Reviews for Colony Defenders TD

[Thoronhen]

Flawed

This game had so much to get an 8 or more, but it is simply too unpolished to get anywhere.
I'll begin on what actually was done right: one of the few well-executed voice actings on a flash game I can remember of and nicely crafted graphics, very similar to the ones found on early 2000's isometric RTSes.

Pretty much everything else looks unfinished or at least poor when faced with the current standards on TDs.
First the interface, it is a mess:
- Sometimes you'd want to put a unit somewhere and the bunker tab would block out the adjacent spots where you wanted to put an other unit on, so you have to double click to close the tab. If an unit's avatar happens to be right on the mentioned spot, it got even worse.
- Nice, we've got hotkeys to place units. But then you'd have to upgrade 10+ bunkers with 4 units each, 5+, one by one, dealing with the sloppy interface each time.
- There's little information being shown. But I'll go into detail next.

Now gameplaywise:
- Okay. Next wave is 2 grey small cars and 3 big green tanks. What does that mean? Is one of them more vulnerable to some kind of weapon? Or slower? I don't see any of that happening. It's all about the cars' HP, I suppose.
- Same as above, but applied to my own units. Do artillery/grenadiers do splash damage? Do missiles or lasers penetrate more in heavy-armoured targets? Will homing missiles be more accurate than standard weapons? The interface won't tell, but experience shows me it all falls down to those three upgradeable attributes each unit has. That ruins strategic value.
- You can have 4 units per bunker and each level has easily 10+ bunker spots. Again, where's the strategic value? Your basic (i.e. barracks, factory...) strutctures won't even occupy slots. You can just spam your way through the game.
- Again. The lack of profile progression, diversified upgrades, tech trees, passives or whatever makes the game quite poor strategywise. The only trace of something like that in this game is the mining facility. But as pointed out on another review, it was poorly implemented, since it rewards the player for sitting and wathching instead of stacking waves and striving to survive.

[whitephant0m]

The good parts.

1. The voice acting, animation, & graphics are amazing. It's clean, smooth & crisp.
2. Tutorial. I'm glad there's one since a few tower defense games don't have one, expecting people to know what to do. From the introduction and tutorial I thought it was an exciting game (maybe i just got carried away with the voice acting). But then its not perfect.
3. Wave info and wave counter. Having those two prepares you on what's coming and how far along the game you are.
4. Pause. I like that you can continue building while the game is pause. It makes the game easier (but not challenging).

But after playing a few levels it just got.. meh. Here are my concerns:

1. A bar graph with numerical value would be better. The fire rate and fire range has no values unlike the damage bar which has one. How would we be able to compare which one is better in terms of range or rate when a bar graph is used and there's little difference between the weapons.
2. Enemy information needed. What enemy is vulnerable to what weapon? What are the attributes? Does it have more speed? Doe it take longer to kill?
3. Bunkers. It only indicates when a bunker is full but not how may bunker slots are left. I had to deselect a unit and point on each bunker to find out if it needs more infantry or not.
4. Infantry range. When selecting a bunker it doesn't show it's radius like weapons do. It only shows up when you place a unit on a bunker.
5. Passive upgrades or Facility upgrades. Like making infantry and weapons cheaper, reduced Air command attacks recharge time, increased revenue from mines or more money from destroyed units, etc.
6. Goals/Achievement. The only goal of the game is making sure your base is not destroyed and conquer all 10 sectors. How about having additional goals/achievements to spice up the game. E.g. Having 3 stars on each sector, reaching a particular score to get more stars, or reaching _ amount of money. The game gets boring after a few levels.
7. Replay. Not being able to go back to previous sectors to replay it or to improve scores (in connection with number 6).
8. Money. When you speed up the game the mine does not give you money faster. Also, add additional sources of income like being able to build more mine or earning for every enemy killed (in connection with number 5).
9. Predictable. Just use a certain type of unit and you'll win the game. You need to add variety to the game.
10. Bosses. This game needs them. Like a big almost indestructible tank at every last wave or on the last sector.
11. Hotkeys. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be one. It just seems unnecessary. For a short tower defense game, there's sure a lot of them.
12. Upgraded Weapons. Since this game focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Add a chevron or a star to indicate which weapon is upgraded or change how the weapons look.
13. Blocking the view. The information (You know that little box thing that displays the infantry inside the bunker or box to upgrade weapons. I don't really know what it's called. XD) regarding the towers/units built sometimes block the player from placing a unit. I'd have to deselect it to remove the box.
14. Lack of strategy. The player will just place weapons on a particular spot and that's it. And just like I said on number 9, it's predictable.
15. Storyline/Cut-scenes. I was expecting more of the voice acting every time you finish or start a level. Like "We may have destroyed their defenses but it seems like they are growing stronger and stronger." or something like that to add to the story.
16. Quick-battle. Maps should be unlocked one at a time (like what you did on the weapons). If you reveal them all at once you'll know what to expect.

Overall. There's nothing new or interesting. It's like buying a deliciously looking cake but it actually tastes dry and bland. I'd prefer my game to have low quality graphics with better gameplay than with higher graphics but unpolished and boring gameplay. I'm not saying that it's the worst game or it's that bad. It's a good game. But a lot can be done to make it better.

[superpapsy]

Game doesnt load atm .