I really liked this game, but only because I chose to ignore capturing the capsules. This game's strengths are light exploration and moving quickly, and its weakness is scouring every inch for capsules or worse yet, mucking around with bumpers to get capsules.......I rescued the first 2 penguins, but when I noticed how hard the 3rd penguin was I completely gave up and utterly ignored all the capsules. The rescue missions are not hard per say, but they require so many caps and the controls are not precise enough, slashing boxes is abusively hard for some reason, and getting back up to the hostage can be almost impossible since you can accidently hit a bumper and lose 9 seconds getting back.
The level 35 boss is really bad. There is no indication that he is utterly indestructible for a few phases so I spent several lives trying to jump on top of his head. Him killing you when he lands is random, annoying, and impossible to see coming the first time. I hate bosses where I am forced to do nothing until he lets me hit him. I get impatient since there is basically nothing I can do and he decides when I can hit him.
I beat this game twice and had fun the first time.......One of the main flaws of this game is that (as far as I can tell) there are no real decisions to make until you get the last ship. The gameplay prior to that is the same and so it becomes really repetitive.........The boat combat is severely lacking. All you do is spam the attacks that work and there is no skill needed. It might as well have been on autopilot. It would be cool if there was an RPG turn based style combat system. And that there are different enemy types (quantity and quality) that require specific tactics.........I really liked the idea of different endings and getting rewards for each ending.
Thanks! Will definitely rework the combat in the sequel. Also, while the multiple endings are definitely popular, it seems that having to start a new game each time is not.. so I'll move back towards a more traditional setup for the sequel that lets you beat the game then gives you infinite time to go through and unlock all the rest of the stuff.
The leveling up visual design is so confusing that for the first 20 waves I only leveled up bullet upgrades. When you click on a stat the character’s design changes which I interpreted to mean that I was choosing which 1 perk I was bringing into the match rather than leveling up evenly across multiple stats.
After you beat all the ‘missions’, even with fairly high level gold earning gear, you don't earn near enough to max out all stats. But its not like it matters because it seems like nothing really happens after level 30. Aside from a sweet but very rare bit of dialogue between the bad guys, nothing happens. Its all just a bunch of generic fights………..This game could really benefit from a big increase in difficulty. I only died twice in the whole game before the final boss who in turn killed me twice. Amp it up……..The enemies get better stats as the levels go on. I didn’t like this in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and I don’t like it here. Instead of gaining more power you are just trying to keep up with the Joneses and it is impossible to ever feel more powerful.
I had a really hard time telling where Axes would land.......for some reason the shield boss guys spawned an orange kamikaze minion...... An off game tilter is the multishot. It increases your power level, but it is kinda lame overall. Instead of using the awesome 'full auto' fire we have to use the less interesting burst shot method. If you don't burst shot the game gets abusively hard.........I have a hard time telling where bullets can hit me. This is especially odd for the red line laser guys because they sometimes cannot hit me...... Once you get lots of enemy types it gets really intense and is really fun. The enemy types complement each other very well and rolling/ducking works really well. You have to keep the fire, rocket and ax guys off your back while thinning out gun guys. Very cool.
A sweet game with surprisingly likable villains and a really awesome last level. I especially liked how 'peace' was just this generic cover-all term......Except for the kamikazee guy, the villain's dialogue is really good and everyone bounces off each other well......... For some reason the shield boss guys spawned a single orange kamikaze minion........It takes too long to swing over the ditch and start shooting. This is especially problematic because orange kamikazee guys are just a bit too fast. They hit you before you can bring your gun over.
I beat the game and Cheese and Crackers those last levels are brutal. With just tons of constantly re-spawning units and limited room to move. The game would have been way more fun if you had save point in some stages because later levels are kinda easy, but are so long that you just get blind with annoyance and get sucker punched........I really like this new sub-genre of one action turn. Great stuff......The best levels are the ones that focus on combat and give you lots of room. The worst levels are the once with pusher blocks and limited space.......I don't get how exploding units work. They sometimes kill me for no reason and were very annoying.....The allied units are a cool idea and work really well. Bit they need to be more distinct visually. Far too often I couldn't tell who I was and died.......I like how there are several enemy classes. I guess riot shield guys who can't rotate and archers could be added in future games.......Again: this game was fun and very hard.
Pro-tip: for level 59 rush through the center lanes. This will make the vertical sliders prevent replicaiton from the replication blocks and give you a straight shot at taking the replicators out..............Here are the directions for beating level 59. U means up, R means right, etc with spaces to make it easier to see,,,,,RRDR URUR DRRR URRR UDRR DRRR RRUL RRUR RRR.....
The fact that I can only have 2 squad members makes it impossible to experiment or try new things. I want to know if Ax Guy is good, but I would have to sell my highly prized shield guy so I never switch it out. EVER.....This game just loves to waste my time. I should be able to 'skip' at any point rather than wait for the characters to jump back. I don't need a zoom in at the start of a match, or a zoom out at the end........I don't get how the enemy's level works. My 6/6/6 team is crushed by a 4/4/4 enemy but my 8/8/8 team easily defeats a 12/12/12 team.................And worst of all the game CONSTANTLY blindsides me with way overpowered enemies. I am easily crusing through 80% of the dungeon when suddenly a guy with 10X health shows up and one shots all three of my characters at once. And since the boss is the only things that gives good cash/XP I have just WASTED 20 minutes.
This game is awesome and 5/5 and some levels are absurdly hard. Especially the last level.........I don't know the most effective way to build barracks. Should I get [one up to tier 5] or get [two up to tier 3] or get [3 to tier 2].......I like how my barracks say 'help' but it is not enough. If my barracks had a number underneath the barrack telling me who many are coming would have prevented many unfair losses. And the number could be colored to show which enemy is attacking....Not understanding which units are attacking which buildings can result in utter confusion as to what is going on and was the game’s biggest flaw...It is cool how the enemy can use labs as it forces new tactics, but when there are multiple enemy labs the player has to defend against up to 4 labs, which is impossible and if the computer decides to pick on you there is no way to win
The map layouts and stage gimmicks are really awesome and force new strategies........... The use of harder versions of previous levels brings back nostalgia and are a nice way to lengthen the game...........But god damn some levels are just ball crushingly hard. You look at the layout and feel nothing but despair but you push hard and you can beat every level. Though the ability to skip 5 levels is a great idea (but I never needed them)…..One of the game’s biggest strengths of the game is that on some levels you get to choose what to build and where.
Protip: [1] rush lab to ice enemy labs. Reds like to build labs. [2] Sometimes you only need to make one Tier 5 barrack with tier 3 barracks around it because retaking tier 5 barracks is very hard. [3] ignore unit caps by swapping bubbles between two barracks constantly. [4] It takes 4 bubbles to take out one point of a building with 4 armor. So clump all your units on a single barracks and send them all out at once to take out armor. [5] Units move faster from labs. Use this to evade turrets. [6] To beat the final level claim every barrack then bum rush the center lab and bum rush the boss. Ignore taking forts. Once you have the boss its easy.
This game was even better than the first. Its like Banjo-Tooie, it keeps all the old stuff and gives us tons of new stuff. I seriously have to give credit for keeping so much of the old stuff because it is great....... The ability to have units target specific units is a god send and puts this game way better than the first. No more having my archers attack skeletons rather than the mage in the back.........The hero unit is great. It allows lots of flexibility during the warm-up of a match, is a dedicated strike unit for hitting hard targets and can teleport which is great for last minute saves. It was annoying how when he dies I lose my summons and can't cast which makes a bad situation turn worse. And I have no clue how his pet respawns.
It seems like almost every big enemy has magic armor (only infantry is good against them) but they ALL have AOE damage and brutal damage which gets annoying............I didn't notice for the longest time that the Goblin Market had good stuff. I got the permanent upgrades but skipped one use items because I don't understand how to get gold. I got all but 2 crystals without using a single one shot item..........The idea with 4 hero tech trees is really cool but I settled almost entirely on the blue Werewolf tree just because it had a way to regenerate mana. Without that spell it takes WAY, WAY too long to regenerate mana..............The second to last level (with traitor units) is absolutely crushing. There are just so many guys and the game is not designed to deal with fighting multiple ranged enemy units (who routinely obliterated my units before I even noticed what happened).
I still have a hard time selecting units/buildings because they cover eachother. On a few occasions I accidentally sold my units while trying to click on unit under the building. This could be alleviated by allowing me to pause the game and move my units.........Jumpers are still obscenely annoying enemies that need to be removed. Even when poisoned and on fire they make it scott free to the end. Likewise Rogues are still bullshit and I am extremely happy that they only appear a few times.
Good stuff. The best parts are by far when the player gets to quickly analyze the situation, do pull ups, slides, swimming and strategic wall jumps. It was so much fun. The worst parts are by far when the game demands very precise movements that result in numerous, boring and tedious deaths. Especially when you turn off the lights.......I watch Blip TV vids while playing and I think the game slows down at an irregular rate. My character moves slower but how long I can hold my breath is the same. I would drown half way across a puddle, then close the vid and can now easily pass the puddle......The earlier levels are the most entertaining since we get to focus on moving quickly. Doing pull ups are surprisingly fun.
I finally did it and got all 55 stars. This game is awesome.......I like how I can easily visualize where I need to go and what I need to do at the start of the level.......I liked the wire cutting part but for some reason it would freeze my game every time I brought it up. The lockpicking parts are not nearly as good......When my computer slows down my character slows down more than the cameras so there were several times where I could not run fast enough to avoid a camera. It also caused the camera to catch me when I was looking in the opposite direction........
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Thanks! Will definitely rework the combat in the sequel. Also, while the multiple endings are definitely popular, it seems that having to start a new game each time is not.. so I'll move back towards a more traditional setup for the sequel that lets you beat the game then gives you infinite time to go through and unlock all the rest of the stuff.