I may update this later today. I wrote it after 3am, bleary eyed and almost getting a keyboard imprint on my forehead after dropping off a couple of times while trying to write this short review

Crystal Defenders:

In Brief:
Crystal Defender is a 2D top down arcade game with both tower defence and shooting mechanics.

Please see the description below the countdown timer for more information. I'll add some more images if I get the chance to play the game later.

You can see a video of game play HERE

The Game:
The game s very similar to a tower defense game we were given a few months ago (Crossroads of Life). It has the same mechanics, and similar graphics. The protagonist is able to move around the arena using the WASD keys, picking up different ammunition types as well as activating and upgrading tower defenses around the arena. Defend the crystals from being destroyed. you can see the health bars above the crystals. When these reach zero, you lose.

To activate towers you first have to earn enough cash from destroying the waves of monsters that attack you. Once achieved you can activate a tower by pressing E while standing close to one, they initially look like signposts with a stylized turret tower with crenulations until a tower is built on them. At the end of several waves you will be faced with a boss, before you can proceed to the next level. Each level having a distinctive look (colour wise) that is different from it's predecessor.

Some downed enemies drop cash, some drop ammunition for one of the three weapons you have. Take care, because you can easily run out of bullets; especially if you fire willy-nilly at the oncoming foes. . If you've not activated any of your towers, and you run out of ammunition with none to pick up, you lose. You can also pick up health, which is also essential as it's almost impossible not to get hit by some of the monsters attacking you. There are a wide variety of foes, from large more difficult to kill monsters to fast, snapping monsters that are hard to avoid.
Your health bar is located in the top left of the screen and the amount of ammunition for each of your weapons are located beneath the health bar. You can switch between weapons using the mouse wheel. Below the ammunition counters is the gold you've earned. Keep an eye on this because you'll want to activate as many of the tower defences as you can. Each tower is also upgradable, but costs more to upgrade than the initial cost of the tower, but can shoot further and is more powerful. Towers can also be damaged and/or destroyed by the waves of monsters that you'll encounter.

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The indicator located along the bottom of the arena shows the health of each wave of incoming monsters as a whole. When the boss level appears, get this to zero (far left of the bar indicator) to win the level and proceed to the next. I don't know how many levels there are as I've not played the game to its conclusion yet.. Some downed enemies drop cash, some drop ammunition for one of the three weapons you have. Take care, because you can easily run out of bullets; especially if you fire willy-nilly at the oncoming foes. . If you've not activated any of your towers, and you run out of ammunition with none to pick up, you lose. You can also pick up health, which is also essential as it's almost impossible not to get hit by some of the monsters attacking you. There are a wide variety of foes, from large more difficult to kill monsters to fast, snapping monsters that are hard to avoid.

Your health bar is located in the top left of the screen and the amount of ammunition for each of your weapons are located beneath the health bar. You can switch between weapons using the mouse wheel. Below the ammunition counters is the gold you've earned. Keep an eye on this because you'll want to activate as many of the tower defences as you can. Each tower is also upgradable, but costs more to upgrade than the initial cost of the tower, but can shoot further and is more powerful. Towers can also be damaged and/or destroyed by the waves of monsters that you'll encounter.

General advice. Activate as many of the towers as you can early in each level because it's easy to run out of ammunition for the movable character unless you are very judicious using the ammunition for the four weapons.

Conclusion:
I only played the game for a few moments earlier this morning (around 3am) but was immediately struck by its similarity to another tower defence game we were given several weeks ago. If you enjoy tower defence games, I recommend you check this one out. This one has a slightly different mechanic to the usual 2D top-down TD game with no obvious route the enemies take on some of the levels, it feels more like a free-for-all at times, with enemies surrounding you on all sides.

Notes on Security
I scanned a zipped copy of Crystal Defender using Virus Total and it found zero hits from 65 antimalware engines. You can see the results of the scan HERE