No game genre has turned into a clone bubble faster than tower defense on iPhone. But while the variation of themes has ranged widely, there seems to be less drive in terms of pushing gameplay innovation.
Canadian studio Bight Games hopes to change that state of affairs with
its forthcoming Kill All Bugs however.
For one thing, you only get access to three basic defensive elements: a machine gun tower, a flamethrower and a missile system. As well as providing different killing power on different types of bugs, they also demark the different range options you have. Significantly though, they can't be upgraded.
Tactical variation occurs as you use attack multipliers such as power generators, which reduce firing times, stun towers, and laser fences, which knock down the health of bugs that pass through them. You can create more powerful defences by using weapons in certain patterns too.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the game though is the promised bug artificial intelligence. Bight Game's Stuart Duncan says the bugs will try to avoid the weapon systems that knock the most health off them. And each type of bug moves faster or slower depending on the terrain. While, if you totally block the path to the cities you're defending - as in PopCap's
Plants Vs Zombies game - the bugs will just eat through your defences.
This dynamic nature of the enemy means you'll have to rapidly move your defences: selling them off for half the money it cost to build them to fill gaps in your defences elsewhere.
Thankfully you'll also be able to unlock an awesome airstrike, which has five levels of power depending on how long you let it build up. Duncan says these features add up to bringing a more RTS-style of play to the tower defense genre.
In terms of the size of
Kill All Bugs, 21 levels are promised, plus a Survival mode. Total playtime - gaining gold star awards on all levels - is reckoned to be around 14 hours.
Kill All Bugs is due for release on June 18th with the pricing as yet unconfirmed but probably around the $3.99 mark.
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