OK, so that's not entirely true. I actually prefer Sanctum 2, but I needed an introduction. So sue me.
In Bardbarian's Story Mode, you are protecting the Town's crystal. You control Brad, a guy who plays guitar and summons help (units) in. He pays for the units in music notes. ♫
There are plenty of units to select from. Necromancer, Healer and Wizard, to name a few, along with Isaac from Binding of Isaac, Meat Boy from Super Meat Boy and Octodad from Octodad's Dadliest Catch.
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| Defeating some baddies. |
To start out with, you may summon up to 3 of these. You win gold by defeating enemies and you then spend gold on upgrades.
There are 3 types of upgrades. You can upgrade your units, Brad or the town. With the unit upgrades, it's pretty straight forward, you level up your units so they do increased damage (or healing) as well as their range being farther or wider.
Brad's upgrades include producing more notes, being able to summon more units and raise his maximum health.
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| Just got all the Brad upgrades, no big deal. |
Town upgrades include giving the crystal you're defending more health, getting a town drunk to spew (which slows down enemies) and getting a pet dubbed "Ratcoon" (it's very How I Met Your Mother "Cockamouse") who collects gold for you.
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| Town upgrade screen. |
As you upgrade things and become stronger, more activity will happen in the village. A fisherman will catch fish to help restore your health, you can get bacon from a butcher and it's like this town really comes together.
Brad has several power up songs available. These cost 10 notes, and you get a choice between raising your defense, speed or attack. These power ups don't last very long.
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| Brad casting Song of Strength. I don't care if it's "Song of Attack" because Strength sounds better, dammit. Holy crap that turned into a long caption and I'm just making it wooooooorse. (Said in the way like SPAAAAAAACE) |
Each horde of enemies will be broken down into waves. There are 20 waves in total. You can get shortcuts to certain waves, depending on how far you make it. The 20 waves are divided into 4 chapters; morning, noon, evening and night. So once you cross the threshold to the next time of day, you will be able to easily access that chapter in the event of death.
I found this mode to be very rewarding, in the sense that I started out so weak and progressed into something fierce.
There is also 2 other modes in the game. One is a survival mode, where you get bare minimum, you cannot summon your units, you have to find them, and then see how long you can hold out. The other mode is a distance mode, where you avoid traps and obstacles to set a record.
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| Survival mode with Meat Boy and Isaac. |
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| He's going the distance... Until he dies. |
The game is pretty repetitive, obviously. The environment in the Story Mode is just the one screen. It isn't the same as games like Dungeon Defenders or Sanctum 2, where whilst protecting the crystal or core you get new environments every time, it's really just the same town over and over.
I wouldn't pay "heaps" for this game, but it's addictive and good fun and very easy to hop into when you're not quite sure what to play.
Are we SURE the Ratcoon isn't a cat?
ReplyDeleteYou should have also mentioned how the healer is the best minion and isn't worthless at all. Other than that, A++ review.
There's just something wrong with our family and our ability to distinguish racoons. I was almost certain Winston's toy was a fox. T_T
DeleteThank you darling. Now if only we can transfer our A++ to Battleblocks Theater.