Garden Defense

Garden Defense is an action / strategy game that involves protecting flower beds from being eaten by hungry insects and pests. The story of the game follows Allen and Laurel Smith. Allen is a tinkerer of sorts, and has transformed kitschy garden decorations known as Gadgets (Garden Gnome, Peeing Cherub, Pink Flamingo) into Garden Defenses. His wife Laurel raises an aggressive variety of Plants (Sunflower, Nightbells, and Spitting Cactus). Eventually, the Smiths are joined by their Bug Loving daughter, Charlotte. She introduces Bughouses that are used to summon friendly Bugs (Stinkbug, Dragonfly and Ladybugs) to help defend the gardens.

Each level has a winding path that the pests follow toward the flower bed. The player must build Garden Defenses along the path to stop the pests. Each level is broken into waves of enemies that get progressively harder. The enemies come in two varieties, Crawlers (they move along the ground) and Fliers (they fly above the path). Each defensive object has its strengths and weaknesses. Some target just one enemy at a time, while others attack all enemies within its attack radius. Some attack fliers only while others attack crawlers, or both. The player has as much time as they like between waves to set up their defenses. This allows for different strategies to form.

The defensive objects also have unique properties of their type. Gadgets, for example, can be moved anywhere in the garden at any time. This creates a more action arcade feel to the game. On the other hand, Plants are permanently rooted in the ground once placed, but they naturally grow and upgrade on their own over time. And lastly, the Friendly Bugs that can be deployed from the Bughouses follow the path away from the flower bed, and toward the oncoming enemy. When Bugs engage an enemy of a like type, they engage them in melee combat. The Bugs also each have a unique ability giving the player more options when using Bugs.

As the player goes through the game, they come across Cut Scenes which tell the story of the Smith's defense of the Gardens of Lindencroft (The town in which Garden Defense takes place.) The Cut Scenes establish the areas of the game in which the player defends the flower beds and gardens. These areas include, the Suburbs of Lindencroft, an Abandoned Garden called Jardin House, gardens in the town of Grand Chap, Botanical Gardens at the town Museum, and ultimately protecting rare plants in Birdsong Woods.

The player can upgrade their arsenal by purchasing a variety of global upgrades in "The Lab". These include super versions of each of the defenses, as well as range increases, damage modifiers, and different bonuses to the game's economy. The most notable Lab Upgrade is the WMD: Widow of Mass Destruction. The WMD is Charlotte Smith's pet widow spider, Merriam. Once this upgrade is purchased from the Lab, the Player may call Merriam to create a giant spider web, which cocoons any enemies in its radius and slowly poisons them, and also slows any other enemies which have to crawl through the web.

As the player goes through the game, many challenges are unlocked, which reuse the story levels in new and unique ways, with restrictions and different rules. Garden Defense has been compared to the genre of game, "Tower Defense," and has introduced elements such as tower moving, tower growing and anti-enemy deployment (as seen with the bugs.)