Operation Octo

Honestly, after giving this a real honest try I hate to be the person to write the first negative review. After giving this game 4 hours of my time I have found this game has incurred the worst feeling I can have towards a game. This game annoys me. I will try to explain why. I want to start off with the positives. I think this game has a charming art style. Everything is cute or quirky in some way, and that is the end of it for me. Now for the bulk of this review, the negatives. I going to start with what I find to be the most offensive aspects and then move my way down to nitpicks as not everyone wants to read a long review. The towers conveyer, is terrible. You know how in plant vs zombies how your towers have a cooldown? Well Operation Octo throws away this type of system by instead putting your 6 towers on a conveyer that only gives you access to 3 at one time. You must place a tower down to get access to the next. You have to burn through the conveyer to get to towers you need sometimes, which just makes gameplay needlessly chaotic. Not only are you running around most of the time due to your tiny sphere on influence around your character you also have to keep track of the conveyer at all times. Map design causes restrictive loadouts. The maps in this game, are designed in such a way that enemies have the advantage. You are surrounded and there are many enemy types that can bypass walls, either by flying, swimming or firing over obstacles. Then there is the issue that there is very little indication of where enemies will come from once the full map is surrounded by enemies ships. There is no UI element like maybe a flag slowly raising on each ship to give you an idea of where to plan ahead with defenses. This causes you to just take simple loadouts that just deal with the specific enemies in the level. It's very rock, paper, scissors. It just makes the gameplay fairly stale as you're not doing anything new. I see an enemy, I need to solve the problem it causes, and if I don't I will struggle. Enemy Spawns are very random. This is most noticeable at the beginning of a level. Lets say you start a level and enemies first spawn in the south but you built up things in the north by mistake. You can restart the level and build in the south, the enemies will then come from the north. It's random you have to wait and react to every enemy wave as they come. Personally I don't like that. The Dev's obsession with keeping the camera super close to the character. In a game that requires me to react to enemies spawns the game sure does hate me being able to actually see anything. Want to place a tower, camera zooms in, get hit with paint, camera zooms in. It's just a needless irritation. I just have to constantly zoom back out because the dev says "I want you to have to scout things out actively". However, the game itself is hampered by this odd quirk. The Economy is not great either. There are quite a few ways to gain pearls in the game, waiting, using specific towers, and killing enemies. However if you want a tower that does anything that is remotely special like maybe shoots over a wall or shoots more than one projectile you will be forking over 70-80 pearls. But due to the conveyer you will be forced to spend more to get to these towers. I can't tell you how many times I had to just throw down a couple of towers I didn't specifically need that second so I could fix a problem. Due to the randomness of enemy placement I can't just place a mortar tower in advance to help with that issue, plus they cost so much you run into the issue of not having enough defenses to hold off the early waves. The game is grating on the ears. The combination of random boney clatters, damage noises, towers exploding, and music is just so unenjoyable. What's worse is you're stuck with them, as the game lacks a functional UI to allow you to just turn everything off and play with some music on. You'll be missing vital info without the awful soundscape. The game telling me I'm playing wrong There are some actions in game that will constantly cause a tutorial message to pop up and say "HEY DON'T DO THAT PLAY HOW I WANT YOU TO!" I am being a little hyperbolic of course but it does say things like "Bring a pistol shrimp its not in your loadout". Hey what if my strategy involves using the many other damage dealing towers in your game? Don't tell me what to do. The culmination of many of the game elements make this game very chaotic and not something I want out of a tower defense game. The character controlled tower defense style has been done and done well in fact. Orcs Must Die is a good example. This game lacks too much information, is too random and is too quickly paced to allow you to make any meaningful tactical decisions. You often just end up running around putting out fires rather than creating a solid foundation to defend from. Now is this a hard game you ask? No, it is not, a kid can stumble through it and probably be giddy as they do. Does this game cause me low grade irritation due to a myriad of design choices? Yes. I see what the dev was trying to do, but they put some thing into the pot I am allergic to. I wish I could enjoy this gumbo but it makes my skin itch and eyes water.

This is a fast-paced tower defense that keeps introducing unique turrets, enemies, and upgrades that have tons of synergies to explore. I'm often getting by on the skin of my teeth in later levels, but it's also not too hard to control a recovery. Worth a play if you loved tower defenses back in the day, but want to play on a bigger, more chaotic battlefield.

Underrated gem that has pretty much everything I liked about Plants vs. Zombies, while still being a completely different and original concept. From the charming artstyle, to the turret and enemy variety, to the simple yet chaotic gameplay, to the little details and interactions you don't notice at first glance, to the silly shenanigans you can get away with if you play well enough, it has pretty much everything I'd want out of it. Despite still being in development, the 3 worlds that are already released, alongside the constant content updates, give out way more replayability than you'd expect. There's a lot of achievements that propose fun little challenges, there's a whole integrated speedrun mode with leaderboards, and you can also make your own challenges or check out the ones posted by the community on the Discord server. Admittedly, it is quite a bit more challenging than Plants vs. Zombies, both in terms of difficulty and mechanics, though it does offer a few settings to make the game easier if you [i] really [/i] need to (or make it harder, if you're having the opposite problem). If you're still doubting whether to buy the game or not, the demo lets you access all of the first world's content for free, and all of your progress in the demo will be transferred to the main game once you buy it.

The more you play Operation Octo, the more brilliant it gets. This is the best kind of "Fine, I'll do it myself" type of game, lemme explain. Pros: + Charming, simple art style that gets across what every fish turret / enemy does with one look. Very accessible for younger gamers. + It's the most constantly "on the move" mobile tower defense game ever. You are always moving, and both you as the player and the resources you protect matter. This makes for a very exciting gameplay loop. + It took what worked about the genre greats before and expanded on it. You have multiple types of upgrades for turrets, you have unique level designs and new challenges consistently, and it challenges even experienced gamers over time. + The sushi belt and elixir limitations breed creativity. You don't need to employ one solution to solve a certain type of enemy in a given level, you have multiple options that you unlock over time. Cons: - The music is just okay, nothing fantastic but it does the job. - It's still doesn't have all the content the dev has planned for it, even at a 1.0 launch. It's a good amount for a very low price, but it's not really a "finished" game yet. 9/10, one of the most pleasant surprises I've seen on this platform, for sure.

Operation octo is a fantastic Game, theres Numerous of Turrets as you progress through the game, that add to the strategy of the game, with a Plethora of Unique Enemys. And new strategys that you utilize to survive in the Harsh Underwater Climates. and some really Unique gameplay that is quite engaging! And also Enjoyable! Very responsive Gameplay. its Smooth, (Like Butter in a Frying pan) like sargent Roebuck would say: "Quick and Clean" and the Graphics are Stupendous and Charming! and get this: Operation Octo was made Single, Solo, Dev :o and i get it for Six Dollars!!! :O If i had to compare it to anything. Plants vs Zombies Comes to mind, if PVZ toke more then 2 Brain Cells to play! its Insult- wait no, Very insulting to even compare PVZ to OO. its far Superior in every way, and your gonna have to Think to play this Game!! (and i Couldn't say that about PVZ!!) its a great game, i've enjoyed playing it! Looking forward to future Updates! According to my brother, he's already updated the game 5 times since release!! If you wanna a game, that doesn't treat you like a toddler *Cough Cough Triple A* I Recommend tring out This game! 9/10

The oceanic insanity version of PvZ, Operation Octo is a tower defense mixed with bullet hell. The game may not be fully finished but with some extra content and challenges in the discord server, there is some replayability to the game! The dev also has almost monthly updates to the game so the game's always something new to strategize with!

Operation Octo is a game where you are not really sure how to begin explaining it but as you go on, it slowly reveals itself and becomes better. What I'm saying is: The best thing you can do is play the game. Don't worry, there is a demo to the game so you won't have to buy it buuuut, I think it's best I describe a bit of the experience: First of all, this game is in some way very similar to the Plants Versus Zombies titles. This is because it has an atmosphere and a feeling that gives the pvz feeling and the gameplay itself isn't lacking. Like pvz, it takes a very complex concept and presents it in a very smart and digestible way. In pvz there almost is no tutorial and doesn't even feel like one. In Operation Octo, the entire world 1 is a tutorial in itself but it is all made in a way you feel like the game is a discovery but you are not being pushed towards it. As for gameplay, the games is a tower defense where you are in a map with a grid of tiles and you must move along to grab pearls (sun) from Clams (sunflowers) but the level itself goes around in this squared map and anemies will come from multiple directions so in some way this is a pvz game but it feels different and it plays in a more intense way because now YOU control a character and if the skeletons kill you, you lose. So the game offers a bullet hell gameplay so you are always doing some thing and your movement is greatly valued as well as time. You need to react to enemy waves quickly while gathering pearls to place down defenses (who are very much like pvz plants) and keep yourself safe and one other thing: your Clams. In this game, your number of clams is limited and preplaced so you need to adapt to the layout and different level obstacles. the reason why you need to protect clams beyond being your main source of income is that you SHARE damage with the clams! And although it's just a fraction of what the clam takes, it's still a very dangerous health drain and can leave you to a minimum of 1 hp. However, if you go on for 5 seconds without suffering any damage you heal passively. The game also is a verily a much more fast paced yet manageable experience with a smaller economy but if a tower (also clam) gets KO'd, it will come back after a while so it makes placement a much more important task while still feeling in a three dimensional atmosphere with multiple frontlines. I hope I have 'briefly' explained the game. But honestly, your best shot at learning the game and understand these concepts is to play the demo. You cannot truly get a clear idea of the game until you play it. I give this game a 9/10. My most played game on steam actually. I still don't think it's absolutely perfect because, nothing is and it still is very much unfinished. The good thing is that there are many updates planned for the future of the game including 8 whopping worlds to play (in the year 2163 they may release though). And letting you on a little secret: Check the discord community. It genuinely was one of the things that increased my fondness of the game. There I found a huge replay ability factor to me: challenges made by the community and you can get some sneak peeks of the game with a small community so it has a much nicer and less mob filled server and the game dev is pretty active so you can actually see him accidentally make spoilers of future worlds or just chat so the discord community gave me a place to find more ways to enjoy the game I would have left otherwise at less than 15 hours.

need a crab trap to hold me irl

If you miss the character and style of the original Plants Vs Zombies, I can't recommend this game enough. The game just oozes charm reminiscent of PvZ's during its golden days. The only part of it that exceeds its charm is the game design. The tools that the player has at their disposal are incredibly well-crafted, especially when it comes to balancing. Everything has a purpose, and nothing feels pointless or overly gimmicky. All sorts of strategies can work, and none of your options are ever truly outclassed by another. There's so much freedom, and so much opportunity for skill expression. And don't get me started on how good the sound design and soundtrack are. I *implore* you to try this game. It's probably the best thing since sliced bread.

Fun game! Might write a longer review later idk.