![]() I almost think the game would be a lot deeper if you had no control over the convoy composition – it would change how you deploy the special powers, at a minimum.īuy If You Like: 2D physics indie puzzle games + jazz While some of the alien towers will force you to move away from your convoy and still others will force you to drop powers in only a few areas, the banality of the convoy configuration itself makes the destruction of the alien towers a forgone conclusion. Basically: tank, shield, missile, missile. While there are varied alien tower types and plenty of tactical placement of your special powers, Anomaly suffers immensely from the fact that there is an optimal convoy configuration that never makes sense to deviate from. The game itself is one of the slickest I have ever seen, as far as graphics and interface goes. A press of the button will bring up your map screen where you can change the route of your convoy, buy or upgrade units, or switch their order. You control an immortal commander that runs around on the ground, capable of placing one of four different types of effects on the battlefield to support your convoy: repair zones, smoke screens, decoys, and airstrike zones. The big buzz surrounding this indie title was the term “reverse tower defense.” While it is technically accurate that the enemy is the one with towers in a maze of city streets, Anomaly plays a lot closer to “tower defense on wheels” than anything else. ![]() Instead of “surviving,” it felt a lot more like “hunting.” Aside from that, the game really does feel like an improvement on the original.īuy If You Like: Slick, tower defense on wheels With XP though, the entire tone of the game changes to where you find yourself hunting down every last straggler to make sure you hit the XP cap for each level. While the original game had an upgrade system based on drops from enemies, I never really felt the need to kill every alien around. What I felt didn’t work though, was the inclusion of experience points. What also works out is the inclusion of a lot more human blood and body parts in the background, cementing my belief that this franchise could possibly see success remade as a perhaps B-level game. It makes for a more focused experience when you don’t have to choose between 12 weapons to exterminate an incoming enemy horde, so that actually works out. Each of the three characters is essentially their own “class,” with access to only a handful of the weapons of the original game. As a prequel to the original, Survivor follows the paths of three separate survivors of the original attack on their way to evacuation. With Shadowgrounds: Survivor, Frozen Byte took the formula of the original and tweaked it in some of the right ways, and some of the wrong ways. Seriously though, make these "real" games. It is just a shame that the designers felt it necessary to close up every loose end in the game’s conclusion.īuy If You Like: Even more atmospheric, top-down shooters With a dozen weapons with differing upgrade options and a good mix of alien types that never become trivial, Shadowgrounds makes a surprisingly strong entry in its own hybrid genre. There is also a strong sense that the game started out as a “shadow simulator” given the uncharacteristically amazing dynamic shadows generated by your flashlight. What this means is that you will frequently face hordes of aliens, but you lack the infinite ammo that would typically reduce the experience to holding down the fire button. What is great about Shadowgrounds is the atmospheric top-down shooting which combines elements of Smash TV/Binding of Isaac with survival horror. The premise is an alien invasion of the human colony on Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons. Shadowgrounds is one of those indie games you wish received the polish of a full budget.
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