Amazing but crippled
Sat Feb 13 2016 EklayziaGame is unlike anything I have seen from a strategy game. The simplistic but powerful controls maker this game very repayable. The horrendous AI makes this game a challenge. A challenge is nice but the AI just frustrates me. Carrying 5 resource blocks to a constriction site that only requires one wastes the precious time that you have or don’t between attacks. The rest of the game is a charm. The Textris like strategy style makes each game feel different from the last, and it has you thinking of how you can make the entire system more efficient with different layouts. Yet, there are two things that cripple the game from a full 5 stars and a “perfect” experience:
1. The AI. Like I already said, the AI is just terrible. They sometimes go to the furthest research site when it is near another one. And the construction often take way longer than it had to be.
2. No adjustment options. Adding some options of like how long the time between each attacks could compensate for the bad AI. Or it could be use to be made to be more challenging. Both of which adds to the replayability. And adding the option of how many minions you star with would also be great. Along with the option of resources required to build something.
But in the end, games like this (immensly successful) usually don’t get much care from developers. But I hope it gets updated in the future.
Fun aesthetic masterpiece, but heavily flawed by AI.
Fri Jun 05 2015 WaveDream624Let's start with the good part. This game is, overall well worth the money. It features simplistic yet strategic gameplay, paired up with great visuals and an overall artistic appeal. However, there is one thing that heavily detracts from the game's playability- the minion AI.
Minions are your workers, who build units, man them(notably weapons,which are crucial to your survival) and research monoliths-one of the primary goals of the game. However, their movement and pathfinders mechanics ignore the most logical options to perform the required task. This hits hard when you need to man your weapon and defend against waves of attackers. Minions will just randomly choose a room, regardless of its proximity- sometimes, minions will go to the other side of the map, ignoring much closer options that they pass along the way. The AI's infuriatingly incompetent path finding has frequently resulted in defeat; losses that easily could have been avoided if it was a better system. Despite this, the game is still quite fun- as long as the pathfinding program doesn't screw you over...
Easily worth the money, but has a few major AI issues
Mon Jan 30 2017 Octet33The good: it's as advertised, a minimalistic real-time strategy game, with geometric puzzle elements. It's challenging but rewarding. It offers a great deal of depth and thus replay value. It won't crash on you or anything.
The bad: the AI is the worst I have ever used. It will regularly do things the long way, multiple AI will attempt the same task despite it only needing to be done once (E.G. three ai will attempt to move one item each when only two need to be moved, leading to seconds wasted.). This disrupts priorities and wastes time, which places the player at a severe disadvantage. And if you change the information the minions are working with, they pause for a moment before choosing the worst possible action that still fits within your instructions. Fortunately it at least tries to function, and you can still control it enough to enjoy the game.
About that AI
Mon Jul 04 2016 QuizoidZI can't say much more than what's already been said by other reviewers, so I'll add some value by responding to the critiques of the AI.
The "poor" AI is a part of the game. Complaining about it is like complaining that all of your chess pieces aren't just queens.
To elaborate, when you first get into the game, I'd just ignore the AI. After playing for a bit, though, watching where the little tykes are going becomes a part of your decision making. If several are about to waste their time on construction, look at what they're holding. Can you just switch them to Food Service? Can they be used elsewhere? Adapting to the given "controls" is a part of any game. These little not-so-smart minions are no exception.
Its good and its bad
Thu Jun 04 2015 RedriojaFollowed the hype and instabought this today.
Just played the first game and LOVED it ...
... UNTIL I got to ~wave 20 from where on you can't practically do anything anymore but have all your minions in the weapons room and hope it goes well. Which it doesnt for very long.
Also, minions are STUPID. The AI and wayfinding is really a bad joke.
This could be one of my favourite games on iOS and a rock solid 5 Stars IF you work on the AI and give me something like a relaxed mode where attacks dont speed up and I can focus on base-building.
UPDATE: Sorry, after playing some more, I have to downgrade to ONE star. The reason is this useless, crappy, worthless, unbearable AI.
WHY do they run by empty weapons rooms instead of just going in?
If I continue researching after a wave, WHY dont the minions in the weapons room right next to it go there, but some random ones from far far away ???
This feels like an alpha preview, NOT a finished game.
Will stop playing until this is resolved.
Update: For two years now, no update, not a peep. They just took our money and ran. Big BOOO! And I will NEVER buy any of your apps again.
Update: After AGES, finally an update. Minions are as unforgivingly stupid as ever, which was the main flaw with this game. Total FAIL, you guys should just not try to make games if you are not up to it.
New update is not helpful...
Wed Jan 17 2018 BethanywhaleyI love this game, it’s one of my go to games when I’m looking for a focused past time. However, with this new update I am having serious problems. The font and all the buttons is much smaller, which is nice for game play, however, because the font is so small, when I go to drag down a new room or corridor, every time, I pull the notification screen on my iPhone. Every time. Which pretty much renders the game unplayable for me. I’ve tried to turn off the setting in my iPhone and I’ve tried to adjust the way I drag down corridors to no avail. This is the first update in 2 years, so I’m not sure my review will make much difference since maybe there aren’t many players anymore, but hopefully something can be done about this. Thanks!
God the concept..
Sun Jun 07 2015 magnetmasterThis game has a simplicity to it that boggles me. Beautiful ascetics and sound track, and most importantly is completely original in every way. But...
It has one flaw that most people will notice after playing the game twice or so times through: before around wave 12 it is essentially impossible to die, and after wave 16 it is impossible to survive. This is a major flaw that could be solved if the developer made the game into a more puzzle strategy archetype with levels, changing goals and maps, rather than a repetitive sprint to level 16, at which point waves come to fast for you to even regenerate troops, let alone actually expand on infrastructure and decode monoliths. Good start though.
replayability
Sun Oct 16 2016 somecatchynameOthers seem to praise this game for its replayability but I found this game quite boring to play again. I got further than a lot of the reviews claimed to get on only my second game, then I played the other game modes and then I was just done. It wasn't fun to play again because it was exact same thing again. Nothing really changes from game to game besides the order of the block shapes that you're able to put down, which affects the game very minimally.
Some things that I would enjoy adding to this game:
-fast forward button
I seem to spend a majority of the game waiting for the minions to go and do it's tasks
-bigger
I would love to play a game longer just to see how many waves of aliens I can fight off but unfortunately i'm crippled by the fact you're only allotted a certain amount of resources.
I'd like a seemingly infinite map so I can play a game longer
-AI efficiencies button
people complain about the AI being dumb but it makes the game harder and I enjoy that. So I would enjoy being given the option of choosing the "smartness" of the ai
