If you take one thing away from this review, it’s that Spoids are bad. They invade and just keep coming. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), mankind has you to lead the charge and protect various targets as they come under attack. In “Spoids”, you’ll be tasked with holding off waves of enemies in pure tower defense fashion.
Spoids (PC, XBox 360)
The main menu lets you play the campaign or adjust game options. The game options menu allows you to change screen resolution, toggle fullscreen mode, adjust the screen zoom level, raise or lower the sound levels, and toggle vibration on/off. I particularly like the ability to adjust the zoom level, which allows me to make the objects and text bigger or smaller.
The campaign will put you through a series of missions, escalating in difficulty as you go. When choosing a mission, you’ll initially have access to story mode only. You can unlock more mission modes by doing well in story mode and yes, you’ll receive medals for your hard work. If you want to unlock infinite wave mode for example, you’ll need to earn a gold medal or better. There is no difficulty setting, which is a minor complaint. The game is fairly challenging and may scare off those just looking to unwind.
The interface is easy to follow, especially if you are no stranger to tower defense games. The top bar gives you a heads up as to what enemies are coming in the next wave. The right side of the screen displays your health, available funds, objectives, time remaining, tower stats (they appear when in build mode), and any other relevant data as it comes up. The main playing grid shows a pre-built course that the Spoids will follow, starting from the green end and endeavouring to reach the red end. Every time a Spoid reaches the red end, your health will decrease. If you lose all of your health before the level ends, you’ll fail the level.
Play is challenging, so don’t hold back!
Like in most tower defense games, the enemies you’ll face and towers you’ll have access to increase in number as you progress through the missions. Some towers do single target and splash damage while others take a back seat in a support role. Some enemies go invisible, making radar towers an important part of your rotation, even if they don’t fire. Some enemies travel at high speeds, making EMP towers important to slow them down long enough for other towers to dispatch them. You’ll earn money on the fly, so it’s important to pay attention to the bar along the top and plan your tower placement accordingly.
Overall, “Spoids” is a solid tower defense experience. It doesn’t do anything overly special, but it certainly fits the bill when you’re in the mood to plan out strategies and obliterate attacking aliens by the thousands. It’s definitely worth the $3.99 on Desura, though I managed to pick it up for a buck during a sale. If you’re looking for a tower defense game to keep you busy for a while, then check out “Spoids” via the links below. There’s a demo available, should you wish to try before you buy.
Final Verdict: 7/10
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You can learn more about and purchase Spoids by visiting the following websites:
http://www.desura.com/games/spoids
You can help bring the game to Steam by voting for it on its Greenlight page, here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93015694
You can view video play sessions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7lpxHj0Apk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbU1Xh2dA1w
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