‘Freak Tower’ Adds Tower Defense To Building Sim With Solid Results [Review]

By

Buncha freaks up in here.
Buncha freaks up in here.
Freak Tower by GungHo Software
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch
Price: Free

The developer behind incredibly successful free to play iOS game, Puzzles & Dragons, is back with a new free to play title called Freak Tower.

Launching the game for the first time allows prospective tower builders to walk through a tutorial that gives a decent overview of the game. The idea here is to build a tower, one floor up at a time, and fight off various monsters that climb said tower to steal the food that’s dubiously placed on the roof.

The gameplay sorts out into two basic themes: tower building and monster defending. In the first case, players will build floors one at a time, choosing either an Apartment, Restaurant, Recreation Area, Service, or Retail Space. At the bottom of the tower is a slot machine that will dispense a new Freak each time players pull the handle. Occasionally, there will be a special “Lucky Time” that will bring in a special guest Freak, a VIP of sorts, pulled from pop culture (I think I saw Psy in there).

Unlike many free-to-play games, Freak Tower doesn’t force you to purchase anything.

Once floors are built, it’s time to bring in Freaks, who can be either randomly generated, or tagged with a name from Twitter or Facebook. I’ve got a ton of Mac celebrities in there; luckily none of them know it. Freaks generate cash, need employment at one of the retail floors, and are essential to fighting off monsters.

The defense portion of the game comes into play at random, or via a special “Monster Hunting” button. Each hunting session has a specific monster and mission-like goal with a wacky title (Some Like It Hot, Get That Slime, A Smoky Flavor, Mushroom Acres) that will net players rewards like items, floor level ups and in-game currency.

Unlike many free-to-play games, Freak Tower doesn’t force you to purchase anything. I’ve been playing the game for the better part of three days and have yet to really feel the need to purchase Jewels, the hard currency in Freak Tower. Heck, I even got a warning when I tested the buy button, letting me know that I didn’t have to buy stuff to have fun in the game. Bravo.

The soundtrack is enjoyable, though repetitive. If you’re not a fan of the upbeat, jazzy music loop, you can turn it off in the options screen, where you can also turn off specific notifications if you like, keeping stray “OMG YOU NEED TO COME BACK” reminders off your iPhone or iPad.

The graphics are a bit on the basic side, though fit in well with the theme and the basic rag-doll animations the Freaks exhibit. There’s a bit of pixellation in the backgrounds, but hey, it’s a free game about monsters climbing a tower. We’ll let it slide here.

Freak Tower
Product Name: : Freak Tower
The Good: A whimsical tower-building, monster defense mashup that doesn’t try to suck up player’s money.
The Bad: Graphically basic, music loop can get annoyingly repetitive.
The Verdict It’s free to play, which means there are probably mechanics in the later game that will encourage players to drop real cash. The real point is that Freak Tower is fun all on its own, and can be enjoyed with or without real currency.
Buy from: App Store

[rating=game4]

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