Defendin’ DePenguin is a tower defense strategy game designed for young gamers. Strangely enough, I have never played a tower defense game evidently, as the term was new to me.  I say strangely, because I like strategy games and have played many of them. But for those who don’t know, tower defense games require players to build different types of towers to deflect waves of enemies who appear at staggered intervals. The strategy involves the different defensive missiles from the towers, the placement of the towers, and the use of power-ups and other items and actions. I can’t compare this to other TD games that may exist on the NDS, but when considered separately as a strategy game for kids, Defendin’ DePenguin is a mostly well-designed game that will keep kids interested and engaged.

The gameplay revolves around the story of a society of penguins who constantly have to defend their towns against marauding animals like bears, crabs, seals and other polar denizens. These enemies all have different types of strengths and weaknesses, which correspond to the attack abilities of various defensive towers. For instance, animals with blubber are vulnerable to icicle attacks, whereas critters with shells like turtles and crabs are vulnerable to rapid-fire ice cubes.

In Story Mode, the first level introduces the first type of tower that can be built. The game is divided into “maps,” each of which has several levels. The towers are introduced periodically throughout the first several maps, and once introduced, players can pick any of the towers to build during the rest of the game. Each tower has a specific ability, such as slowing down enemies, or shooting different projectiles like snowballs or icicles. These towers can be upgraded, as well. In order to purchase or upgrade a tower, players will have to earn money by dispatching the enemies.

The interface is not as intuitive as it could be for a children’s game, but the manual does a good job of explaining the various menu functions. The stylus is the main method of interacting with the interface. The main menu item choices are for placing towers, upgrading towers, selling towers, and sending Little Blue (the main character) to carry out certain tasks. Little Blue can collect power-ups and temporarily boost a tower by inhabiting the tower, fish for extra fish, and target a particular enemy for any towers in the area. The stylus is used to choose the menu functions, to place the towers and to move Little Blue around. For the most part, this works well, but moving Little Blue can be tiresome at times as each different action requires players to touch him with the stylus again for reactivation.

There are three difficulty levels, which mainly appear to be based on more or less amounts of initial fish and money. These items are important, as the level is over if the fish supplies are totally depleted by the enemies, and money is needed for tower defense. The easy level is very generous with fish and money, while the hardest level barely doles out enough to survive the level long enough to get additional tower strength.

Besides the story mode, there is a Quick Play mode, which allows players to play any of the maps, which are all available in the beginning of the mode. Each map has successive waves of enemies which come in faster waves as the play progresses. This is a great feature and one that adds to the longevity of the game. Other modes are the Library, where players can read information on the towers and enemies, and a Tutorial, which introduces the basic game mechanics and strategic requirements.

This game is interesting and fun, and offers sound and engaging strategic gameplay. The story mode does a great job of introducing and explaining each new game element. However, the save function is not well-designed or thought-out and has the potential to frustrate players with impossible to win situations. There are two save slots, which are set-up at the beginning of the game. The game progress is saved automatically in these save slots during gameplay, and therein lies the trouble. If a player begins a level with low fish and/or money (the amount of fish and money is carried over to each successive level in a particular map), it may be impossible to win that particular level. Players don’t have the option to go to an earlier save spot. Their only option other than replaying the current level is to start over at the beginning of the map, even if the player has already finished several levels of that map. This is an annoying, but acceptable, feature for adults; for children, it can be a game-stopper.

Also, it is strange that a kids’ game would only have two save slots, too. Many families have more than two kids.

Defendin’ DePenguin is a good children’s critical thinking game, and one that is above average. The save game feature has the potential to be frustrating for the younger players, but can be circumvented by choosing the easiest level, which will ensure a plentiful supply of fish and money. Parents should be prepared to help younger players at first with explanations of the gameplay.

Gameplay: 7.5
There aren’t many critical thinking games on the NDS for kids. Defendin’ DePenguin is a good strategy title for kids, and one that will keep their attention. There is plenty of replay value, as well. The interface could be better designed and the automatic saves can be troublesome, but the game experience as a whole is still fun.

Graphics: 6.0 
The graphics are not very interesting, and do not compare well to other NDS games. The animals are not animated well and move stiffly, and Little Blue is not very impressive, either.

Sound: 7.0
The music is good, but repetitive.

Difficulty:  Medium
The map levels become increasingly difficult, but the easy difficulty level stays pretty easy throughout the game.

Concept: 7.0
There isn’t a lot of new or innovative gameplay involved, but the execution is nice for the most part.

Overall: 7.5
Kids will enjoy this game, and their parents will, too. Any good puzzle type of game is a welcome addition to a family’s game library. The interface will take a bit of explaining for young kids, and the automatic save has the potential to be frustrating for some. The tower defense design is good, though, and presents kids plenty of puzzle-solving fun.