Gamer reviews for Four Days: World Defense

Stunning, Simple. Addictive.

Four Days is a beautiful, simple, yet engaging tower defense game created by FridgeCat Software. The game features fluid 3D graphics, simple but attractive design and progressive difficulty that doesn't require a steep and frustrating learning curve for new or veteran players. Aside from that, the game is entirely free – from downloading it to unlocking in-game features. All items are unlockable through normal gameplay. There's no need for constant internet connection as well – a must for most players with limited or no internet access. There are no intrusive ads, something uncommon for free-to-play games that throws in excellent features as mentioned earlier.

The game mechanics is pretty much the same as other tower defense titles out there. You build defensive towers and prevent the invaders from slipping through the best way you can. You'll start with 20 lives. The game will be over if all your lives are depleted. You'll lose one life per enemy that reaches the exit. It seems that no matter the enemy type, you'll just lose one HP if they manage to get through your defenses.

You'll have to battle through 60 waves of enemies with no breaks. Since there are no intervals between each wave as featured in other tower defense games, you won't get any bonuses for triggering the next wave before the usual timer runs out. This doesn't hinder the game's progression since players can earn resource bonuses simply by utilizing the effects of comms towers.

There are 9 tower types in the game, each with their own unique effects and abilities. All tower types are already unlocked at the start of the game; you don't need to unlock them by completing various stages or buying them. Towers can be upgraded up to LV3, where their power, range and appearance change. If you're unsure about how a tower works, tap the tower and press and hold it to view more information. All towers will be available when you start a mission. Since you don't need to work hard to unlock them, you can quickly enjoy the benefits of each tower when you start the game.

You also don't need to rely on your towers alone. You have access to Commander Abilities. These are skills that you can use to control the battlefield and tip the battle to your favor. You'll start off with the basic bomb that deals heavy damage to all air and ground enemies within its blast radius and a consumable Big Freeze ability (you'll start with 10 charges but you can replenish this by buying charges in the in-game store) You can activate these abilities instantly without spending any energy or resource. After activation, you just need to wait for the skill to cool down before you can use it again. (Except Big Freeze which is considered as a consumable ability) There are 5 commander abilities in the game, three of which needs to be purchased using Tech Points. You can only carry three commander abilities at a time.

Each map has several difficulties. Each "day" (difficulty) you survive, you'll unlock the higher difficulties, allowing you to earn more Tech Points that you can use to purchase commander abilities or permanent upgrades for your towers. Endless Waves will be unlocked after surviving four days of the invasion. There are no fixed paths in each map. The game will show you to the projected direction the ground enemies will take. Aerial enemies will follow a fixed flight path overhead but they won't be diverted or affected by positioning your towers. Take note that enemies will always take the shortest path to the exit. Strategically placing your towers so the enemies will be forced to take a longer route will increase your chances of victory. The game won't allow you to completely block off the path of enemies obviously.

The game's graphics is stunning for its platform. You can appreciate the details of each enemy, the towers, the effects. Even the game's overall interface is simple and doesn't have that much clutter. The camera is dynamic as well. You can enjoy the default view as you command your forces, or zoom in to get close to the action. You won't also encounter any drop in FPS (frames-per-second) even when there's a lot of explosions and destruction going on. And for a free-to-play game, this is really impressive.

The soundtrack is kind of techno and it works well with the game's overall ambience. It's not that outstanding since the choice of soundtrack you can immerse in this game is quite limited. The end bargain however, is that the game's soundtrack is just right to prevent you from getting bored in a bland, musicless, environment.

You have to watch out for repeating stages and kind of short gameplay. The game is excellent in its own right. Sure, there are increasing difficulties that perfectionists will surely spend some serious time on. Average gamers however, will find solace in grinding Tech Points by completing old stages again. This isn't entirely a bad thing since they can stack up on Tech Points which will give them access to permanent tower upgrades, new abilities and chance to buy necessary consumables. If more maps become available, this game's playerbase will surely appreciate the enhanced longevity

Four Days is definitely worth it. Excellent graphics and design, clean and ad-free interface, simple yet engaging gameplay, offline playability, progress-based unlockables and best of all FREE. If you're a fan of the genre and you're looking for a good addition to your game library, you should definitely get this game.