Full screen carpet bombing + full wave of cars + bullets = Extremely cheap. I realize this is probably where the developers intended people to use Heroic Dash, but as many have pointed out, all you do is run ahead into the next wave. Can we at least get some invincibility/bullet clearing from the bomb or napalm specials? Something to help balance the fact that the enemy can go fullscreen bullet hell AND bombs AND cars AND a helicopter at any given moment? How about special moves powering up based on how many enemies you've killed instead of just on a timer? At least that way when you're dashing into a heavy situation you can build meter quickly to get out again.
Focus on powering up your Cannon, Assault Speed, and Refinery first. Every once in a while pick up Magnet to be useful. You should be fine through the first 10-12 waves no problem. After that, just focus on Missiles, they're the only actual weapon you need to buy.
Overall this is a pretty solid build. The graphics are good, controls have a nice feel, and the difficulty curve is manageable. Unfortunately, there are some fine tuning points that need to be addressed. The main issue for me is that the inability to avoid enemy bullets seems like a cheap mechanic to force me into buying shields, instead of trying to get them as an enhancement. It's less "you can buy shields if you want" and more "this game requires you to buy shields or else you can't beat it." I compare it with games like "Reactance 2" and the "Frantic Series" where enemies shoot in bullet patterns. At least with those games, if you can dodge/weave you get a real feeling of accomplishment with acquiring actual skill to the game. Here the only accomplishment I really feel is "I finally grinded long enough to buy the upgrade that lets me go on".
It would have been nice to know that the hotel expansions occur only in 3 directions. I would have started by filling in the bottom corner instead of being left with a shit ton of panels that i can only fill with trees.
ProTip: If you want to get those "Unharmed" rankings, then stack the "Emergency Device" accessory. It nullifies all bullets around your ship and will give you the room you need to maneuver out. There is about a 8 second recharge delay, but you can use this technique as often as required within the level.
I find 2 Ninjas + 2 Pirates to be quite useful. The cannonballs fill the gaps in the shurikens, giving you a true full screen spread option, and most enemies will go down after two volleys, including the homing pink slugs on the later levels. Also, your special attack is a full 360 burst of bullets that pretty much eradicates anything near you. As far as what stats to go after, I recommend "Candy" and "Attack" early, then "Health" and "Special" before rounding it all out.
A great place to level grind in the Mind Forest is Zombie King (Map 12). Equip a Gold Ring, an EXP Ring, and an Undead Mace. Spam your archers constantly, their arrows will kill lots of enemies, but keep damage on the base/boss relatively low, allowing you to rack up gold, items, and exp. I was earning $12K-15K every time, and leveling up almost once per level all the way through exp level 32.
Great little game to spend time on, reminded me a lot of Nerdook's Monster Slayers game. I found that pairing Corpse King with Entropy Alien gave me the best "tank" character to lead my attack. Your CK will regenerate 100hp per second which is awesome since he already has 1500hp to start. Throw in a Soul Seeker for his long range knockback and you can pretty much walk all over anyone you fight against.
Quick Tip - If you're looking to save health and/or build your combo meter, it's best to hide behind your Reindeer or Brute Elf and use them as a shield while you fire away.
Also, upgrade your Fire Rate as often as you can.
This game is fun, but it freezes/crashes so often it's almost ridiculous. My comp can run Crisis at 60 fps but it freezes on a flash game?
Also, bombs are completely irrelevant in this game but they eat up an entire weapon slot. Weak sauce. Let me ditch that worthless weapon and add another missile or something.
Enemy has me pinned at the edge of the screen, i cant move/attack to get out, have to sit and wait while he bounces me for damage like i'm in a damn pong game.....
Weak
Give a short description/picture of what makes each plane distinct? I got pretty mad when I saved up the money to buy Englebert only to find he was exactly the same as Ben, just a lil faster and had an extra weapon level. I'd rather just save to get Paul, instead of having to level grind for another 10-15 min.
Another idea is to make each plane have a specific special weapon tied to it. Eg. Daisy gets Fire Ring, Englebert gets Homing, Paul gets Diagonal, etc. It would give each plane more character and add depth to the strategy of the game, helping to show that certain planes really are better for certain missions. As it is now, the only level that's super specific to anyone is using Daisy on the Cargo level.
All things considered, this game is still fantastic and fun as hell.
Update to my previous comment - Make way for the lower left of the skill tree and the +50 INT, grabbing any extra INT squares along the way and max out the Credit Junkie skill completely, can be done in the first 5 min of gameplay. After that you'll get to pick 6 skill squares each time you level for the rest of the game. I recommend heading to the big +50 Char and maxing Minions, then working up to the +50 Dex and maxing Weapons after.
Power ups to max out:
Acrobatics
Credit Junkie
Weapons
Miniphant Swarm
Don't waste points on the aiming power up, between your minions and quest weapons you'll have plenty of ammo. I pretty much stuck to the right side of the Experience tree and was able to max out all of the above stats before the final boss and took him out easily.
This game is fun but flawed.
There are serious balance issues when it comes to enemy hit points. The tanks are undoubtedly the most difficult enemies in the game but there is zero incentive to actually take them down in terms of money/points/stars.
Also, boss encounters seem like less of a "battle" and more like an endurance test to see if you will actually stare at the screen for 10 minutes straight to avoid an occasional spread of 6 bullets.
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