big blimps. There are very hard to kill at lower levels so be warned! Also, ninjas are amazing. Last tip I have is when you have a tower selected there is a red question mark, if you click that tool tips come up for what tower upgrades do.
This game is absolutely free and I haven’t spent any money on it. You can spend money to unlock towers faster but I never did. It’s one of my top recommendations for a free game and I think it will have an active community for a long time. It’s available on steam or through your mobile phones store. The only negative thing I have to say about the game is lack of tooltips means you don’t know what balloons do or some of the UI elements on the screen which can be frustrating. This is small and you’ll learn by clicking. So tell your friends, go download the game, and find your inner balloon popping monkey!
Steam: Bloons TD Battles
Developer: Ninja Kiwi
Google Play: Bloons TD Battles
Apple Store: Bloons TD Battles
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