Bloons TD 5

Bloons TD 5 takes the tower-defense series about monkeys popping balloons to a new level of sophistication – on top of the basic towers come deep upgrade trees, hero units with their own abilities, and a wider range of balloon types requiring different defensive tactics. The controls remain simple and mouse-friendly: towers are built by clicking on the map, upgrades are bought from a menu next to the track, so the game plays just as comfortably as previous installments, only with much more room for experimentation and forward planning. It was released in 2011 by studio Ninja Kiwi, which has carried the Bloons series from its Flash beginnings on Newgrounds all the way to today's mobile sequels.

The fifth installment introduced a system of rewards and unlockable content that motivated players to return to individual maps repeatedly and try different combinations of towers and heroes, making it one of the most-played titles of the genre on portals like Newgrounds and Kongregate. The humorous tone, with monkeys as defenders and balloons as enemies, stayed the same as in previous installments, but the depth of strategic options grew significantly thanks to specialized upgrade paths for each tower type. Despite all the action on screen, the interface never feels cluttered.

Bloons TD 5 remains one of the most cited representatives of the tower-defense genre from the Flash era, and its success helped the series move on to mobile platforms and standalone apps, where further installments live on today with an even bigger offering of content.

Why play it: For tower-defense fans who want clear mouse controls combined with a surprisingly deep system of upgrades and heroes.