PixelJunk™ Monsters Ultimate

Tower defense game originally released on the Playstation 3 in 2007 with an original look involving Polynesian-style creatures with masks. There's a charm to the game, but it lacks tower types and visible upgrades besides differently colored flags. Eventually you do get more towers, neat ones, but it takes a while. Moving the hero around to transform trees to towers and pick up loot is different than the usual, but borderline annoying as he's slow and the loot vanishes after a certain time. However, there's a speed upgrade you get when completing a special stage on the first island and that's a game changer, making the game way more enjoyable. The paths don't make sense. The monsters have a clear way to the base, and yet they go back or take the long way around. No quality of life features from modern tower defense games such as fast forward or slow motion. No story to motivate you to continue except on the store page. Mouse controls are clunky. With gamepad controls, it is acceptable, but I sometimes destroyed a tower instead of upgrading it. The lounge-type music is mostly unobstructive and I never turned it off. It is annoying to be blocked from progressing because you need to reach X number of perfect levels. There is a leaderboard on each stage where you can see your friends. Despite my complaints and initial negative view of the game, I eventually learned to like its quirks and appreciate it for what it was. Top two tips: complete the special areas as early as you can and play at Casual difficulty, which isn't so easy, especially if you want to perfect a stage to progress.

⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄

Best casual tower defense ever

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Simple, relaxing, addictive, fun and deviously challenging.

finished it on the psp, finished it on the deck. will finish on the next. pretty good TD

My monster was so ultimate they had too pixel my junk

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33401179/]Follow my curator page for more reviews![/url][/quote] A tower defense with a decent simplistic artstyle and aimed at being more casual-ish, but it's not very fun thanks to difficulty that's all over the place and co-op that's bizarrely implemented. There are many other better casual-friendly tower defense games like Bloons TD, Defense Grid, Kingdom Rush, Sanctum 1 and 2, and the Orcs Must Die series. I only played this in co-op so maybe single-player is balanced better, but it was weirdly difficult one level, then really easy the next, no rhyme or reason. Upgrading towers by dancing is painfully slow and you have to be directly on top of them. Also disliked that you get zero breathing room between waves, often you'll have the next wave come in before you even finished the previous one. Most towers are useless against the boss each level except for the explosive ones. Arrows do a sliver of damage to him even fully upgraded. The way co-op is implemented is a complete mess. First off, whoever creates the room isn't the host. You can't make the room private/friends-only either. To actually begin playing after creating a room it's very unclear, you have to click on a player after they joined the room and send them a request to play. Whoever sends the request is considered the host and progress is only saved for them. If the other person tries sending the request then their map select screen won't show that any of the missions you did together were completed. Coins picked up during a level aren't shared between players, but eggs which you use to unlock towers are? Towers are only temporarily unlocked for that one level, except for three towers that we kept after the first level? I got this for $1.69 and it included a copy for my friend, and I still ended up refunding because I just don't see why we'd ever play this over one of the far better alternatives in this genre. I'm surprised this somehow has "Very Positive" reviews, our experience with the game was definitely not positive.

It's a fun casual game that I can play seemingly forever!

Pretty hard even on Casual difficulty, but I still love it. It was fun on PS3, and it's still fun on PC.