Bloons Tower Defense 4

Well I guess I must have been living in a cave for the past couple of years! Of course, I had heard of Bloons Tower Defense, but I never actually played it until yesterday. This review is for my fellow cave dwellers. That is, it is for anyone who has never played Bloons Tower. If you have played before you undoubtedly know much more about Bloons Tower Defense at this point than I do. So, just start playing. If you have never played the game before, or if you need a quick refresher, keep reading. I will try to explain the basic premise of Bloons Tower Defense and how to get started. The rest, you can pick up as you go along.

Game Description: Try to place your towers in strategic places to stop all the bloons before they reach the end of the track and escape.

How to Play Bloons Tower Defense 4:

• Click the 'New Game' button to begin a new game.
• Select a track. There are 6 different tracks to play. For the purposes of this review, since I am an absolute beginner, I will select the 'Beginner' track. (There are also Premium Tracks and Premium Upgrades that you can buy with MochiCoins. MochiCoins cost real money. Since this website is only about free games, that will not be part of my review).
• Set your game mode. Each track has 3 game modes that you may select: Easy, Medium, or Hard. On Easy, stuff is quite cheap to buy and you have 200 lives. There are 50 rounds to pass. On Medium, stuff is fairly priced and you have 150 lives. There are 60 rounds to pass. On Hard, stuff is expensive and you only have 100 lives, and you have to pass 75 gruelling rounds. For the purposes of this review I will select the 'Easy' mode.
• The game screen. Okay, if you are following along with me you have first selected the 'Beginner' track and then the 'Easy' mode. Now, let's discuss what you see on the game screen. Obviously, there is a track. But what else? See the money at the top right corner. This is the current amount of money you can spend to buy towers. Right below the money is a red heart. The number immediately to the right of the red heart shows you how many lives you have remaining. In this case, 200. Below the heart you will see 16 different towers. (By the way, before I go any further, I should explain what a "tower" is because that was one of the things that confused me the first time I played. A tower is simply a weapon that you use to help you destroy bloons. More about towers later.) If this is your very first time playing, you will only see one tower you can use... the Dart Monkey. For the rest of the towers you will see a greyed out square with a question mark because these towers have yet to be unlocked. Go ahead and rest your mouse pointer over the Dart Monkey. Now, look at the bottom of the game screen. Bloons Tower Defense 4 explains what this tower... the Dart Monkey, does; and shows you it costs $170.
• There is one other thing I want to mention before you play Round 1. If you look at the very bottom of the game screen you will see something named 'My Career Rank'. Yesterday, before I had ever played I believe my career rank was 1. Today it says 11. It seems as you play more Bloons Tower Defense 4 your career rank increases. Why is this important? Apparently, from what I can tell, as your rank increases it unlocks new types of towers to buy. Yesterday when I played Round 1, since I only had a career rank of 1, there was only 1 type of tower I could buy... the Dart Monkey. Today, I have a career rank of 11 and I have 11 types of towers available to purchase in Round 1.
• Let's buy your first tower! Grab a tower with your mouse and drag it somewhere near the track. Click it to set its position. Sometimes a second click is necessary to release it from your mouse (this second click, if needed, should be anywhere outside of the tower's lighted circle but near the track area.) If this is your very first time playing you only have the Dart Monkey. Drag the Dart Monkey somewhere near the track. As you do, you will see a circle. This is the radius of how far your Dart Monkey can shoot its arrows. Like most towers, a Dart Monkey cannot be placed directly on the track. It also cannot be placed in the water. So, pick a spot on the yellow dirt. A good spot might be right below the first section of track as it comes down from the top. Then, click your Dart Monkey to set its positon. That is the spot where your Dart Monkey will operate from. (Although I have no verification of this, remember I am a beginner too, I believe that once you put a tower in postion it cannot be moved to another location.) Now, only if you have difficulity releasing it from your mouse, click one more time outside of the tower's lighted circle but in the general vicinity of the track area. Did you notice one more thing? Your money decreased by $170 because you just purchased the Dart Monkey!
• Let's play round 1! Click the 'Start Round!' button and watch the action. (Anytime you want to speed up the action click and hold down the 'Fast Forward' button. I don't believe the 'Fast Forward' button changes the results. I believe it only speed things up. You may go back and forth between regular speed and fast forward at any time.)
• Your Dart Monkey should have easily popped all of the balloons in Round 1. And, did you notice you earned more money?
• This concludes my brief getting started tutorial for Bloons Tower Defense 4. Have fun! And don't forget to come back to Richard's Game Reviews and play again!

Bloons Tower Defense 4 Game Options:

• The music may be turned on or off by clicking the musical note icon located at the lower right bottom of the game screen. It is somewhat small, so look carefully.
• The game sounds may be turned on or off by clicking the microphone icon also located at the lower right bottom of the game screen.

More About Bloons Tower Defense 4:

• Most towers cannot be placed directly on the track. Other towers, like Road Spikes. can only be placed on the track. As each new tower is introduced into the game Bloons Tower Defense 4 does an excellent job of explaining what each tower does and how you can use it most effectively. Also, remember, as you place your mouse over each available tower on the right side of the game screen Bloons Tower Defense 4 will display detailed information about the tower at the bottom of the game.
• You are not limited to only one of each type of tower. As long as you have enough money you can purchase as many of each tower type as you wish.
• There really is no one right way to place the towers. Try different towers in different postions and just have fun!
• Not all bloons are created equal. Red bloons are the slowest. Blue bloons move a little bit faster. A green bloon moves a little faster than a blue bloon and so forth. Some bloons are immune to certain towers. Not only that. Some bloons have other bloons inside them and when they pop the other bloon is released. And that bloon may have still another bloon inside that one and so forth. This is significant for two reasons. It makes the bloons more numerous and harder to destroy. And, if a bloon that has many bloons inside it gets all the way to the end of the track and escapes, you can lose many lives at once. For instance, if a single black or a white bloon escapes, you lose 11 lives!

Richard's Rating: 5 out of 5.

Comments: Bloons Tower Defense 4 is an absolutely superb game! It is simply tremendous fun!