The "150% Blockage" level took the most time to solve for me. Chiefly from trying to figure out if I'm supposed to grab the star immediately or wait until I'm past the laser. :) (Hint: Take it immediately.)
First he came for the orcs, and no one missed them because playing with axes set a bad example for the kids. Then he came for the mages, and no one missed them because their chronic ADD and potion experimentation set a bad example for the kids. Then he came for the knights, and no one missed them because the lazy bums sleep all day and set a bad example for the kids. Then he came for everyone else, and no one was left to not miss them.
The kids went back to playing their video games.
I appreciate that you run the Insane mode bosses 1 at a time. Going from Bullet Hell to Bullet Helheim to Bullet RAGNAROK is maddening enough without having to beat the last 3-4 insane guys just to get to the one that killed you before. :)
The tutorial doesn't mention it, but Notoriety still gradually fills up over time, even if you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs. - No mission is guaranteed, even 90%+ missions fail from time to time. Make sure you aren't going to be screwed by a failure before you commit to the mission. (If you are close to being attacked, maybe wait and clear that first before sending your guys out.) - The Castle is a nice alternative endgame base if you don't want to go the obvious route of Moonbase. With a 70 minion capacity and hiring cost capped at $100, you can have a blast just meatgrinding your way through the annoying forces of justice.
If there's no oxygen to burn fuel at the moon base, then why do your flamethrowers work perfectly up there? :) That little head scratcher aside, it's possible to win before you get to even use the higher level patsies/bodyguards, largely because the returns from buying businesses are so massive, to the point that you eventually are getting 3k every ping and never need to rob a territory again.
I'm finding a few of the achievements aren't being confirmed, specifically the 'beat level 10' one and the 'beat your best time' ones. I'm sure I qualified for them but the game didn't unlock them.
Is it intentional that you can press Run in midair to speed up mid-jump, even if you weren't doing a running jump (and inversely, release Run after doing a running jump to slow down your jump)? I certainly don't want to make the game any harder, but this feels like a glitch.
I demaximize my browser window and resize it to fit the game window. Let's me play with my darker desktop background instead of bright grey. Also I now think the 'get unwinnably stuck' glitch people are having in 1.3 is a browser-based problem. Playing on IE8 I didn't get a single occurence of it, while it happens commonly on Opera. So if you're getting that pathing glitch that gets you stuck in holes, try playing on a different browser.
Just to be a bit more educational, I'll rundown what each attachment really does. Dual Mag reduces the time between changing clips (the window between completely emptying one clip and switching to a fresh one, or when manually reloading). Extended Mag adds extra ammo per clip (which also means more ammo from magazine pickups). FMJ adds extra damage per shot. Rapid Fire reduces the delay between shots. (A SMG with Rapid Fire can actually prevent a big EBE from moving completely, the firing speed is that fast.)
My first playthrough was on 1.2 before the max running speed was increased, so it's definitely beatable with the current movement (barring those irritating new pathfinding glitches in 1.3 that get you must-restart stuck on parts of the floor sometimes). You get a pulse of radar every few seconds on your map (except for the final level), so try taking it more slow, looking for the white dots that show where the bugs are waiting. You also get an audio cue when an EBE locks onto you (a skitter-skatter for the little crawlies, a roar for the big guys.) If anything I think it's *too* easy to kite the big EBEs now.
The SMG may be fast but it's very ammo inefficient. Using FMJ and Extended Mag can mitigate this somewhat, and it's a good weapon for a spray-and-pray if you get cornered by a lot of crawlies.
Pulse Rifle has the best all-around stats, so you can't really go wrong with it. Low max ammo though, so you need a steady aim.
I take rapid fire and dual mag when using the Shotgun, since it's already super ammo efficient and a point-blank shot will take out a big EBE anyway. You need to be good at moving to use it well, though.
Experienced a pathfinding bug that was causing the character to get hung up inside the crawly spawn points, either when the crawlies first burst out, or when walking over that spot afterwards. I think it may have something to do with whatever movement or pathfinding changes were done in 1.3, as I never experienced this problem on first playthrough (which was on 1.2).
Without 'siege' units that could threaten the bases outside of turret range, the game degenerates into a turtling fest. Turret up and produce just enough actual units to keep the AI from beating on your front porch, then overwhelm when you have a ton of money.
I don't disrespect the effort put into it, but that glaring shortcoming of execution prevents me from giving it any more of a rating than a below-average 2.
Does a game that takes 30-45 minutes to clear really need save files?
For those having trouble, stick close to your start position and travel around it in ever-widening circles. You'll meet more of the basic, non-threatening spawns that way. Plunge ahead in a single direction when you're ready for the big bubbles.
I'm not a fan of games that lock out parts of their content unless you're playing it on its home site, so my petulant side makes me take off 1 star for that.
I would have greatly appreciated an ingame gamma corrector; the lighting was too dark for me to even see the ammo and barricade health meters, and made the undead dogs almost invisible in some places. I'm sure it looked fine on the developer's monitor, but not all monitors display equally.
Also seemed to run into irksome hit detection issues when multiple targets were close together.
I'll still grant it a solid 3.
Solid. On Hardcore mode it reminds me of Robotron and other old-school arcade games that tried to kill you off as quickly as possible.
That said, I regrettably must take 2 stars off my rating for the unintuitive nature of the awards system. Some of the requirements are so atypical you almost have to check a guide to find them out.
Reminds me of Metal Slug with a more forgiving difficulty. Packs a lot of variety into those 5 relatively short stages. I failed to see any significant difference between the easy and normal modes, though.
The only thing keeping it out of my 5 rating is that past stage 1, the boss fights are more tedious than exciting, because they take so long to kill.
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It’s definitely one of the harder ones.