I'm giving this game a positive review because it has a lot of potential, however my list of negatives is quite large.
Let's start with the positives first.
[h1]PROS :[/h1]
[list][*]The game has a sound art style - simplistic in it's story, sound design and graphics. If you're a fan of oldschool-looking games,then you'll like this one. Also if you've ever played any Moorhuhn game you'll recognize the satisfying *squish* sound when taking down skeletons.
[*]There are enough mob kinds to make the game challenging down the line - each with their own abilities.
[*]The weapon kit is diverse enough - Shotgun as primary with infinite ammo , Submachine pistol and a machinegun as sidearms with ammo which you have to buy with ingame currency. Aside from that your rooster carries 3 kinds of grenades - TNT , Molotov and Liquid Nitrogen. All weapons can be upgraded and you can stack up gold by repeating levels.
[*]No microtransactions of any kind. It's sad that this has to be listed now that it's a common thing everywhere.[/list]
[h1] CONS : [/h1]
[list][*]The campaign is very short - 10 levels which you must play on Easy difficulty before you unlock Normal and Difficult.
[*]The difficulty only changes the number of mobs and unfortunatelly more isn't better here.
[*]Mob corpses and mob numbers stack up and can cause lag,especially on higher difficulty. That and the walking sounds of some mobs stack up to form a loud mess until you take them out.
[*]The mobs have either one or no special abilities what-so-ever which makes them predictable.
[*]The terrain on each level have a lot of props to block incoming fire from riflemen and cannons, however most levels are on a simple plane with no ability to go vertical . There are a few platforms with staircases but not much else.
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My opinion on the game is pretty mixed because of the lack in variety. I'd describe it as a game that you can play every once in a while when you have some spare time. It does have a lot of potential though and if more strategic options are added it will become a great game.
That's my review. Now I'll list some suggestions for the developers that could (in my opinion) make the game better:
[b]LEVELS AND LEVEL DESIGN[/b]
[list][*] The game needs more levels. Either extend the campaign to something like 25 levels or give each difficulty it's own set of levels - 10 levels per difficulty for example.
[*]The terrain lacks elevation. Some hills,platforms and bridges would fit in nicely. Some of which could be gold-activated as well - when the player gets cornered he could use for example a gold-activated bridge to get away from the swarm and figure out how to approach it from another angle.
[*]Shoot-em-up is fun,but it will get repetitive fast. You could add more objectives like freeing a herd of sheep captured by the undead for slaughter or a cart of vegetables that needs to be retreived. Such objective items can be barricaded by walls or bones that need to be destroyed.
[*]The game could use another game mode as well. Survival would fit perfectly in my opinion : An arena-type level with a farm in the middle,surrounded by graveyards from which mobs spawn and attack both the gardener and his property. With each wave the mobs become harder and harder to kill until eventually the player falls. He could buy barricades or scarecrows with the gold he gets from mobs to slow down their advance towards the farm.
This gamemode,if added with a scoreboard will increase the playtime significantly.
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Mobs need special abilities like the skeleton officer who makes mobs of regular soldiers charge :
[b]MOB SUGGESTIONS [/b]
[list][*] Mage - Spawns mobs ; opens portals close to the player,sending a mob to him before the portal closes (the number of teleported mobs could be increased with difficulty) ;
[*]Crawler skeleton - If the player comes into contact with one the first attack doesn't take HP but slows him to half-speed for 2sec . The following mob attacks deal normal damage.
[*]Cannons - The cannon currently does the same thing as the Rifleman. This mob could spawn and after existing for a period of time he could use something like a charging-up ultimate ability - flashing for a moment before launching a barrage of cannonballs towards the player's current position. The ability could last for 2-3 seconds before it returns to it's countdown timer. This will give the player incentive to prioritize cannons. The timer before the ability could vary with difficulty.
[*]Giants with butcher knives - Right now they're just free gold grind,since they're too slow to reach the player. Their ability could be a sudden charge forward,waving the blade wildly and dealing damage to the gardener if he's on the mob's strafing line.
[*](NEW) Trapper mob - A hunchback undead that carries a huge bag/backpack. He sets rows of bones / bushes with spikes blocking off some of the terrain,making the player shift his attention and clear them to not get cornered. The player's sidekick rooster could actively go after them to destroy them, however his progress should be 2-3 times slower to that of the player,who can destroy the barricades with two (to four,depending on difficulty) shotgun shots.
[*]Rifleman - He could have an ability like the one suggested for the Cannon, where after a certain period of time he stops for 3 seconds before sending a hitscan sniper shot towards the player, which can only be avoided by hiding behind props.The timer on this ability should be long and the mob should also flash when the ability is activated.[/list]
That's all I can think of at this time.
I'm looking forward to the updates on this game, whenever they'll be made!
