Defender's Quest

I don't always play tower defense games (in fact, I very rarely do), but when I do, it's Defender's Quest!

Defender's Quest is a tower defense game the mixes in some RPG elements--namely, that you can level up your "towers" and outfit them with new equipment--with a big dose of humor. If that description sounds at all appealing to you, then this game executes the formula perfectly. The only criticism I can muster is that there comes a point when you simply need to grind experience/money in order to advance. Still, it scratched my itch for tower defense for a good 30 hours before reaching my threshold for grinding. This included finishing both the standard and "New Game+" modes, although not on the hardest difficulty setting.

Defender's Quest is quality, and the developers are ace. This is one of the few games I replay on occasion. Defender's Quest 2 is on it's way, and is an automatic pre-order from me.

This is the genre topper. Great story, great gameplay, this was "take my money!" all the way.

The most surprising thing is that the story and especially the dialogue are excellent, not something you normally look for in a tower defence game. The gameplay is also very good. I was slightly put off by the fake "difficulty levels" (except for "casual", they're difficulty levels of the diablo-style, i.e. more like new-game-pluses, which is very odd, since the game features an actual new-game-plus as well). It's a good blend of rpg and tower-defence; the combination actually works.