Gnumz: Masters of Defense

Gnumz: Masters of Defense
N/A
Metacritic
71
Steam
46.5
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$0.49
Release date
21 December 2015
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
71 (95 votes)

An enemy army is at our gates! Build an ideal chain of traps. Use magic and the power of the elements: earth, ice, fire and shadow.

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Gnumz: Masters of Defense system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP SP3
  • Processor: 1500 MHz
  • DirectX: Version 9.0
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Khan Sahib Jadoogar
Khan Sahib Jadoogar

This is one of the several tower defense games made by 8th Floor game company and released a few years back. This one follows the same line of game play that the others do. They have towers in fixed locations, four tower types, a select set of enemy types - the same in all their games, an upgrade system for your defenses and a set of panic weapons. That's enough sophistication that you can enjoy it. The game as it is currently available on Steam plays well and does not have some of the issues reported in earlier reviews. It is an "okay" tower defense game with decent graphics. Significant issues are that the towers don't have much synergy, some are virtually useless and the fields are all so alike that it feels like you are playing the same thing over and over again. No new strategies evolve with higher levels. These, and similar problems are game design issues which plague this offering.

I think it works well, if you want something to play for short periods of time in the tower defense category. It is not an addictive game that you want to keep playing for hours on end. I have played a lot of tower defense games. While this is not among the best, it is worth playing, so I give it a weak "yes", since the Steam reviews only allow "yes" and "no". If I were to rate it on a 5 star scale, I would give it 2.5 stars (in the middle).

TslGame.exe!
TslGame.exe!

Nice tower defence game. Quite simple really, and different from other tower games in some aspects:
(1) instead of towers, you use traps;
(2) you can use "spells" that will help you survive (these spells have a cool down period before being usable again);
(3) you will be awarded gems each time you pass a level, some monsters provide also gems upon their demise;
(4) you can use the gems you are awarded to call on spells that have not finished their cool down period;
(5) the same gems help you improve your abilities and improve your traps;
(6) there are 4 different campaigns to play, each one having an easy, normal and hard setting with 20 levels each;
(7) the variety of "enemies" is good, some are quick, others extremely beefy (hard to kill), some help others become invisible (immune to your traps), some fly or are extremely quick, etc.

All in all, a nice tower game that can even be considered relaxing. The only thing that I do not like is that the game is too easy. If you are looking for a challenging game, and want to sweat through every minute of it, this is not the game for you. The achievements are not difficult to get, you can unlock every achievement by completing two campaigns only. Recommended nonetheless for the easy and relaxing factor (everything doesn't have to be competitive and stressful, does it?). It provides good entertainment value, if you get it for sale you won't regret it.

SocioPsycho
SocioPsycho

Sure the game run fine, but its a poor tower defense phone port. Overly flashy, with poor tower synergy, and enemies which are unbalanced against you. While the gems you get to buy upgrades are given rather fairly, it doesn't off set the amount of imbalance this game already has. The levels are split on 3 different difficulties Easy Normal and Hard, winning on Hard will not give you 3 stars on easy.

The game is made to be grindy in order to frustrate you into buying gems so you can upgrade your defenses. While they got away from the pay to win system from the phone, it is still embedded into the game and cant not be removed with out a overhaul of the game itself. Very limited tower ideas, and upgrades that get very annoying to look at as they flash every time they attack. If you like fighting an up hill battle, and enjoy the same feeling as someone taking your picture every second then pick this up.

mindygbk
mindygbk

I am a fan of a good tower defence. This game plays kinda like crystal defenders which I love! I found this game easy to pick up and enjoyable to play.

Jxt09
Jxt09

So far so good. I only have an hour of playtime and I like it so I'm posting a tentative positive review (subject to change).

Elemental combat. I've never seen that in a tower defense game before. It's an interesting twist. And instead of a long line of the same enemy type followed by a line of a different enemy type, as all the other TD games I've played do, this game has mixed groups of different enemy types attacking at the same time. That means you have to have a variety of traps from the beginning, instead of just a basic type first then add different types later as you get more money from kills. So far I have not seen anywhere that it tells you what enemies are coming up, which is unforunate since I have had to quickly sell traps in order to buy ones I need for an enemy.

Fire, Ice, Earth, and Shadow (no Air element underground, I guess). Some enemies can be defeated by two different elements and they have defense against their own element (you see a shield icon appear when they pass over it). For instance, skeletons take more damage from ice traps but less from earth ones. Ice enemies are defeated by fire traps, obviously. There's also a money trap which gives you more money and damages a little (it's a shadow trap).

Magic spells. In addition to traps there are also recharging magic spells, like a rock fall or a time freeze. These recharge over time or you can pay to get them instantly.

In between battles you can upgrade your skills. You can choose what you want to upgrade, the trap damage, trap cost, income from kills, initial gold upon start, magic spells. Each trap has two aspects you can upgrade. Obviously in the mobile version they want you to pay real money to upgrade faster. In the Steam version you don't have that option (and I wouldn't even if I could!) so you might have to grind a little or just play smarter.

Graphics style is okay. I like it, but you can see screenshots and decide for yourself.

Music and sound effects are not the best but okay. So far there's only been one background track during battle. I hope there are more otherwise it will get repetitive and annoying.

More later...

marcioevil
marcioevil

Cool little tower defense game, mixes some good TD elements and has a lot of levels to play through, it has a good learning curve and the maps are good looking too, could be a little bit more polished in terms of costumization of ur traps and spells but its nothin really serious, decent game to spend a few hours.

kumori
kumori

After 100% achievements:

If you are like me and have played your fair share of tower defenses then maybe you have played Creobit's earlier games: "Royal Defense" and "Fort Defense"? Those predecessors were mediocre games with crappy mobile phone UI with no keyboard shortcuts, tedious star grinding and absolutely no new ideas at all. The games weren't awful mind you, just very generic.

This time around the UI and graphics looks good, great even. It's very stylish, colorful and follows a nice theme. But except for the nice assets you'll very soon realize that it's actually the very same shitty UI all over again, only re-skinned. The mostly uninspired upgrades are identical to previous games and even the achievements are the same. Doesn't bode well but what the heck, as long as the gameplay is decent right?

The first few minutes had me really worried. The first thing you'll notice is that tower-range has been thrown out the bloody window(!!). Instead there nothing but floor-plates that the creeps walk over and take damage. In my mind, this takes away tons of complexity and leave you with very choice as for what tower should go where. This is especially true since towers can only be mounted on pre-defined locations.

The second thing that boggled my mind was the damage abstraction. You now have 4 color towers (or elements) where each color beats another color. There's even a small diagram visible at all time for you to look at. It seems convoluted. It also doesn't help strategy that you don't know what waves will come ahead of time.

But to my surprise it actually works out pretty good. It definitively has a focus on action over strategy. The tower balance feels pretty good and the timing on some waves can make things turn rough and interesting. It's truly a shame they did nothing about UI, progression and upgrades. But all in all the game is an original.

It's a much, much better game than it's predecessors. It's shorter, not only fewer campaigns but also less grindy. The game is still far from great (I like strategy over click-frenzy), but this time I'm left intrigued with what kind of tower-defense Creobit can come up with next.

I would recommend this game at half price.

Delta 66
Delta 66

Very limited TD for a PC game, a straight tablet port.
Too few options to place towers, little towers combos, no mazing.
Lack a towers and enemies database.

If you look for a simple TD, try Kingdom Rush, or Fieldrunner 2 instead.
For something more elaborate try Defensive Grid 1 (not the 2)

Pustka
Pustka

4 types of traps is just sad. some split upgrades yes but it's just not enough
traps can only be built in predefined places
monsters are a little more varied but not enough.
overall boring and too simple and easy for a tower defense

2nd Class Janitor - Wilco
2nd Class Jani…

Tags: Tower Defense
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: Very derivative tablet port tower defense using floor traps.

Audiovisually half decent tablet port without resolution support and no tooltips. Centered around the use of various floor traps. Towers upgrade in a linear manner with +damage and +attkspeed. Managing ressources is quite the strict affair to beat the levels and grinding gems for permanent upgrades to allow more progression quickly gets tedious.

!
!

Nice game but u need to fix the achievements

Saint Pestilence
Saint Pestilence

Mobile port, but a pretty good one, not the usual low effort trash with 10 levels and 3 towers that all do the same.

It's a tower defense, similar to Kingdom Rush, with an elemental theme and without heroes. It feels different than the usual TD games though, since you place traps on the paths instead of building towers next to it.

Pro:
- There is a surprising amount of levels compared to Iron Sea Defenders from the same developer/publisher (where the levels come as 2 DLCs).
- Nice graphics and enemy design.
- Different vibe than other TDs due to the trap concept.
- Achievements and trading cards.
- Decent value. I bought it on 90 % sale, but even at full price it's fine if you just want a solid TD that doesn't look like ass.

Contra:
- Not a fan of the recycled music. It's the same as Iron Sea Defenders, but then - my fault for playing them back to back.

Jan
Jan

A failled Tower Defense game; indeed it's more like a puzzle game. Technically is good: the graphics are fine, the backgrounds are well elaborated, and run without bugs... but there isn't anything better to say.

The mechanics is trying to introduce an original damage system based on 4 elements; fire, ice, earth and shadow; all enemies are made of one, suffering extra damage from traps made of an oppositte element. But this theory is badly implementated and fails by many other causes. Simply, game is poorly developed in many aspects, looks like as if it had been released before its was finished; leaving apart that was a product for mobiles or tablets: isn't excuse for a bad desing.

There are 4 kinds of traps, but only can be builded in certain places, each has only 2 upgrades and 2 specializations, their damage is unknowed. The first upgrades have almost the same graphics. Foes life is uncertain and speed is unpredictable; sometimes they can evade traps without any logic motive. There is not preview of how many comming in the next horde, or more important, the color of their elements. Is a pitty, because enemies are cool depicted and dont deserve colaborate in this disaster.

The powerups system is correct, if no were by it simply the product could be unplayable; but is nothing original, and surely by this reason is the only mechanics that works. Maps are small, only have 3 pathways at max, all short and rarely convergent. Game has 4 campaign with 30 maps each, but half are doubled. Has 3 levels of difficultly, but are irrelevant. Fortunately there are a ingame pause to upgrade, buy and sell traps, but even this good idea has a punishment: not ables to use powerups.

To complete first campaign in all levels and half of the second in normal mode, with 92% of achievements, takes about 12 hours. By then have been unlocked all turrets upgrades and more a half of powerups uphances, afterwards game turns boring as there isnt any reason to continue: learning is based on essay and error, is few changelling and challenger, leaves too little to the improvisation. Obviously, less of 2% of players try to go further. Maybe can delights children, casuals or newbies that have never played a videogame.

Prometheus Fury
Prometheus Fury

Tis a pretty good game i love tower defense games and i like how this one gives you the ability to change the traps into something different after a few levels.

rotslayer
rotslayer

Gnumz is an ok TD game. Pretty generic, but there are worse. I would give this a neutral rating for all humans and a slightly positive rating for all TD junkies.

I'm guessing it's a mobile port since you need to collect gems to get upgrades. The game has easy, medium, and hard difficulties, but I don't think the developers actually expected anyone to play all the levels on all difficulties (something like 60 levels with 3 iterations each). Or at least I hope not.

The doctor is in
The doctor is in

Enjoyable TD game that grows on you the more you play it the funner it becomes...While at the start it only looks like you have a limited number of traps, as you progress more and more traps unlock....

salamanchuriana
salamanchuriana

Nice little tower defense / puzzle game where your strategy is to choose the right traps in the best order depending on the waves of enemies. Cool graphics, easy to understand, fun so far.

GreyMack
GreyMack

If it's on sale yes i would recommend, it scratches my tower defense itch and while it is grindy it's not too bad and doesn't get too frustrating.
Just completed the game and got all the achievements (a rare occurrence for me), please note the developers descriptions for some of the achievements are a little bit awry but they are doable.
Probably a mobile port but it holds its own and is way better than most ports.
I'd give it 6.5/10

[SG] Shingo-_-Yabuki
[SG] Shingo-_-Yabuki

Not the type of Tower Defense you are expecting. In TD games, you expect ranged towers and good synergy combo to make full use of the buffs. This? Don't bother with it. You may think you can get used to this idea of Tile Defense. Even with full upgrades after hours of grinding, you still can't 3 stars unless you burn crystals on spells. Some stages got lack of building options that forces you to spam spells while burning crystal to reset their cool down. Not very well thought out... This may work for some of you. But I want good-old TD like those in the classic WC3 custom maps. Not this crap...

VantaClaus
VantaClaus

Addictive, limited, little bit unbalanced "Floor"-defense game

Instead of towers, we use floor mats. Not really room for creativity in a possible path, you use the right set of tools at the right location and with the right upgrades and you might succeed towards progression. The unbalance here is the limitation. Other then that, it's another fine "tower-defense-like-game".

Would I recommend it? Ehm... Only if it's on discount, not for the full price. It advertises with lots of tradingcards, but that has nothing to do with the game. Same as complaining about the fact that this is a mobile-port. Who cares???

Hawk the Hero
Hawk the Hero

Eh, I didn't get that far into it. Because it had already gotten grindy. It's like hitting the paywall in a F2P game, but not including the option to spend money. But I don't see anything new here to make it worth pushing on.

Umut
Umut

i played this game like chelsea defense

Moimee
Moimee

I have played this game many times over the years when I am in the mood for a unique and intriguing CASUAL GAME and it never gets old. It's challenging and one has to use ones brain cells to determine strategy. The graphics and SFX are great with many details and unique maps intertwined, which is sadly unusual in most casual games. Wish there were sequels. It's truly a great game within the genre, despite the nay sayers, most who probably are not advanced enough to figure it out, lol.

yukioro
yukioro

Nice tower defence game. Quite simple really, and different from other tower games in some aspects:
(1) instead of towers, you use traps;
(2) you can use "spells" that will help you survive (these spells have a cool down period before being usable again);
(3) you will be awarded gems each time you pass a level, some monsters provide also gems upon their demise;
(4) you can use the gems you are awarded to call on spells that have not finished their cool down period;
(5) the same gems help you improve your abilities and improve your traps;
(6) there are 4 different campaigns to play, each one having an easy, normal and hard setting with 20 levels each;
(7) the variety of "enemies" is good, some are quick, others extremely beefy (hard to kill), some help others become invisible (immune to your traps), some fly or are extremely quick, etc.

All in all, a nice tower game that can even be considered relaxing. The only thing that I do not like is that the game is too easy. If you are looking for a challenging game, and want to sweat through every minute of it, this is not the game for you. The achievements are not difficult to get, you can unlock every achievement by completing two campaigns only. Recommended nonetheless for the easy and relaxing factor (everything doesn't have to be competitive and stressful, does it?). It provides good entertainment value, if you get it for sale you won't regret it.

Panterich
Panterich

Awful port. Fixed resolution, no hotkeys, fast mouse clicks are ignored.
90% discount is the right price for this $#17

frankieparsons
frankieparsons

A very average tower defense game that might keep you entertained for two or three hours before the novelty wears off. The rock-paper-scissors approach with the different elements is a nice feature but it didn't really grab me enough to make me want to play beyond the two and a half hours I put in. At such a cheap price it has enough value to scrape a thumbs-up.

wespe___o=/;;;:*
wespe___o=/;;;:*

60/100 ..half-baked TD-game
first levels are nice, but it doesn´t take long to figure out the issues
EDIT: only 5% of players made 3-stars in all 20 levels of base game

- sound is really bad (music and sounds collide)
- balancing is off
- several settings reset by itself ..-> annoying as hell
- most levels require the ideal way to get 3 stars (really boring)

>>> Only buy in SALE !!

DSapsan
DSapsan

Another disgusting mobile port game.

Ice Scream
Ice Scream

Holy mother, what a garbage port. This must be by far the worst TD i have played, i have played crappy ones yes but this beats all of them.

The Bad:

1)Mobile port
2)Freaking 0 hotkeys, ESCAPE does not even work, everything must be clicked with mouse
3)Settings do not even save properly, it resets the audio back to full
4)Game does not tell what kinda of monsters are in each wave so player has to guess which "tower" supposed to build, which leads to trial and error to remember every wave, very punishing.
5)Freaking TINY map layouts, unbelievable.
6)NO REWIND
7)You have given ability right of the bat, but the problem is once you click on ability you cant UNCLICK IT, even with right mouse button it will just waste the ability

The Good:

1)Art work

Plain horrible.