87 people found this review helpful
4 people found this review funny
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 22.0 hrs on record (19.3 hrs at review time)
Posted: 13 Jan, 2017 @ 10:55pm
Updated: 19 Jan, 2017 @ 6:14am

I've played lots of Tower Defense games and this is a fun one with some interesting twists on the genre you don't normally see. The developers are best known for their isometric run and gun shooters and this is their first foray into the TD genre and the influence of their previous games are clearly shown, both for good and bad. I'm assuming you already know what TD games are so I can skip the lengthy explanation of their basic designs.

+Positive
+There is a mechanic that as far as I'm aware is unique to TD games: you must periodically spend earned in game money to reload your soldier's ammo. This is a controversial game mechanic to some who prefer more relaxed TDs where you place your soldiers (towers) and sit back and relax. I however find this mechanic exciting because you must constantly pay attention to what is going on, keeping you involved and alert. Forgetting to reload a soldier's weapon can cost you the game, but to help with that you can queue up multiple reloads if you have the money to spare. If it's a mission where money is tight there is strategy involved in deciding on the fly which soldier should get a reload first.
EDIT: Version 1.0.3 added the ability to toggle auto reload, found under game options.

+There are 7 different soldiers, each soldier can equip 3 weapons specific to them and you can switch between those weapons after the soldier has been placed. You get more weapons by using earned money from the end of missions to buy supply crates (only the most expensive crate is worth it due to the guaranteed legendary).

+As an example, the Swat soldier uses shotguns and you can find multiple different kinds of shotguns, where the better it is the more it costs to place and reload. Even if you have a god-tier weapon it's not economical to use it early game because it's so expensive. Each weapon has different levels of rarity for it: normal, rare, unique, and legendary. The better the rarity the more powerful it is and the cheaper it is to reload.

+You can train your soldiers using earned money to increase their level which increases certain stats like damage, firing rate, range, and more. Each level increase also gives a skill point to further increase their stats in their uninteresting skill "tree".

+As you kill enemies they will sometimes drop money and materials which you must click to obtain. You can get more materials by recycling weapons you don't want. You then use these materials to upgrade the weapons you do want to slightly increase a few of their stats.

+There are 35 missions with each one having an easy, normal, hard, and expert difficulty for lots of replayability. Expert brings more and different waves of enemies. There are also 7 optional survival missions where you have to survive for as long as you can.

+-Neutral
+-The game is very grind heavy because the missions get hard fast. You are expected to replay older missions to earn money to upgrade your soldiers and buy supply crates.

+-There are a lot of reused assets and copy paste maps from Alien Shooter 2. Same music, same enemy sprites, many of the same maps. At least they're being used for a different type of game, but I would have liked new stuff.

-Negative
-There are no graphics options of any kind except the option to play windowed and to have green blood (instead of red). It's true a potato could run this game, but still.

-Sometimes while in a mission there is input lag when I tell my soldiers to reload. Generally not a big deal but is still annoying. If this gets patched you can expect me to make a note of it here.

Closing thoughts
If you like Alien Shooter, tower defense games, and the reloading mechanic isn't an immediate turnoff, then give this game a shot as you will probably enjoy it!
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2 Comments
solaris32 14 Jan, 2017 @ 12:21am 
Thanks :).
Loktar 14 Jan, 2017 @ 12:13am 
Well written! I hope this and mine are near the top of the reviews so people get a balanced opinion and can make a decision.