Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Nov 5, 2021

  𝔸 𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕚𝕕 𝕋𝔻 𝕘𝕒𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕕𝕦𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕙𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜!

  Ancient Planet is a Tower-Defense game that's not only great, but also easily accessible as its replayability and value is quite big compared to its size on your laptop. The main principle about TD games apply to this game, as in you get to build turrets, traps, arm your turrets with upgrades and build roadblocks to block the alien invasion from reaching your base. There is not much else to say about the game; it's quite accessible, I mean I've played like three rounds during workbreak yesterday and it was very a very rejuvenating experience (you know how nightshifts go). There's no story, the graphics are quite cartoony and flashy (they're on point even lol). The soundtrack is also out there and one thing that I'm sure will stick with long after I'm done with this game is the sound of aliens dying... It's like an OW but with a cutey voice, while they die in agony lol This game's a must for all TD fans (and even non-TD fans as it's quite beginner-friendly). 9/10... With an actual storyline to follow it could've been great, but I guess the comics during loadscreens do fill into that category quite nicely.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 25, 2021

  Decent enough classic tower defense. A bit grindy at times though. (change my review from a thumbs up to a thumbs down. The grinding got to be to much, and the enjoyment dropped fast.)
• gamedeal user

  Jan 4, 2022

  The game is not only poorly adapted for PC (The controls are awkward, the hints are being displayed for touch gestures.) , but also not re-balanced and feels insanely grindy.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 29, 2022

  Early-mid 2000s called, they send their congratulations and hugs

  This review will probably be longer than required, that's why, in short i will list some good and bad aspects of this game. Great: - Beautiful game art - Room to build a powerful strategy - You can always reset your upgrades for free so you can put the "emeralds" into other towers - Level select, you can always go back to levels you previously played, either to grind emeralds for upgrades, either to get all 3 stars - If you go to a level you previously beat you have the current upgrades applied so it's easy to do levels perfectly after you grow up a bit - If you used to play TDs in Warcraft 3 "back in the days" you will absolutely love this - I don't (and most of the people) say this too often, but the RNG is pretty damn good (the game doesn't rely on it much, just the amount of gold coins you pick up). It's right in the middle of good and bad. - You can really get 20-30h of fun at least at such a low cost (and honestly, i saw people with hundreds of hours into it) Not so great: - I wish there were keyboard keys for building towers, pausing and fast-forwarding - The silver coins you mine have to be collected manually and sometimes the mines can be out of the field of view/or you forget because you're in a tense battle - If you're an absolute beginner to this genre, this game might not be very friendly, and it could even be confusing - Difficulty jump between new levels you unlock is pretty high. I played a big part of the game on medium with no problem, then suddenly i couldn't finish a level even on Easy - Few small glitches, nothing too major, but then again, there's no perfect game - Maybe the aura towers (energy towers) should've had a slightly bigger range because the game is grid-based and sometimes it's hard to position things properly Boring, long and sentimental review *Flashback to a room full of cigarette smoke, Voodoo People by Prodigy playing on repeat, 3 empty coffee mugs on the desk and me playing TDs in WC3 at 4am* God knows how many thousands of hours i spent in WC3 so many years ago, on LAN, but also Garena, Hamachi and all kinds of private networks, playing mostly TD Maps, but they were fun and more simple times. I would say this game would appeal more to the people that used to fry their brains out in WC3 TDs, but that doesn't mean new players wouldn't like it. They might just find it a bit weirder and uninvinting. Lately i am very nostalgic in regards to pretty much everything but this isn't the reason i started playing this, had it on my wishlist since i discovered it on Steam, and i think it's a good TD game, i absolutely loved it. If you're an old timer like me, i would say this game mostly relates to Green TD, with a really small pinch of Starcraft on top. You got two enemy races (RAAAACE WAAAAR), that contain a variety of different kinds of bastards to slaughter. There are 3 basic attack towers, one that is more efficient against one of these two classes, plus a cryogenic tower that is really powerful, and works good against both, and it's really one of the most towers in the game altogether (make sure you fully upgrade it in the menu). Lately as you do the menu upgrades for other two types of basic towers you will unlock some different variations of them. When you progress deeper into the game you should always keep in mind that diversity is the key, because each tower has different abilities that come in handy even when your current wave is with enemies from the other class mostly affected by it. You also have mines that get you silver coins (to build towers, duuuuh), which is the pinch of Starcraft i mentioned. Mechanics of the game are simple, they are easy to pick up even for newbies, yet, the strategy and the manner you will do things in will require some thinking and planning on your behalf. Obviously, the game can be painfully unfair at times, but it wouldn't be fun if it was too easy, right? I am impressed with the art in this game, levels are so beautiful, and the artists really are talented. Another aspect i was not very fond of was the game being grid-based, and that thing (not just in this game) tends to just make things worse. I encountered some small bugs, but nothing out of the ordinary, the game, most of the time was smooth and polished. I really loved this game, and i recommend playing it. Just keep in mind, if you're new to this genre, or this particular style of TDs, you might adjust a bit slower. I am looking forward to a sequel, or another similar game made by the same small (and talented) team Congratulations to the devs. Very cool game, brings back memories because it was made by people that were just my kind of crowd so many years ago. And, I must say, i keep wondering if i ever crossed paths with these people in one of these endless TD nightly marathons. World is small. And the game hits exactly in that spot. Also, noticed a pattern, great games are often low-cost. It happens so often, that i spend 1-2$ for a game and get dozens of hours of fun out of it, and then spend a lot more only to enjoy a game for 4-5 hours. I guess the difference is when the developers build a game with their heart, instead of their wallet
• gamedeal user

  Jan 3, 2023

  Decent game. Very good mechanics but lacking flavour, variations. If it had at least 2 more towers with each having 2 tower upgrades like the other 2 basic towers, this would be an amazing Tower defence. Unfortunately the maps are quite small and restrictive which means there is only one optimal way to play. After playing quite a bit, I discovered that some towers are just crap and too expensive. The game can crash when using restart button or finishing a level. -Monsters are great. Each having different abilities and resistances is exactly the challenge you need. -Upgrades are also great. Upgrading your powers, base and towers outside of the map really gives a sense of progression, which a lot of tower defence games fail to get that feeling. Also being able to upgrade your base is a really neat mechanic which opens new options in early waves. The fact that your building can regenerate health means you can do other objectives while your base takes care of early waves. This is probably one of the best mechanics in the game. -Towers are lacking. Even though there are 7-8 towers, they do not feel strong, powerful, impactful. This game needed at least 5 or 6 more towers to have diverse builds. They have the mechanics already integrated in the game yet they do not go in-depth with them. The towers that are in the game, basically gun tower and armour breaking are the best towers which are the cheapest evolution of the basic towers. Being able to spam these basically make the game trivial. Also cryo is insanely good once fully upgraded tower and all upgrades bought outside. Support towers are cool but not very innovative. -Maps are small and short. This causes a small amount of options to tackle the challenge and bottle neck you. Fortunately, having a base that can attack and spells allows you to have a bit more options. There are a lot of missions and each have their own difficulty. Unfortunately, they all play the same. -Income < spells or Spells < Income. On some maps, income sucks and on others spells are amazing. This really shows that in this game, you need to adapt to the challenges ahead. Even though gold coins seem random, both are nice mechanics. Sometimes, both are essential to beat some maps. -Destructible buildings. This is a really cool mechanic to allow players to risk placing inefficient towers to get a lot of silver. Adds another component to the game which was well received. -Grind sucks. You need to grind emeralds to be able to upgrade your towers which means doing some levels more than once. This is probably the worst mechanic in the game. I would have preferred if there were side maps or side quests that give you a lot of emeralds but have restrictive gameplay like "No cryo tower" or "No spells". Maybe even different enemies, only level 1 towers, no towers, start with 1000 silver but cant get anymore. There are so many different options that would give an optional challenge for emeralds. These maps could even be the exact copies of other maps, but added in as a different map. This would give the sense that there is an abundance of maps, that you are not repeating the same maps because they are playing out very differently and, a huge sense of progression as you look at your main map and see things being completed overtime. Right now, there are 4-5 maps per zone/region and the difficulty scales very quickly which means needing to grind emeralds to be able to beat the later zones. First zone I needed to start grinding was zone 2 and I wasted a lot of time grinding. -Fast forward. This is the worst implementation in any game I have ever seen. It turns off when a new wave comes. Why? I want it always on until I click it off or press space bar. Constantly makes you have to re-fast forward when you notice the game has slowed. Also, the game would benefit from a x 4 and x 8. The game is too slow for my liking.
• Facesitting Barbie

  Feb 4, 2023

  I haven't played too many tower defense games. But for five bucks this one is worth it. Beneath the stripped down UI and graphics, the core gameplay is solid. I eventually got stuck on some level and walked away rather than settle for less than top rating on that map. 8/10 would walk away again.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 24, 2023

  I don't know about WOOHOO, BUY THIS, but it's good enough and also simple enough to play while I watch tv.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 16, 2023

  It's a fun ENOUGH little TD game, especially on sale. BUT It is very clearly still designed and paced as a mobile game that's meant to bait you into spending cash to shortcut the RIDICULOUS grind. Having to go back and replay prior levels upwards of TWENTY TIMES (not kidding) just to unlock enough tower/base upgrades to play the next level you're supposed to play is... OBSCENE. I'm marking this as a "No", but with awareness of what you're getting and enough free time and tolerance for grind, then this is probably worthwhile.
• TheLeon1897

  Jun 7, 2023

  Addictive tower defense ruined by mobile grinding mechanics - 5/10 Ancient Planet is a good tower defense at first glance: interesting enemy types and uniques towers that are all viable and useful. If you look closer though your excitement will quickly fade. The game was made for mobile devices, which is almost "always" a sign for stupid/lazy mechanics that incentivise you to spend real world money. The steam version does not have any in-game transactions but the remains of those features are still there: <*>Grinding - you will have to grind sooner or later for gems to use for upgrades. The levels get harder and harder to the point where you can no longer progress without the right amount of upgrades. <*>Collecting coins - to collect silver/gold coins you have to hover over them when the mine/enemies drop them, this gets really annoying after some time and is unnecessary. Typical mobile feature to keep you engaged. The grinding part could be heavily improved if you would get gems even if you lose a level, so you can at least get stronger to succeed next time. Instead you are forced to replay older levels again, because you only get a reward when you win. Another thing that bugs me is the survival mode only unlocking when you completed the whole game. I was already burned out by the time I had survival mode unlocked so I never played it. Why not unlock it when you get 3 stars on a level? The addition of destructible spaceships and buff wands for the enemies is great on the other hand, as you need to adapt your playstyle on those levels to succeed. After all it's a fun tower defense game, I just wish those mobile downsides would not be in the game. Neutral Rating, recommended for tower defense enthusiasts. 100%-Achievement-Difficulty: Easy, takes 15-20 hours. Most achievement unlock just by playing, grinding required though. Check out my curator if you liked this review: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42987949/
• gamedeal user

  Feb 4, 2015

  I usually don't write any review, but this tower defense, for a mobile port, is great : it reminds me of Prime Defender with the upgrade of the towers... Graphics are charming and the comics style cutscenes in between maps are amusing. Music is correct without being impressive. The difficulty is good without being too complex, because of the small maps. And even if your constructions are not optimal the first time, as you gaining precious gems to upgrade the towers, it doesn't really matter : you can retry as much as you want. I recommend this game for all the Tower Defense lovers!