I wish more was done with the basic idea, the one thing that kept me going was wondering what random twist is going to happen. The gameplay works but it is not particularly fun in itself and I found the ending not only somewhat abrupt but also not really that entertaining. Generally I do not regret playing this game but it's also not something I'd return to for a chuckle like, say, No Time To Explain.
For me the game was mediocre, I just don't think it uses the whole villain thing to its advantage. The title and the intro signal something wacky and funny but what follows is a somewhat unimaginative arena shooter. Why set up this theme if you're not going to use it? Compare with titles like "Kill the Heroes", "Zombies Inc" or "Mastermind: World Conquerer" where a lot of attention has been put into creating the atmosphere of being "the bad guy." My final score for the game is 3 since there's nothing particularly wrong with the gameplay itself but it also does nothing to make me want to keep playing and I probably wouldn't finish it if not for the badge.
For quite a while this was pretty much a zombie whacking simulator, a minor gripe here I think the game would benefit greatly from more diversity in zombies, ideally some generator building them from pre-set parts. Than, around stage 20 or so I used up the weapons and pretty much all the aggressive/neutral reactions and delved into passive and advanced. This is where the game, imho, shines. A lot of the animations manage to convey this "flicker of humanity left in the brain" thing pretty well and I'd risk saying this makes your zombie are somewhat different from the usual. The interface could be a bit more streamlined and the main storyline was fairly predictable but I like the questions this game raises within yours setting. One random idea, I think it would be nice if Wood was actually horrified if the player showed him the zombie using the gun efficiently.
Just finished the game on normal and I have to say that I really liked it, I wish it was longer, with a more developed story, here's to hoping for a sequel. The sound was ok and the graphics were really nice, I found the fact that each character's page had a distinct look a nice touch. Another thing that was nice was how different builds were still viable and the somewhat tactical approach to switching characters and conserving health. The few gripes I had are pretty minor: some more variety in enemy, and enemy types, would be nice though the game ended before they became boring. Also I almost got stuck on the trip to the underworld since the 2 characters carried over very little health, I managed but it was a moment of frustration. Also, while different builds are viable some are a touch unbalanced: I maxed Flake's regeneration and then just added to hp and in the later game she was pretty much immortal, even the final boss couldn't hurt her. Still, minor gripes to a great game.
I'm afraid I can only give the game a 2 ("basic functionality" on my scale) in its present form. Simply putting it’s boring. I got to the steel pickaxe and then quit due to lack of interest. There is no overarching goal and no challenge, no strategy and it lacks the charm of Farm of Souls and other “unending” games. Here are some random ideas: consider adding some threats (magma pockets? mobs?); make the player consider their resources, how about different areas require different amounts/types of wood so the players need to think if they want to spend more on a chance of getting more; some way to return to the shop or move around faster (elevators? carts?) going back for 3 minutes is a pain. Technical stuff: the tune is nice but gets very tiring after a while, how about a mute button? It's possible to step outside the playing field (at least to the left) and for me the shop was either extremely unresponsive or caused some horrible lag, this last thing may be machine specific.
Thank you for your comment. As I have written this is a work in progress. Some of your ideas do make sense, and some things are under way but I really do think you have a different type of game in mind than I do. ^^
Overall the game isn't bad. There weren't many puzzles that required hitting a "sweet spot" perfectly, though those few present were still a few too many, the movement of the elements feels very smooth and their physics is easy to grasp. This is only half true for the camera though, as it sometimes appeared to keep going even after I let go of the button. However, I found that Toshi herself missed the cutesy mark and dived straight into annoying (this coming from a person who actually really likes anime aesthetics), good thing there's a button to silence her. Getting the hard badge was really easy once I realised in many levels it's possible to bounce a single ball in a way that it entirely destroys a wooden block.
I agree with many of the other comments, the story is pretty simple and cheesy. But within these confines it is well written, especially if treated as a prologue to a greater whole, and nicely illustrated. The people in the pictures don't look quite as silly as amateur actors tend to do and the use of pictures is pretty nice. Some of the scenes may be a bit frustrating when you're hunting for that last item though I don't know if a hint system wouldn't be bad for the atmosphere. I actually liked the first hacking minigame, it was pretty logical without being completely obvious, the sort of puzzle that you can give yourself a pat on the back if you solve it quickly. The scrolling of the pictures gets a bit difficult at the edges, and there are items in those parts every now and then, perhaps being simply able to scroll/drag permanently rather than this "focus" scrolling would solve the issue?
The "full version coming soon" after game over explains a lot. For starters the game has rather poor pacing, you can pretty much stock up on gems while avoiding any contact with enemies far as I've seen. Also, there is really no explanation of what you're doing and why you're doing it. Are monsters vulnerable to certain colours? It appears so but I'd need to test it extensively to actually figure out if they hate the same colour they are or different. There are these bars... I assume they are skills but what exactly do they do? Also the game needs either some goal or more variety (ideally both), even if it's just "get to the bottom level and kill the king slime", maybe enemies with certain properties? (like digging through walls when you're near enough?) maybe some powerups (like revealing where gems are for a limited time)? Right now it's just "dig the whole level out" far as I've seen. The graphics, especially the main character, are nice, they feel retro rather than poor.
It's a fairly interesting concept but the execution is somewhat flawed. The game could benefit greatly from a tutorial and/or a more extensive help section (maybe some visual aids?) right now it takes some trial and error to understand the dependencies between the ingredients properly, it's not gamebreaking but it's also not the most user-friendly solution. On a more technical note, a few spelling mistakes. the graphics are decent though the battles could use some variety (maybe more animations dependent on the elemental levels of the fighting mages?). Finally, the game is somewhat unforgiving in that it's possible to get stuck with ingredients that are of little use against the opponents provided which results in a game over and forces the player to restart the game.
Umm... I get the ending as soon as I start the game. As in, I get the initial phonecall and then as soon as I am able to move and do so the screen flashes white and I get what I assume to be the game ending sequence with "my loved one" talking to me. Tried reloading the game but it didn't help. I'm withholding any rating or comment since I was unable to actually play the game. (also kongregate said that I set up a high-score of 27 for this).
There is potential here but right now I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing... I've been slowly buying the upgrades and getting an increasing number of guys to higher and higher levels. They've also been slowly developing a settlement of sorts... but I'd like to see a bit more purpose to it. Perhaps give them something more to do, make it so the player actually knows what (and even if) the developments they're building mean something. I have read your posts and I know this isn't finished but I'd say it actually needs a lot of work to be really playable.
Unlike a lot of other commenters I do not find it a bad game, perhaps because I grew up with text adventures and am used to both the form and its limitations, though I do think it could have been so much better. The one real issue I had with it is that perhaps a database of certain most obvious attempts could be established and given non-standard responses. I know people will try stuff that gives just generic answers but I don't think having something custom for things like "wait", "escape" or "suicide" would be all that difficult and it would give the players the feeling they are being somewhat less railroaded.
I played it up to the sniper mission, might return to it later. The gameplay is decent, if not very original, and worth a solid 3 with chances of a 4. The presentation, especially the graphics, is very good, I really liked the look of the characters during the dialogues and it. Things that I'd like to see improved: most of the missions were pretty much standard with no variation so far, except for the sniper one; control over units is shaky at best, it's occasionally hard to get a decent attack force since they have a tendency to rush towards the enemy even as the guns mow the bugs down, similarly they most often waste their specials; but my main gripe was the somewhat broken English, I can understand not being a native speaker, I'm not one myself, and the language is understandable. There is just something of the "all your base" manner that ticks me off about this game, it might be a personal sentiment though.
It's an interesting attempt to convey a certain metaphor with simple mechanics. As always when dealing with a metaphor the specifics of interpretation depend on the "receiver" (in this case a player) so the effect will vary widely between individuals. Bearing this in mind saying that "the game is about X" or "I like how you presented interaction Y" says more about the player than it does about the game or the developer. To me, personally, the metaphor was a bit too simplistic, a bit too open for (mis)interpretation, this might have been the desired, discussion provoking, effect though. I am still willing to give it a solid 4, both for an ambitious thought as well as for decent gameplay through very simplistic means. If this is indeed your first project I will eagerly await to see what things you'll come up with when you master your tools.
I wish the game was a bit more goal-oriented, since it's a doodle devil maybe you could have created a preexisting category of "good" things and we would be starting to work with those and had to create worse and worse things to ultimately counter the virtues? As it the game is really a lot of fun through about first 50 combinations or so, after that it becomes slightly repetitive and grows extremely frustrating for the last 10-20 items where you're just testing everything on everything waiting for hints to reload. Very fun mechanics, nice technical execution but lacks something to drive the player to finish it (except for the badges) and a few combinations are a tad esoteric. I'm still giving it a 4 for originality but if there is a next game in the series it'll get no more than 3 unless it improves on the formula somehow.
Finished the campaign. I can't honestly give this game more than a 3, there is nothing in particular wrong with it but most of the stuff is barely "right" rather than "awesome". To start with the good stuff, the graphics are simplistic but they do the job right, the upgrade system is decent and I liked the persistent upgrades gathered during the missions. Due to the static backgrounds and a fairly large ship to screen proportions the game had a fairly static feel to it, enemies only followed a few attack patterns and differed only in looks and stats between the races. My main gripe was that despite fairly simplistic graphics occasionally the game gave me a huge lagspike, especially prominent on levels with asteroids, I can imagine that on higher difficulties the frantic movement of the ship from one side of the screen to another in a single frame could easily spell doom to the player. Again, not a bad game but simply put it nothing amazing.
I'm kind of a long time player to the series and this title as well, though I never gotten around to getting the hard badge until now. As such I still maintain the high rating for the game that it originally had even though it is clear that the TD development went forward a bit in the years (as evident even by further games in the series). I would, however, like to express my disappointment at the removal of the wave preview feature. Without it the initial approach to a level is guesswork only at times assisted by a hint in the level description. The player is all but incapable of knowing if the the final waves will maintain the same elemental weaknesses as the initial ones, what's more, this title doesn't permit an effective "good against everything" build, a trait I always deemed a plus but which is now detrimental to the gameplay. I honestly have no idea what might have brought this design decision.
Being a fan of TDs I shouldn't bahs a game for using a tried formula but I'm going to be harsh with this one. It would be a good game if it was released prior to hedgehog launch and similar titles, as it is it doesn't have many redeeming qualities. No new features or twists to the genre. Graphics and sound are decent but nothing overly interesting. Even at highest manoeuvrability upgrades the rocket feels clumsy and the overall pace of the game is slow. It doesn't even have the "lol factor" of the hedgehog launch. Again, it would be a great game if it was released as one of the first in the genre, right now it's merely decent.
Gave the game a 5 but I enjoy TDs overall Things that I liked most: various enemy types and map builds encourage (even require) the use of different strategies, on some maps tower placement, cleaning the "corrupt" sectors and creating the proper tower combos were key, I admit I checked a walkthrough in one level and I was greatly surprised how one of the aspects I ignored changed the entire gameplay. I also liked both the humour in the websites' description and the more serious plotline between the levels, Immortal Defense it ain't but it still had a couple strong points, I would love to see the idea developed further. Things that I didn't like so much: I think certain towers (sentinel) tend to dominate the game a little bit too much while others are somewhat neglected, I would also like to see a few special levels with perhaps some special conditions though in this case I admit to being spoiled by the variety in the rest of the game.
I'm about 2/3 through the human campaign and I like it. I wish there was even more customization, more specials, more research etc. but I guess not everybody goes for extensive skill trees. One thing that I've found tiresome is when I want to "farm" cash by replaying levels I get very little. Though again I suppose this is not unreasonable as I assume the money we get from missions is quite enough to win all the maps if using the proper strategy. Other than that I like the overall feel of having a huge mothership under my control and the production values are quite good. Strangely the game seems to be "loosing" the cursor on a regular basis forcing me to click somewhere within the game window in order to regain control (launching a ship in the process) this could be a player specific thing. So far it's a decent 4, I don't see it dropping to 3 unless I encounter something gamebreaking but I'll only consider moving it to 5 if I really like the story after playing all three campaigns.
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Thank you for your comment. As I have written this is a work in progress. Some of your ideas do make sense, and some things are under way but I really do think you have a different type of game in mind than I do. ^^