game overall is nice and concept is unique and have some gimmicks. However, game itself seems unperfect. Difficulty of obstacles is totally random, one match you can steadly get rocks and trees and other you get dino nests and green copters. Entire your scoring is based on how long you get your initial combo, since after that you will absolutely not build combo as good. Still, it can be fun to break through all of this
game is quite fun, but getting hig score depends on luck: you have to get several extra lives on beginning and then bonuses like large paddle later in game.
after beating the boss the way to go is permanent combo upgrade. With it and previously chosen "Combo+ powerups" you can have infinite combo. At combo level ~180 (with all rate of fire upgrades) you can reach the maximum RoF of 60, and damage is insane as well, especially if you also have "+1 Damage for 3 combo levels". Pix gain is also huge, but by that moment you probably only need "useless badge".
of other good combos, you should get Shockwave and later "Each time you use ability, gain a shield for 5 sec". This means huge survivability buff in post-boss game, meanwhile teleport/boost just can't relaiably help against all those tons of enemies and bullets. And more obvious one, "Get +1 hp each time you lose last shield". For easiness you can also get "Freeze time when hit" and "Your bullets can destroy enemy bullets", this will allow you to put enough bullets when hit and give you breathing space for just enough to regain those shield
I took joy in beating whole game on Hardcore only. So no hearts upgrade, and no need to spam ultimate. Of course its hard, but totally beatable if you know when to use things. Charge attack is for damaging heavy enemies, sword is emergency bullet clear, ultimate is hardly worth to use sicne you don't need to heal, basic crossbow are fine for the rest. Final boss was tough through, until I realised that spamming level 20 charge attack into his centermass deals way more damage than level 24 crossbows
Game doesn't allow me to fight for more than 10 waves to destroy incoming Demo fleet with my upgraded gun. In fact, it never explains why my superior defences suddenly were defeated after wave 10. It is a shame such a good game has such a plot hole
on the good side, weapons are more or less balanced. Some are overshadowed (Decoy Gun by Shield or Solar Cannon by Apocalypse), but most are decent, and trying out different combos is fun
by the way... new hint idea: "Vampire". This pixel is similar to "Smiley", except it self is empty. Empty pixel surrounded by filled pixels, it is happy itself but never makes happy anyone around
"Smiley" is described as "happy pixels in 3x3 area"... this is ambiguos, as,it might lead into actual 3x3 fully painted, as 9 pixels. Instead of just 5
There is a cheap trick that turns the game from unfairly hard to managable. If you click right mouse button, opened Flash player menu will pause the game - if you then move your mouse to other position and click left mouse button, your "ship" will jump there almost instantly. Sometimes you still can hit the "wall", but if get some experience correct execution will allow to basically teleport to wherever you want
Guide for starting: while many skills can be used, best characters for doing the levels are flying, for combat good skills are Cure Wounds (used after battle to self-recover), summons, Magic Missile (ranged spam that rebounds off walls), any melee attacks that can be spammed. Magic Jump is useful too if you dont have flying.
So, at beginning you can stick to Holy Guard or Necromancer. Then try to find and unlock Gremlin Priest, as all his skills are useful. It seems that having Magic Jump or Fly unlocks special level with Cuccos who can fly. Flying allows to speedrun levels and also gives access to some higher areas which have special characters. In my opinion, best characters are Angel (flying, Magic Missile + Stab, unfortunately I don't remember where I found him) and Wind Dragon (flying, can summon while staying in the air, unlocked by defeating him in battle then hatching blue egg and getting kills with blue wurmling/drake)
Got score of 4070 on my second try. Game isn't too hard or complicated, still, some enjoyment can be gained. Strategy for long surviving:
1) Before you get level 6, feel free to maneuver as you wish; I suggest less bullet block and more dodge and kills for faster score gain + minimum level gain (you can grind bullet blocks in separate run). Starting with level 6, however...
2) Running in circle (along game grid edges) allows to evade all attacks except yellow (omnidirectional one). Therefore,
3) Priotirize killing yellow foes ASAP, try to kill less of anyone else, as it seems there is a spawn limit - less you you kill non-yellow, less yellow will spawn.
4) Clear way before you if there are foes or if yellow has fired, otherwise dont bother unless you are on low health. Only try to gain levesl when low health
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cool :) that's getting super complicated but I like it