I really enjoyed this game! Could use some....(Review)

[SocioPsycho]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-LD0HWKRFE&list=PLTj9drPC92M2iXZVy0bCpf02SUE8zLaKG&index=1&feature=iv&src_vid=Q-LD0HWKRFE&annotation_id=annotation_519862703#t=1m41s

This is a summary of my review video, which I encourage you to watch if you are looking for a more in-depth review.

Attack of the Alien Robot Monsters is a futuristic tower defense game with a 16 bit look and feel, where you fight against hordes of Robots in order to save your colony.The story does exactly what it needs to, tying a purpose and progression with the enemies and troops to the game. It is more minimalistic, but fits in well to the game. The interface is sleek and simplistic, One minor issue I had was that you could only increase the time of the round x1, where it would have been nice to have a x2 option. Another small gripe would be that there was no way to tell what type of creatures would be coming up in the next round. It was a bit annoying, as it didn't give me time to prepare for what was coming, and increased my chances of having to redo the level not out of enjoyment, but out of frustration. The two most important factors to consider in a tower defense game are the level design and the tower defense layout, which go hand in hand with each other.

Level Design;
This was done extremely well in this game. Magnificent, even! They did an excellent job of designing each level so that it challenged the player, and accommodated the increase in towers and attack strength as you progressed through the game. I never felt that I was replaying the same levels over again, which is hard to find in tower defense games.

Tower Design;
This game requires a certain knowledge of what each tower does, and a tactical knowledge of where to place them. The towers are interchangeable, and as you increase in level, if you want to, you can change the towers to a completely different style. There are large tech trees in this game, with a large variety of different types of towers that you can change to to battle against the different types of enemies. Each individual tower also has a decent selection of upgrades that do an excellent job of increasing the power of those towers.

There are marine style barracks and outposts, some of which are more powerful than others, which i go over more in my video review. There are also more tech lab style outposts, which offer air assault units (which I found to be largely useless due to poor AI). The variety of attack/ dps/ armor units give more options to defend against different attacks. While there are towers that are stronger than others as the game does suffer from a power creep issue. Although it still comes down to the right placement of the towers on the map. The enemy offers a large, diverse variety of units, that have certain buffs that you need to be ready for.

Bosses
The bosses are also large and varied, and may require you to replay them. The enemy troops synergize well with each other, more than your towers do with each other. Each level is based on a 3 star rating; the stars can be used to purchase upgrades. You need to have an understanding of tower defense games when you play this game, as it does not start at a noob level, but has a higher entry difficulty bar. The game starts at a moderate level, but quickly increases to a veteran level, then hardcore. You do feel a sense of progression due to this, and the end boss really requires a tactical eye rather than just relying on the skills you have acquired up to that point. The game never wasted my time, which I appreciated.

Summary
At the end of the day, the towers may have some issues, but the enemies and levels that you face rotate so that you constantly feel challenged, and keeps you on your toes. The balance between the ascetics, the gameplay, the mechanics, and how it all works together there were no issues. I didn't feel like it wasted my time, or that the hours spent in this game were for nothing. I can absolutely recommend this game for those who have a base knowledge of the tower defense genre. There is a tactical element required for this game, and this game shines in that respect.

Thanks for your viewership and support; for more videos check click here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SocioPyscho

[Dragst]

Thanks! Good points in there!

[White Shadow]

Your video commentary is pretty awesome! Good review.

I personally really enjoyed using the AT Bunker and the Drones. AT Bunker is fantastic against groups of heavy armour troops. As for Drones, I like that they're pretty cheap and never engage in melee like marines, though I agree with you about their A.I. They often get confused and can't decide which enemy to go for, which can mean they're wasting time rather than attacking. XD

I also agree about some imbalance of power in the tech tree. I found Microwave Tower and to a slightly lesser degree Pulse Cannon to be a bit too weak. We get them pretty late into the game, and by that stage we've become very familiar with the Science Lab and Orbital Lasers, which are both pretty great.