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16 Game Reviews

3 w/ Responses

Fun Concept!

While there are a couple things that would help the player like mass numbers displayed, mini map, or zoom option, this game is pretty fun as it is. Its sort of like Orbient for the Wii.

Survival mode is beatable (but sadly, you cannot submit your score when you do since you have to die to do so). Over time, large stars spawn in the middle and asteroids can appear anywhere. It may take some time to slowly (safely) pick up asteroids. The gravity well that develops is like this on the map (numbers represent gravity power):

000010000
001121100
01+222+10
012333210
122333221
012333210
01+222+10
001121100
000010000

0 = safe in corner (you can leave the game safely), most edges minimal if any pull
1 = slight gravity, but if you're not paying attention you could fall in quickly
2 = you will probably die except in the beginning when there are few stars
3 = star spawn area, you're dead
+ = end of safe zone, best place to go in for more asteroids

What you want to do is make passes around the edge of the map or perhaps a screen out from the edge, being ready to fight any gravity you encounter and pick up a few asteroids. When you cannot find any more, head slowly from a corner diagonally to where the edge of the pull begins (the "+" areas on this graph). Float a bit to each side, allowing you to pick up some more asteroids, but don't move too deeply inside the gravity well. Repeat this for each side of the map; it will take time, but it is safe once you practice it. As you get to be a mid-sized to large sun, you will be pulled less and more things will come to you easily. Eventually you will reach a critical mass and pull stars out when not in a corner of the map, and you will be unable to die.

Interesting Concept

Just so you know, if you are teleporting when the dialog box pops up at the end of combat, you can get stuck. Upgrading the fireball is the best thing early on, and I found the archers to be too feeble even at their max upgrade. You're better off upgrading the mage with the storm once you can afford it.

Excellent!

I'm particularly enjoying having multiple characters. There are several options for improving the team as a whole and more diverse characters. The UI is simple and effective. Overall, it's a great game.

I've been dumping stat points into "aptitude" but I wanted to ask, what does "aptitude" actually do? Does it make you level faster? Could you add this description to the tutorial or to your comments please?

This is a lot of fun!

The game is challenging until the higher levels, but there are plenty of unit types and items to collect. Levels and rewards come quickly, allowing for constant character development; any character can learn to use any item. There are lots of castles to conquer.

Items/Weapons can be equipped by dragging one from your inventory. Magical equipment has a blue background. Buy/Sell inventory by dragging an item between your stock and the store. Similarly, units can be dragged between army slots. If you click and drag in combat, you can select part of whole of your active army, and have them switch from melee to ranged weapons (if they can). The controls tab in the main menu allows you to change keys for hero movement. The interface was really well done and easy to use.

The Black Samurai is the best (and most expensive) unit, and once you get to 50 INT and 100 art of war/patriotism (which requires INT 50), they are unstoppable except by fire throwers and demolishers (which use an area of effect attack that always crits). I lost only one taking over the entire map. However, other tribes have good units as well, so it's worth trying different heros.

Once you "beat" the game, I recommend trying again using a limited number of units (or even just the hero after you're strong enough). This makes the game much more challenging, as you can't just sit around and let your army win. You must use magical items and strategy; it's more like RPG-mode.

Good Attempt, some design flaws though

It is generally not possible on hard mode, mainly because about half of your "turns" actually take 2 turns (when events/attacks happen). It is necessary to upgrade to the next "age" to increase max buildings, but you can get stuck if you don't balance out your resource types. It's nearly worthless to focus resources on creating soldiers, and far easier to repair the damage done after the first age. It seemed as though the number of workers wasn't being checked as a build requirement.

Fun but buggy...

I really like this defense game, but unfortunately it locks/glitches around 200-210 kills every time so I've not been able to beat it. Also, if you upgrade multiple times quickly you will get different stats then if you clicked slowly and waited for it to update (a lower speed stat is actually better, because this is the firing delay).

It's unclear which tower is best or what the mechanics for the towers are. The freeze tower does work, but its effect is mininal at lower levels. Some upgrade levels are not worth it for some towers and should be skipped as quickly as possible. Note that a maxed red tower can hit two rows when positioned correctly.

It's all downhill after level 5

To be quite honest, the hardest part of the game is beating level 5. There are really only two ways to have a chance to kill the giants (who will make short work of even an upgraded castle). If you have full spell strength and a speed upgrade, you MIGHT be able to win provided the (randomly) appearing enemies don't all come at once. It's especially frustrating to be unable to shoot the kamakaze unit because its behind something larger (or in some cases, the giants). Some people have had luck with the towers, though I don't personally use that until later. Unfortunately, building a moat doesn't help because you will not have enough firepower to kill the giant before it kills you. I think it needs to be tweaked a little so that you don't have to repeat levels 1-4 20 times before "getting lucky" and actually having time to shoot the giants without being massed by other units. Other than that, the rest of the game gives enough time to upgrade.

Arclite83 responds:

I think I understand what you mean about 'random'. The enemies are static for each level, there is an array, however their starting position is determined individually. Never really considered a 'giant shield' for a kamakaze; kinda a neat effect, if a bit hard to deal with.

Thanks for the review!

Fun game, but hard to advance

I have gotten as far as silver belt. I've even won a tournament (have to heal to full health strategically to win, and get lucky). However, to my horror I found that the bonus points you get for winning a tournament can only be used once. That means you have to win several tournaments, use the points to go up one belt, and repeat the process (or get really, really lucky). This is BS in my opinion because after spending several hours to win a tournament I think that the points should be permanent, like a "leveling up" that allows you to actually have odds a bit more in your favor so you can advance belts eventually. The bonuses aren't even all that useful anyway as they stand, what with all the armor/offense manipulation cards. That said, it's great for a beta, but needs some tweaking to be truly awesome. I look forward to seeing a more mature version in the future.

Original idea and great execution

I liked this game so much that I played it for several hours trying to figure out if there is a sustainable solution. Turns out that if you've got it setup right then you can actually let it run overnight hands free (money builds slowly, however). I had about $650,000 when I pulled the plug.

Nice concept, could use some tweaking

I like the game overall, but it sometimes will go back to the main screen in the middle of play and I lose my game randomly. Also, buying the "double phasor" option can only be done if you have LESS than 5000 points, probably due to a scripting error, then you end up with negative points. However, it's still an awesome concept!

I do programming, 3D artwork, and digital music. I like swords ;)

Chris Winn @BinaryAlgorithm

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Joined on 3/26/03

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