So a few weeks ago, I booted it up again, to make a concerted effect and ended up playing through to the last mission over the course of a couple of days.
What we have is basically a reverse tower defense. Rather than building turrets to shoot down invaders, you are the attackers, directing a convoy of fighting vehicles through gauntlets of alien gun turrets and defenses.
The convoy itself moves along the road, but you can change its direction through a command screen where you simply click on each possible turn to decide which way to go.
The vehicles will move forward perpetually, and will target and fire at enemies in range. To aid you, you have access to a number of power ups: Repairs, smoke screens, decoys and air strikes. In addition, you can shuffle the position of the vehicles in the convoy (for example moving a damaged unit to the rear).
As you destroy enemies and gather resources, you can also upgrade vehicles, improving their performance.
This all sounds very simple and well, it is, really. But that's not such a bad thing. This is a game where you can grasp the principles very quickly, and then set about how to actually beat the missions. As the game goes on, different obstacles are presented to you, and you'll have to think about how to overcome each in turn. Sometimes you can be patient, other times your hand is forced.
I enjoy the tower defense genre quite a bit, but even if you don't, the novelty of a military shoot em up themed puzzle game is not one to pass up. I'd give it a check
Graphics:
Very nice and crisp. Everything is clear and sharp, and the terrains you move through, while mostly decorative, are very well done. You definately get the mood of fighting your way through ruined Iraq and a post-alien invasion Japanese city.
Sound:
Outstanding music, tons of speech and very well done at that. Verbal queues to in-game events. Pretty much perfect.
Controls:
Very simple mouse controls, with options for supplementing it with the keyboard as well. The control scheme is very well thought out, and worked flawlessly for me
Gameplay:
The game isn't monstrously long, but it's decent for the cost, you get multiple difficulty levels (and quite a stiff challenge) and a few "challenge" modes if you don't fancy playing the full campaign mode. You do have to unlock some of these things however.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this game a lot. Maybe the gameplay is rather limited, but for an indie puzzle game, it's within what is expected, and what you get is polished to a shine. 75% for sure. Would kick it up to an 80 if there was more stuff to do.
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