It’s amazing what the commander of a small island will do to defend it. That’s where ICS Mobile’s Navy Patrol: Coastal Defense begins. ICS Mobile challenges you to defend your island from an unknown military threat that has came to do one thing. That thing is simple, it’s complete annihilation of all you have come to love. It’s up to you to choose how best to defend it in this exciting tower defense-style game.

As the day goes by I notice that a have a few minutes to indulge my inner gamer. So what’s a man to do? Simple really, I pick up my iPhone, fire up the game and the title screen comes up with four choices , but with gameplay on my mind I quickly touch the play to get started. Now there are two islands (St. Vincent, and Mt. Cruze) at this point to choose from. St Vincent is kind of your normal island that looks like a dot in the ocean, but Mt. Cruze on the other hand looks like that big mouth bass as it comes out of the water for the first time. Another thing you notice right out of the gate is the awesome water appearance. I know, get on to the game play, so pick the difficulty (Seaman, Lieutenant, or Admiral), and go.

As a first time player of tower defense style games I quickly take notice of the preview screen that tells you where everything is located. Word of advice is to take the tips; they become very helpful later on. You’re quickly alerted that you have fast approaching ships coming. This is where I had my first major struggle with the interface, and a little better help menu would have helped. You start with 200 dollars in the bank and have to pick your weapon of choice to defend.

The bank icon will open a weapons menu. Touch the weapon you want & drag it to where you want to defend from the incoming ships. The good part about being commander is you get to see the grid of the battle so placing items at certain place is easy. You can pick between water and land. The ships will start coming in waves and defending against them will soon become a challenge, so chose wisely on placement. Other options will come as the waves of ships start to come in and gain skill points. How many you ask? There are 15 offensive and defensive specials that include storm, long range missile, tsunami waves, and bombers.

Bombers you ask? Yes, just like in today’s world the navy is not just ships with huge guns. These planes will save you time and again if used at the right point. Skill point’s level up the arsenal with offensive, defensive, and technological skills and double the rounds coming out of that massive gun barrel.

Now keeping in mind that this game is on the Iphone the graphics are going to be a little off from today’s superpower machines, but I was still amazed at the water detail, beyond that goes a little downhill, the weapons seem a little basic but function very well. Being able to place these weapons on land, water and watching enemy ships/subs/planes come and the weapons picking them up on its very own little radar is engaging. Wondering if this gun will run out of ammo or have enough to finish the job. The sound in my opinion is good but lacks that realistic draw, but the music is good. Gameplay is pretty smooth and the controls are pretty much right on from the word go.