Earth Defense Overview
Earth Defense was one of those games you'd find buried in a Flash portal in the late 2000s. It didn't have a complicated story or fancy graphics. You just had a job to do. I remember loading it up during a study break, the simple interface promising a quick, straightforward challenge. It fit right into that era of browser games where you could jump in for ten minutes and feel like you'd accomplished something, even if it was just surviving a few more waves of chaos.
You control a small moon, or maybe it's a planetary defense platform, orbiting a pixelated Earth. Your mouse moves it, and you click to fire lasers at the incoming stream of asteroids and satellites. The objective is simple: protect the planet for as long as you can. Between waves, you spend points on upgrades, choosing between faster firing speed, more powerful shots, or defensive shields. The pacing starts slow, giving you time to line up shots, but it quickly becomes frantic as the screen fills with debris. The difficulty ramps up in a predictable but satisfying way, each successful wave funding the tools you need for the next. It feels like a tense, focused game of orbital cleanup.
