Asteroid Defense 2 Review

Last month’s free Android download Asteroid Tower Defense was a great little surprise, with wonderfully focused tower defense play that was screaming for an expansion on the concept. Developer Deonn Games heard our cries, and has launched Asteroid Defense 2, a lovingly crafted step-up from the original.

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Asteroid Defense 2 builds on the original to provide some great space-rock blasting action

Last month’s free Android download Asteroid Tower Defense was a great little surprise, with wonderfully focused tower defense play that was screaming for an expansion on the concept. Developer Deonn Games heard our cries, and has launched Asteroid Defense 2, a lovingly crafted step-up from the original.

The majority of the gameplay elements are unchanged compared to the original, however there are plenty of new weapons, levels and upgrades to enjoy. The serious price hike is cause for minor concern (this version, at least at launch, isn’t free), but it’s still a very enjoyable game regardless.

As with the original, there are hundreds of meteors headed towards Earth, and you are tasked with taking them all down. You have a central space station, and if enough asteroids smash into it, your journey is over.

To stop the oncoming hordes, you can attach lasers, guns, flamethrowers and other assorted weaponry to your base, along with solar-power cells to keep them all functioning. As more and more meteors come raining down, you’ll need to build your defenses up, upgrade previous instalments and generally make sure the rocks aren’t reaching your captain’s hub.

There are two main elements that make Asteroid Defense 2 so much fun to play. The first is the constant, blistering action, as the rocks keep coming and you find yourself continuingly warding them off. There are explosions all over the place, and at times you’ll find dozens of rocks on screen at the same time with no slowdown in framerate. It’s very exciting stuff.

Coupling well with this is the simple control scheme. Building new nodes for your ship is a case of touching where you want them to go, and choosing your weapon of choice from the bottom of the screen. Upgrading your guns is very easy too – you touch them, then hit upgrade. This ease of control allows you to focus on the action, and less on making sure your guns are all in place.

As you progress your ship’s level will rise, allowing you to build new weaponry and upgrade previous guns to ultimate beast-size proportions. This allows the game to become progressively more difficult, as your new guns are put up against even bigger rocks, lava and frozen rocks, and screen-sized slabs of pain. There are even aliens to find this time around.

Asteroid Defense 2 Asteroid Defense 2

We found that the original Asteroid Tower Defense was great fun, but lacked content – after just a short while it was possible to see everything. This sequel really turns up the heat, with a full campaign mode that allows you to take your ship past various planets, building it bigger and bigger all the way.

There are also new weapons to try out, and tons more levels of upgrades to bag. The original endless survival mode is still availableto be unlocked, and you have full online leaderboards and achievements to unlock too.

Unfortunately, while Asteroid Defense 2 definitely builds on the original, it also keeps a number of its faults. The game is incredibly easy, and we never came even a little close to losing at any point. It also feels very much the same game as number one, despite the additions here and there.

This wouldn’t be too bad, were it not for the hefty price tag. While the first release was free, this second one comes with a $5 asking price. Considering that it is rather similar to the free version, it’s difficult for us to fully recommend the game at the current price.

Still, if you enjoyed the original enough, Asteroid Defense 2 is an absolute blast, and well worth checking out. If you’re not 100 percent sure, maybe check out its free predecessor first.

The good

  • Campaign mode added. More weapons and upgrades than the original. Nicely polished.

The bad

  • Very easy to beat. Hefty price tag.
80 out of 100