McDROID is a surreal Action Tower Defense with - mega frikkin' lasers that talk - upgradable robots - Gattling turret - crop and monsters that mutate - an economy based on giant strawberries. - levels hand crafted like they used be. - Cute cartoony Borderland graphics, but it's hella tough so you may have to co-op with your friends to take down that insane Mutatosaurus. Imagine the hectic big boss fights of RTYPE combined with the smarts and resource management of Dune 2. That's McDROID, our first game, made in homage of these awesome classics. It's original, with gorgeous cell shaded graphics, boasts 100 enemies on screen at once, the most badass weapons (linking teslas, wave canons, bot factories...) and unusually challenging enemies. It's a tough game, not for the faint of heart and it's got co-op multiplayer.
This review was written at verson beta eight, released on Feb 5, 2013.
Normally not a fan of tower defence, McDROID's take on the format has had me hooked. The player essentially designs the layout of their defence against waves of enemies and performs minimal however meaningful directed action along with a satisfying degree of micromanagement. You collect resources, buy turrets, upgrade turrets, upgrade your own unit and your all important 'base', maintain your increasingly damaged lines of defence and jump in the battles yourself where possible. It can feel like a very busy game at times but it never becomes overwhelming. The challenges are fairly well scaled as you progress and a 'research' system entices the player to buy new equipment and rise to the challenges ahead. Missions have and demand some replayability, attempts at their perfection leading to more research advancement. They're enjoyable to playthrough numerous times. However, the game can demand one too many attempts.
The research economy, that is, accumulating diamonds to spend on unlockables, is poorly balanced. Unlocks are currently too expensive and imply the player must slog away at very well traversed missions to reach the figures expected. The turrets and upgrades aren't just a luxury, either. To progress through the tougher challenges available the player needs access to certain unlocks. Hopefully this issue will be given a quick fix soon and before final release.
Content is still being added, however I don't know how much more is yet to come, and is needed. The game is highly enjoyable with the current line-up but its longevity would benefit from further structures and their accompanying new dynamics. What is present is rather refined and works well together.
At time of writing, McDROID is stable, very enjoyable and looks set to only improve. It's tower defence with a quirky, fun and individual theme. Micromanagement is minor!wordcountwordcou
As for co-op, I can't comment. No experience.