Stagelands — Eternal Defense

This strategy game places a large emphasis on buying extras, because if they're not acquired, levels become too hard to beat, besides the title's repetitive action. The basic premise of Stagelands — Eternal Defense involves thinning out attackers headed your way throughout progressive settings. As your opponents advance to the next area, they enter a time warp-type structure and appear on the next screen. They'll reach your castle last, where soldiers shoot arrows at invaders from the roof. The arsenal of tools kids can try to thwart them with involves warriors they purchase, such as an Archer, and upgrades which boost their overall ability.

Some steps kids need to take are more complicated than they need to be. Placing a warrior to a defensive position requires multiple clicks, and even then, glitches can occur -- positions that were filled may suddenly become empty, along with delayed reactions when you use one of the few moves you can make in battle. Paying extra for an autoplay option is confusing, since most of the game functions that way. Kids can't control where warriors shoot or other battle aspects -- their performance is determined by having as many defense elements in place and upgraded for attacks. Because so much of the combat is passive, there isn't much skill involved, aside from equipping your squad with as many upgrades as you can afford -- which heavily depends on your currency resources. Kids don't technically have to buy anything to play, but they'll see frequent plugs for additional purchases. The price of new upgrades also escalates fairly quickly. After a few rounds of upgrades, money can become tight, even if you're consistently winning. Stagelands — Eternal Defense doesn't necessarily force you to buy extra in-app currency to keep playing -- but it certainly seems to become harder to win battles just using money you've earned by playing the game.