Recent reviews by zenii

I don't know if I'm missing something here (I didn't play co-op) but this is just so mediocre in every sense of the word.

Story is bland and uninteresting, if it's even there at all. I mean, you're just killing zombies so you don't really need much more reason than that, and the game sure doesn't provide any more than that.

Poor attempt at humor. Italian "mafioso" accent is layed on super thick to the point of ridiculousness. Recycle the same 10 lines over and over. "50 bullets, comin right up, who's my next customer!", "why don't you freaks stop biting me", "mmm thats some good cannoli" (whenever he picks up food/health, which is clearly a chinese take-out box and not cannoli).

Weapon and Enemy variety. You got your handgun, tommy gun, shotguns, etc. You got your walking zombies, running zombies, barrel-throwing zombies (so you can pretend you're playing Donkey Kong) etc etc. Everything is just so bland and average. No upgrades, no shop, no nothing. Weapons also feel unimpactful. Handgun and tommy gun are a joke (might as well be peashooters), double barrel shotgun is okay, magnum is good, pump shotty sucks, flamethrowers kinda fun, but for a game with "guns" in the title they could've made it more fun to shoot.

Gameplay. You can't aim your shooting, you just shoot straight ahead. Annoying when there are flying enemies or crawling enemies. You just keep going down an endless 2D corridor while killing zombies, sometimes you have to jump up and climb higher, but there's no exploration, no hidden power ups, just moving straight and shooting zombies. Oh and the game loves throwing zombies at you from behind, especially runners who come and ♥♥♥♥ your ♥♥♥♥ up.

Level design. It's just a bunch of similarly colored (blue, brown, black) industrial or urban looking backgrounds. The stairs are stupid, you can't use down-A to go down from a platform so you have to jump clear off. Levels are bland and unintereting; nothing cool to look at, no hidden areas, no alternate paths, literally nothing but moving forward.

It's not terrible, but it's just so bland and uninteresting that after about an hour I felt I had experienced all this game had to offer and I'd much rather spend my time reading obscure articles on wikipedia or re-organizing my sock drawer.

Honestly one of the most fun games I've played.

You stand in the middle of the screen, as enemies approach you from both sides. The game can be played with just two buttons, one for each side of the screen which you press when the enemies come into range. It has a bumpin' techno soundtrack that really gets you into it. It all seems very basic and simple, and it is, and that's the beauty of it. It doesn't need to rely on 4k graphics or complex game mechanics, it's just pure plain fun. It's pretty freakin' cheap, and I'd think you'd be hard-pressed to find something this entertaining for this cheap.

At first I thought this was going to be another Kingdom Rush clone, but I was wrong. Sure, the art style looks similar, but the gameplay is closer to Anomoly Warzone Earth, if you've played that game.

Basically instead of building towers, you're the "mob" (so to speak) making your way down the trail towards the end goal, all while being assaulted, not by towers, but other groups of mobs. You have to protect the summoner in the middle of your group, because if the summoner reaches 0 health, game over. The summoner can summon several different types of units to protect her, like a warrior, archer, mage, rogue, and variations of those 4 basic classes. You can upgrade the effectiveness of these units using the stars you win after each level, as per usual, and there are "challenges" where you re-do levels with certain restrictions. Music is okay, although the sound effects get annoying after a while.

All in all, I think it's a pretty enjoyable experience.

This game is so average, that when you consider how many good top down arena shooters already exist, makes it not worth bothering with. Also it doesn't have controller support, which is kind of weird for the genre.

Save your money and buy Crimsonland or Nation Red.

It's an okay tower defense game. It's obviously a mobile port but they don't have any leftover microtransaction BS so there's nothing inherently wrong with it starting on mobile, just thought I'd point it out anyway.

It's not a bad game, but it's not a great game either. It's just kind of your run-of-the-mill tower defense game. Who knows, maybe I didn't get far enough (I only did the first or second "zone") but from what I saw there wasn't anything particularly different or engaging about this game. The reason I am writing a positive review is because compared to the millions of terrible mobile tower defense games out there, this one is decent. It gets the job done. If you want a really good tower defense game I would look into titles like "kingdom rush", "defender's quest" or "defense grid".


Worth Checking Out? Sure.
Likeliness of Being Bundled? Medium to High
Price to pay? >$1

Side scrolling runner game. Has all the markings of a mobile port ("premium" currency, 3 objectives, daily quests, social media integration). Not that any those those are a bad thing. But the core gameplay is, well, bland. It's just a run of the mill, runner game with nothing new to offer. Not challenging at all, after about 5-10 minutes of playing I was able to pass the levels with no mistakes. There's only 3 obstacles ffs, 2 you jump over and 1 you slide (or jump) over, meaning you can play the entire game with just the Up key, which is, well.. boring. This game isn't terrible by any means, but it's not great either; it's average at best, mediocre at it's worst.

Worth Checking Out? Probably not, unless you really like runner games.
Likeliness of Being Bundled? Medium to High
Price to pay? >$1

Side scrolling shooter. The controls are a mess; firing the gun is bound to "J" for some reason and I couldn't get it to bind to the mouse. It barely works with a controller but it uses a "shoot where you're facing" instead of a dual-stick layout, which is kind of lame. First level was just going down a corrider fighting 2-3 types of really lame enemies, no challenge whatsoever. Also not entirely sure but I think I was playing as a Nazi (or at least Wehrmacht) soldier? Anyway it's pretty boring and there are many games in this same genre that are way better.

Worth checking out? Probably not.
Likeliness of being bundled? High
Price to pay? >$1

Probably my favorite sidescrolling runner game. The stuntman setting is cute and funny, and it allows you to explore a bunch of different enviroments by going through various "movie sets". There's a good amount of variety in the missions you do; like the classic Trials style single track courses, to multi-track courses, there are even jetpack courses where instead of riding something, you fly a jetpack! The missions are challenging enough to not be too hard/easy, and there's always the bonus objectives if you want more. All in all, it's a really solid game that I believe stands out among the crowd of all the other runner games.

Worth checking out?: Yes
Likeliness of being bundled: Low
Price you should pay?: ~$3

Twin stick shooter with a bumpin techno soundtrack. Really easy to get into, hard to put down. Great if you like chasing high scores.

Worth checking out?: Yes
Likeliness of being bundled: Medium
Price you should pay: ~$1

The first "rogue-like" game I've played, and it's damn brilliant and got me hooked to the genre. Basically, in a "rogue-like" you try to survive as long as possible - when you die, it's over. In this game, you control a lone space-ship navigating through different galaxies as you try not to die and ultimately take down the Federation ship that threatens the universe. The story is never really that important in "rogue-likes". What matters is the sense of tension and urgency as you navigate a harsh and cruel world in your the never-ending fight to survive. Each time you die, you learn, and try to get just a little bit further next time.

Because that's the core essence of a "rogue-like". Death. As hard as you will try to avoid it, you will die, and you will die a lot. The hope is that every time you do - you learn something from it. You learn what works, what doesn't. Is it better to upgrade your shields to block more attacks, or upgrade your engines to increase your evasion chance? Should you use lasers, ion cannons, missiles, or attack droids? You try one thing, then another, until you find a way that works for you. In a good rogue-like, (like this one, especially with the free Advanced Content patch), there are multiple ways that work, but there are still luck based events that can throw a wrench into your plans. So even if you get down a strategy that works, not every game will be the same.

So if all of that seems interesting to you, I'll get to the mechanics. You control a space-ship, with anywhere from 1-10(?) crew members. You can assign each member to boost one of the ships systems - be it the shields, weapons, engine, and of course you'll need a pilot. You travel throughout various galaxies, one space-jump at a time, where you'll encounter many events, good and bad, that will keep you on your toes and keep you constantly adjusting your tactics. Some events will reward you with new crew-members, weapons, or special items, Other events will force you to forfeit scrap, damage your ship, or even kill one of your crew-members. As you defeat enemy ships, or help out civilians, you get scrap, which is used to upgrade your ship and buy various weapons, crew members, as well as fuel, missiles, and droid parts. So you really have to balance what you use your precious scrap on.

In battle, you can control your weapons to shoot specific parts of the enemies ship - to disable the shields to inflict maximum damage, or disabling the engines to prevent them from getting away. You can pause whenever you want in battle giving you ample time to plan and execute your strategies. Obviously, the aim is to take down enemy ships while trying to minimize your own casualties. There are various ways to do this, whether it be disabling their weapons system via ion cannon, using missile launchers that bypass their shields, or activating droids that shoot down enemy projectiles, Again, you have to find out what works for you, but more importantly, you have to learn to work with what you got. Sometimes you have the choice of letting enemies surrender for a chance at getting more fuel or missiles, or blast them into space dust for more scraps.

Just as a word of warning, "rogue-likes" are usually pretty difficult, at least at first. It'll take you some time to get accustomed to the world, and probably even more time before you defeat the last boss. But that just makes victory so much sweeter. Each time you play, you get a little bit further, or at least learn something to get you a little further next time. If you like the idea of going through trial and error as you adapt to survive in a cruel, unforgiving world until you achieve victory, the final culmination of the sum of your experiences, then look no further, and pick up FTL today.