highly enjoyable, addictive and challenging. the learning curve is steep but the basic mechanics are easy to learn.
although mislabeled as a ccg, creature defense did not disappoint. initially i expected a video game translation of mechanics and principles similar to those of magic: the gathering since it was my only point of reference when it came to ccgs. five minutes into playing the game, however, i realized that creature defense was a pretty good tower defense game! having recently figured out that i liked tower defense games (we've ninjatown for the nintendo ds to thank for that), this was a pleasant surprise.
unlike ninjatown, battles in creature defense can be paused at any time. also, the number of waves is significantly larger -- 50! it shocked me the first time i had to play though a battle. the rest is pretty basic. there are five elements (earth, fire, water, holy dark), two types of attacks (magic and physical) and two kinds of units (ground and flight) -- these specifications result in varying degrees of strengths and vulnerabilities among the different units.
in each battle you can only bring 5 types of units (each unit is signified by a card which you place in your fighting "deck" -- i suppose this is why it is marketed as a ccg in the first place). after each battle, there is a chance that a new unit will be available to you at the store. with more than 50 units to choose from (each with different strengths, vulnerabilities and bonuses) and only 5 unit slots for each battle, strategy becomes very important. game play does become redundant after a while, though. i also noticed that some stages seem to be "rigged" so that you fail at the first attempt but make enough money to then buy a new unlocked unit that you can use to succeed at the second attempt. it could be that the learning curve is a bit steep for me, though. nevertheless, i find this particular problem very frustrating, especially for a tower defense novice.
there are several battle modes (easy, medium, hard, time attack, etc.) that do add to the overall presentation and depth of the game, which is a nice touch. however, creature defense falls short when it comes to multiplayer options (in that THERE IS NO OPTION). what is that all about? multiplayer options could have balanced out the redundant game play and the steep learning curve, AND accentuated the game's good points.
the bottomline? creature defense is highly enjoyable and challenging. the learning curve leaves much to be desired, but the game mechanics themselves are easy to learn. this game is addictive but not completely time sucking (as you can pause at any time). really, the only huge drawback is the lack of multiplayer options. i'm giving creature defense an 7.5/10. -1.5 for lack of multiplayer options (obviously), -0.5 for the redundant game play and -0.5 for misrepresentation.
(originally posted on my blog: http://miaowow.blogspot.com/2010/01/creature-defense-psp.html)