Kingdom Rush (defense)

Kingdom Rush by Ironhide Game Studio has been released some time ago. If you have not played it yet, well, have a good read below of what you have missed.

Kingdom Rush is a tower defense game where the player builds towers to stop hordes of rushing attackers. It stands out with its cartoony art style, lovely sound effects and active gameplay. And I do mean active. There are things to do even after the towers have been built.

This review is based on the 1.072k version.

Build towers, stop rushers.

Basically, the player builds towers to stop rushing attackers. Different types of towers are suited against different types of attackers - archers for physical damage, mages for magic and artillery for the large groups of little guys. Plus there is a barracks that produces soldiers who physically block the advance of the attackers.

There are things to do besides building defenses. In addition to telling the soldiers from the barracks where to gather, the player has the ability to Call Reinforcements and summon a Rain of Fire. Call Reinforcements will summon a couple of soldiers to block the attackers. This is the most often used ability.

Rain of Fire is, well, as its name suggests, fiery death from above. Because of its long cooldown, it is usually saved for emergencies. But I like spamming the skill. :)

And if the game does get slow with nothing to do, the next wave may be summoned earlier to provide threats to play with.

Challenge level!

In addition to the basic campaign levels, there are challenges for each level. These are shorter levels with only one life (i.e. no enemy must be allowed through!). Also, there is a restriction to the global upgrades (see below) the player may have as seen in the red text in the screenshot above.

Completing basic campaign levels and the challenge levels will award stars, which may be used to purchase global upgrades.

Six types of global upgrades with five levels each.

The upgrades available improve each of the four tower types and the two abilities. Of course I would max the Rain of Fire ability so I can spam it more often with greater effect. :)

The stars used in the global upgrades may be reset. Thus, different strategies may be used without having to start a new game.

Achievements!

And to boost the ego, there are achievements to fulfill. Most of them involve a lot of work but there are a few that are true challenges. Like the one that requires a barbarian to stay alive long enough to kill ten enemies. Keeping barbarians alive is not an easy thing to do.

Encyclopedia of tower knowledge.

There is a detailed encyclopedia of the towers and enemies. Listed here are all the strength and weaknesses of the enemies, as well as details on the towers available. It is admirable that the developers went to the trouble to produce a separate image for each level of tower upgrade, along with descriptions, stats and encyclopedia entry.

For most part, the game is easy to play. However, it may be difficult to win a level without letting an enemy past, especially if the wrong strategy is used. This may lead to rage-quitting. There are Youtube videos of the solutions, but you don't need those, do you?

To summarize, not only does Kingdom Rush have good gameplay, it also has good presentation. The art is nice to look at and the sound effects good to listen to. That is in addition to an active gameplay where the player has stuff to do throughout a level.

Finally, the #1 good reason to play the game is for the quote when the Dragonbreath Launcher of the 500mm Big Bertha is upgraded. It is a must for Die Hard fans.

Fun!

Games for 2012

Here are a few games I am looking forward to in 2012:

Monsters' Den: Chronicles by garin.
I was waiting like forever for Monsters' Den: Godfall. That has been shelved to do Chronicles instead. After playing the first two Monsters' Den games of party-based RPGs, I have hopes for Chronicles, hopes for a more polished and enriching RPG.

Adventure Story by kupo707.
Platform games are not my favorite. Especially those that have bottomless, insta-kill drops. Thankfully, this game's bottomless drops are not insta-kill. Still, it is based on the humor-filled Epic Battle Fantasy IP (intellectual property). And it will feature music by HalcyonicFalconX. So it is worth at least a look.

15-minute RPG (working title) by nerdook.
There have been rumors going around that nerdook is developing an RPG that can be finished in 15 minutes. The idea is not new - undefined has done it before. Anyway, I am not sure what the final game's title will be. However, it looks like a fun little thing that can be played during coffee breaks.

Update 28 December 2011:
Looks like I don't have to wait till 2012 for Adventure Story.

Lair-Y Defense (defense shooter)

Another day at work.

Lair-Y Defense by Nerd Corps Entertainment is a defense shooter. It is a 2D static shooter with the player controlling a non-moving turret. The player shoots attackers for money, which is spent on upgrades in between waves of attackers. The strong point of this game is the presentation. It comes with great graphics and animation. It even has an intro cutscene.

(Incidentally, the title is pronounced as 'Larry', not 'Lar-why'. Don't feel bad if you didn't realize that - I didn't.)

The story in the game is that a few 'evil guys' developed a sentient house AI, Lair-Y, who then proceeds to kick its masters out of the house. The former masters and the military then attempted to subjugate the rebellious house. Lair-Y defends itself with a variety of weapons.

Yes, the toilet bowl is part of Lair-Y's arsenal.

In between waves, Lair-Y can buy new weapons or upgrade existing ones. Unavailable upgrades in the screenshot can be unlocked by maxing out the upgrades on the left of the respective upgrades. The unlocked upgrades tend to be powerful and fun to use. Thus it is better to concentrate on a branch of upgrades rather than spreading money over everything.

Armed with new weapons and abilities, Lair-Y would then face the next wave of enemies. Enemies will try to destroy Lair-Y with melee weapons, guns and bombs. It is up to Lair-Y to defend itself to prevent damage. The animation of the opposition being bullied by a house is cartoony and entertaining. It does not really feel bad, just funny.

One of the most annoying enemies is in the next screenshot.

Behold the Susie Scout - that little girl in front.

There is some complain that if a wave is lost, the game ends. Money and upgrades are not kept - the player has to start from scratch again. I have found that it is easily possible to complete the game without carrying over money and upgrades from lost games. And the complete game itself is not long. So not being able to keep the money and upgrades is not that big a deal.

Plus, the player carries over knowledge and experience. Real-life game-playing experience, not in-game XP. If you've thought the latter, you've played too much RPGs.

No bullets on screen.

There are no bullets on most of the screenshots because either I have not fired or the bullets have hit. It is difficult to take a screenshot while aiming and shooting without use of special software or extra personnel (i.e. someone else to push the PrtScr key for me).

The best feature of Lair-Y Defense is the presentation. The little guys marching up to Lair-Y is so cute it feels good to squash them with the garage door. Oh, and the ending animation for completing the game is also worth a good laugh.

Bug zapping.

Christmas 2011

And so it has come to this day again where people across the world would celebrate the birth of a single Child.

Who is this Child that all would rejoice and sing praises for Him?

Who is this Child to bring hope for all?

Who is this Child to make peace between God and man?

Who is this Child to be love?

I hope you will find the answers that you seek.

Buddy Rush: Armored Tiger's Set (1.5)

Updated with information from 1.8.1. See below.

After months of trying, I have finally completed the Armored Tiger's set on 23 December 2011 at 73 tries. Yes, 73 tries. -_-

Y A Y !!

Got all of Armored Tiger's loot!

Okay, enough gloating.

Armored Tiger's set consists of 4 items and all four can be looted after beating his Raid.

Armored Tiger's Breast Armor

Armored Tiger's Helm

Armored Tiger's Claw

Armored Tiger's Scale Armor

The completed set gives the following effect:
Att+70
Def+78
HP+552
HP Regen+11%
MP+24
MP Regen+0%
critical+0%
Evade+4%
Stun+4%
Hit Speed+0%
Skill Pow+12%
Skill CoolTime-0sec

Update 14 March 2012:
In the Seventh Wave, the Set Effect is:
HP+80, HP Regen+6%, Def+14.
Thus the completed set would give HP Regen+14%.
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Armored Tiger's set is a defensive set with high Def, HP and HP Regen. It has a little Evade and Stun thrown in to help avoid attacks. However, the set does not have critical, Hit Speed or MP Regen. And it only has average Att. As such, this set has weak offense.

I am still testing out the set, so the details of my character equipping the set will be added later.

It is a busy season.

Update 24 December 2011:

Skully is a little more impressed with Armored Tiger's set.

Skully needed a better set compared to the previous one. The problem was that in regular missions, she's often with low HP. She was fine in Raids, though. With the Armored Tiger's set, at least she can get closer to Oblins where her skills can do more damage.

I have equipped Jinie's Magic Lamp and Toy Gun to cover the set's weakness in offense. Though Skully does not do as much damage as I would like, at least she survives longer in regular missions. And the small MP Regen boost lets her use skills more often.

Though the items equipped gives no critical and little Stun and Hit Speed, she still gets boosts to these attributes from her passive skills.

Update 21 February 2012:
Since I have obtained Bangbang's Set for Skully and since I have looted a second Armored Tiger's Set, I now have two Armored Tiger's Set to equip on my front line characters.

A real tank!

The Armored Tiger's Set is more suited for Worrier. With high HP and Def, Worrier can take lots of damage. And the high HP Regen lets Worrier recover faster. I added the Oblin's Pendant so Worrier has at least a little MP Regen. The extra HP Regen is a welcome bonus, along with the Evade to help avoid damage. I also added Cutie's Horn (purple!) to reduce the weakness of Armored Tiger's Set (that is, little offense).

Betty Jr can take and give lots of damage. Sharing is good!

With the Armored Tiger's Set, Betty Jr can truly take damage. And it can also recover from damage quickly (remember that Betty Jr's aura increases HP Regen). As with Worrier, I added equips to increase Betty Jr's damage-dealing potential. Oblin's Staff (purple!) gives MP Regen as well as increasing Att and Skill Pow. Oblin's Order (not purple - because I do not have the purple) gives a bunch of little bonuses without adding to Att.

Update 31 March 2013:
I just completed the Armored Tiger's Set again. So here's the updated screenshots for the set:

Armored Tiger's Scale Armor (1.8.1)

Armored Tiger's Breast Armor (1.8.1)

Armored Tiger's Claw (1.8.1)

Armored Tiger's Helm (1.8.1)

The completed set gives the following effect:
Att+130
Def+82
HP+592
HP Regen+22%
MP+24
MP Regen+0%
Critical+0%
Evade+4%
Stun+4%
Hit Speed+0%
Skill Pow+12%
Skill CoolTime-0sec

This is similar to the old version except that HP Regen has been doubled and the Set Effect has been improved. Also, level requirements have been reduced.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: December Comedy Screenies

This month's comedy screenies collection are all taken from the Sixth Wave.

The previous month's collection can be found here (don't mind the title).

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I destroyed everything! How much XP do I get?

This new baddie tries to hide its HP bar up high.

And in Raid Mode:

Boorseye still gets all the girls.

And purple is still as elusive as ever.

Finally, new character-specific items. And maybe new character sets!

Only Farjegnon can wear this helm and not look silly.

Update 20 December 2011:

Botherella looks different today.

Update 22 December 2011:

Either I'm great at rescuing or someone could not count.

Update 24 December 2011:

... last summer. O_O

Update 25 December 2011:

Even Farjegnon can't wear this helm without looking a little silly.

Update 27 December 2011:

Just in time!

Update 30 December 2011:

Said the person who will be following behind.

And what are you doing with my Wolfgang anyway!?

Buddy Rush: Contents

Buddy Rush: First Look at the Sixth Wave

Buddy Rush's Sixth Wave arrived a few hours ago.

The first detail I noticed was:

Enchanced character portraits!

The town looks different too!

Season's decorations.

Wizzstar is still away.

There is also a new raid:

No need to hide. We all know who and what you are.

The shop has new items too:

So expensive...

At first glance, the three Magical Bullets appear the same, except for level requirement. It is possible that each bullet has a different set effect when combined with the Magical Golden Pistol (expensive in the shop!). Only one Magical Bullet may be equipped at a time. The screenshot below says so.

The three bullets have the same name.

And for the rich players:

Now, players can buy enhancement consumables!

Raid Mode seems a little easier than before. Or maybe it is because my characters have advanced in levels.

Notice the nicer-looking HP bars on the baddies?

Remember to turn on the Damage Meter in the options after every update.

There is a bug where the item known as Piercing does not appear in the inventory. This is probably because of a missing image file. To delete the item, select another item next to it and use the left/right arrow to switch to the bugged item. You may then delete it normally. However, if the sale price is high, it may be a red item, so you may want to hang on to it until the bug is fixed.

More bugs:
Update 22 December 2011:
In Chapter 11 Mission 3, sometimes a buddy's Att goes very low. So far, I'm not sure what the cause is. My guess is that it has something to do with a buddy (usually a melee buddy) wandering onto a certain spot around the second group of Oblins to be rescued when a certain baddie expires. Vague, I know. I'm still trying to figure out the trigger. Meanwhile, have a mix of range and close-combat buddies so that if the bug does happen, someone in the party is not affected.
Update 24 December 2011:
Okay, it seems that this bug sometimes happens when rescuing Oblins. Still not sure about the exact trigger.
Update 31 January 2012:
Found the trigger! It happens when Worrier uses Mockery and the skull-headed baddie attacking an Oblin to be rescued attacks Worrier instead. After some time, that baddie will go back to targeting the Oblin. However, if the baddie is KO-ed before it goes back to targeting the Oblin, Worrier will say 'Thanks' and his Att will drop very low.

Update 22 December 2011:
Skully's attack range is slightly longer than her regular bullet range. This means that if Skully attacks something at the very edge of her attack range, her bullets will not reach (i.e. no hits!).
Update 4 January 2012:
Skully's regular attack seems to work fine now.

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According to this interview, Company 100 plans to add more content later as long as fans still want to play. (Yeah, yeah, this note is also to remind me of the location of the article.)

Meanwhile, there are more screenshots of the Sixth Wave in this month's comedy screenies collection.

Buddy Rush: Contents

Iona is still shopping for shoes in town.

Frayed Knights (RPG): First Impression

When I played the Frayed Knights pilot back in 2008, I was impressed with the humorous content. Now, nearly three-and-a-half years later, I had the chance to play the release version of the game, titled Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon.

(I had to Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V that title name.)

I have not played the game for long. This post is just my initial thoughts on the game.

Frayed Knights in battle.

Frayed Knights is an old-school RPG where the player plays a party of four bad-luck-magnets out to make a name for themselves as adventurers, and hopefully heroes. The part I like the most about the game is the content - the humor, the tropes, the breaking of the four wall, the unlucky events that happen to the party...

Talking is fun!

I like the character designs too. Clearly, a lot of work had gone into the personalities of the main characters (the party members). I enjoyed reading their interactions with the environment and with each other. And one of the characters is even a cute girl who likes ponies. Now who doesn't like ponies?

So many to choose from, and only 2 points to spend.

The character personalities and initial classes are fixed. However, at level up, the player characters get points to invest into feats to customize the characters. The warrior may be dual-classed with the ability to cast Divine priest spells. Or have feats that deal more physical damage. Or gain defensive feats that increases her (the warrior in the game is a 'lady') defenses and protect the party.

The Ten-Foot Pole is a staple for adventurers, never mind the logistics.

Another interesting game mechanic is the trap system. Unlike the simplified trap disarmament activities of most other RPGs, in Frayed Knights, the player gets to fiddle with the trap components, using a variety of tools. This makes trap-disarming feel a little more realistic. It is still simpler than the real-world red-wire-blue-wire version. Or maybe there will be a red-wire-blue-wire trap later in the game.

Arianna's in trouble. Time to use the Drama Stars.

The unique feature of this game is the Drama Star system. The idea of the Drama Star system is to avoid the need for the player to reload the game and attempt the same puzzle or battle again and again for a better result. As the player plays, Drama Points are awarded. Enough Drama Points will form a Drama Star, which can be exchanged for bonuses. All drama points are lost if the player loads the game. The exception is if the player uses the Continue option in the main menu to load a game that was saved just before quiting.

Because of this, the player is encouraged to play on, even after something bad happens. I lost three party members in an early fight. Normally, I would reload the game. But because I did not want to lose my Drama Points, I decided to soldier on and save myself the frustration.

The effect of this is that the game flows along smoothly. Especially considering the time it takes to load a game. And because the game flows smoothly, the player gets to see more fun parts sooner. Less frustration and more fun for the player's time.

I wonder if there is a Brighten Surroundings spell.

Now the bad. The graphics are not the best there is. Normally, I do not make an issue about the graphics, especially for a game with both good gameplay values and content. However, when I failed to notice that an NPC the party is interacting with is not human until the characters pointed that out, then I know the graphics is a problem.

On the other hand, the bad graphics does make it easier to spot interesting stuff, like loot or traps. Plus, I do like the 2D images of the player characters a lot. Those are good quality images.

This is a minor problem: the game does not like my pen tablet. I am forced to use the backup hardware known as the mouse. My right wrist is going to complain. Should not be a problem for players who are more accustomed to using the mouse.

I've walked lots. Let's see how much of the map I've explored...

Gameplay-wise, I do have a minor nitpick: it takes time to walk from place to place on the overland map. This is not much of an issue in dungeons. However, in towns and in the wilderness, places with wide open spaces, the party walks slowly. Well, maybe they do seem that way because they are doing nothing interesting but walk and I am itching for more excitement.

Finally, the financial one: it costs USD22.95 at the time of writing. This is a pretty steep price for a game with, uh, 'below average' graphics. Yeah, the humor is good and the gameplay, interesting. It has decent replay value to experience the fun all over again with different character growth. But the price! The game can make up for it if it has a decent length. I am still at the beginning, so I cannot tell if the length is worth the price at this stage.

I would recommend trying out the pilot episode (demo) first before buying the game. To make sure that it runs on your computer. And that its humor is to your taste.

I don't remember seeing a spikey-haired head in that dungeon.