Recently released from indie developer Noa, Elona Shooter is a turret defense game with a fun array of RPG-influenced features. It's loosely based on the developer's "roguelike" RPG, Elona, although the similarities don't amount to much more than graphic styles and themes. It wasn't necessarily meant to be a spin-off of his original RPG; Elona Shooter is his first foray into the Flash gaming community, and it's a lot more polished than most developers' freshman efforts. Drawing inspiration from popular "castle defense" games like BowMaster Prelude, Elona Shooter adds a serious helping of Asian-influenced, tactical RPG mechanics. You not only get to defend your castle from swarms of oncoming monsters with a satisfying array of weapons and skills, you won't have to go at it alone; an entire tactical RPG-styled party of helpers comes to your aid, eventually.
Similar to the kind of group dynamic you find in games like the Sonny series, you'll assemble a party of characters as your progress through the game. Team members each have their own unique skills, which dictate the types of weapons they can use and abilities that help your entire party. For example, one team member might only be able to use small weapons like pistols and bows, but his other "Party" skills help the entire team with important things like defense or increased money and loot. Other team members might serve as heavy gunners, able to use powerful weapons like machine guns and rocket launchers, without offering as many party-wide benefits.
You'll begin by choosing your first character out of four classes; Rogue, Hunter, Sheriff and Militia. As mentioned, each class has its own unique advantages, described in the selection screen. The Hunter is the most versatile class, so if you're in doubt, go with him. The Rogue and the Hunter also start with "The Little Girl" (your first free team member), while the other two classes don't. You'll also see options for playing in "Casual" or "Hardcore" mode, which are pretty self-explanatory. Beyond these two additional gameplay modes, the "Game MODS" button offers even more ways to tweak your game experience, depending on your preference; you can choose between options that offer better weapon accuracy for less experience, smaller groups of enemies at the start of the round, and a few more. Just the fact that you're able to refine so many options before you've even started the game exemplifies a lot of the detail that's to come. Elona Shooter features an awe-inspiring amount of in-game customization, upgrades and weapons. The items and weapons probably aren't procedurally-generated, but there are a ton of them, all with varying stats and "mods" that can be attached to them. Weapon mods allow you to customize your guns even further by adding things armor-piercing ammo, anti-air defense, auto-reloading and more.
Each level takes place as a familiar "wave" of oncoming enemies, starting with cannon fodder like sheep, or chickens that chuck eggs at your castle. Most "creeps" won't damage your castle until they close the gap to your castle wall, but a few of them can fire projectiles from a distance. Use the mouse to aim your cross-hair reticule and click to fire. Most weapons, like guns, require the reticule to be centered on your enemy to hit them, while bows and crossbows can be fired from any position on the creep's horizontal plane. While there's no real physics engine to speak of, Elona Shooter does recognize simple "anatomy shots," which means you'll cause "critical hits" if you hit creeps in the head. You can switch through weapons and items by using the [1] to [5] keys (notice your inventory at the bottom of your UI) and press [Space] to reload your weapon. Scoring seven critical hits in a row will send you into a "Rampage," increasing your weapon damage and the chance for money drops, temporarily. Every kill with a particular weapon will also net you experience points, allowing you to level up your effectiveness with those weapons.
The RPG elements of Elona Shooter are mostly employed between each level, while you're "in town." Here, you'll be able to perform a variety of functions like repairing your castle's wall, spending money to upgrade a slew of features and using the "AP" (Action Points) earned between each level. On the left side of your UI, you'll see the different areas of town you can visit, like the Inn, Barracks, Shop and more. In each of these areas you can spend either money or AP to upgrade your castle, buy and sell weapons and items, equip your team with new gear and choose which skills they should specialize in. Each feature is explained with in-game tooltips, or you can hit the "Help" button for a more in-depth tutorial. While your cash mainly buys you things like castle upgrades, new team members and weapons, your AP is used for more specific features, like having "Dinner" to boost your team's experience intake in the next level, "Praying" to add more castle defense or even "Robbing" town visitors for cash. You can also use AP for practical functions like changing the Blacksmith's current weapon stock, or bringing a new "Recruit" into town if you don't like the stats on the prospective team member currently offered. It's actually a pretty complex and intricate design for such a seemingly-simple defense shooter game, which is what most players will find attractive, especially if they're not usually drawn to shooters.
Analysis: Even on "Casual" mode, Elona Shooter can be tough; especially if you're unlucky with loot drops. Since the game doesn't throw gobs of money at you left and right, you have to rely on boss drops and end-of-level loot to provide you with at least half of the weapons you'll need for you and your team. If you're having an unlucky streak with the "random number generator," you might find yourself feeling like you're trying to shoot monsters with peashooters in later levels. A few of the aforementioned game settings can help to turn the odds in your favor, but a serious dry spell in higher-level weaponry and items could leave you with no other option than to restart your game. On the other hand, there are quite a few gameplay mechanics in place to help you along the way, like hiring a temporary mercenary to assist you in tougher levels. The "death penalty" isn't too severe, either; you can continue any time you lose, but if you do, some of the game's "Medals" won't be available to you anymore.
Speaking of "Medals", they're something that any achievement-junkie will love. There are more than 30 Medals to earn by accomplishing various feats, from your typical skill-based variety to just plain humorous, like clicking on the in-game Kongregate banner. Even better, the Medals offer gameplay bonuses, like stat boosts and defensive upgrades. It's a great feature for people who don't usually care about achievements, since it offers tangible, in-game incentives. All-in-all, Elona Shooter is one of the most ambitious defense-shooters I've seen in some time. The action is solid and fulfilling, while the tactical/RPG elements offer an additional layer of strategy you don't typically find in this genre.
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October 30, 2009 8:03 PM
Walkthrough Guide
Complete achievement list:
Newcomer - play the game: no bonus
Experienced - survive 10 days: +100GP starting money
Survivor - survive 20 days: +200GP starting money
Veteran - survive 35 days: +300GP starting money
Elite - survive 50 days: +500GP starting money
Savior - survive 80 days: +750GP starting money
Chosen One - survive 150 days: +1000GP starting money
(These bonuses are cumulative, so once you've achieved Chosen One you'll start each new game with 3050GP.)
Chicken Lover - buy 30 chickens: +5% egg revenue
Chicken Prince - buy 60 chickens: +15% egg revenue
Chicken King - buy 120 chickens: +30% egg revenue
Sister Lover - buy 10 sisters: +10% bomb damage
Sister Mania - buy 20 sisters: +20% bomb damage
Sister Master - buy 30 sisters: +30% bomb damage
Novice Defender - 1 perfect game: +1% castle wall absorption
Skilled Defender - 4 perfect games: +1% castle wall absorption
Adept Defender - 7 perfect games: +1% castle wall absorption
Master Defender - 10 perfect games: +1% castle wall absorption
(I assume these stack multiplicatively, so that maxing them all will give you 156% egg revenue, 172% bomb damage, and slightly over 104% castle wall absorption, but I haven't confirmed it.)
Hunter's Award - make a level 10 hunter: unlocks ranger
Rogue's Award - make a level 10 rogue: unlocks duelist
Sheriff's Award - make a level 10 sheriff: unlocks noble
Militia's Award - make a level 10 militia: unlocks sniper
Killer - get 10 critical hits in one battle: starting skill Luck+1
Assassin - get 30 critical hits in one battle: starting skill Sense+1
Unseen Hand - get 50 critical hits in one battle: starting skill Accuracy+2
(Crits from Sense count, in addition to those from head/torso/limb/core shots.)
Prayer - pray 15 times: chance of +1AP after each round
Provoker - taunt 10 times: chance of +1AP after each round
(Provoker is based on the "Taunt" skill, which I believe is Sheriff-exclusive, not the random taunt event from "Go Searching." I didn't have any Sheriffs in my party the first time I played, and it took me until day 240 to give up on getting the achievement, then I figured it out by accident when trying to get Sheriff's Award.)
Boomer - party 10 times: chance of +1AP after each round
Gun Mania - recycle 10 guns: +15% modding bonus
Robber - rob the museum 20 times: starting skill Robber+2
Kongregate - click the Kongregate link: 3% wage discount
Ragnarok Survivor - use Ragnarok & don't die: starting skill Luck+1
Ha-na-bi - watch the fireworks at the end of a round without clicking: +25 fireworks (no mechanical benefit that I'm aware of)
Elonian - survive 40(?) days, until the variety of enemies resets to just the basic ones with higher HP: "you will be able to import weapons to Elona, someday!" (no mechanical benefit that I'm aware of)
Hardcore - survive 20 days in Hardcore mode: starting skill Sense+1
Ultimate Hardcore - survive 40 days in Hardcore mode: starting bonus weapon Gravity Gun (you still need the ordinary level of Big Gun skill to use it, sadly)
RNG Award - survive 80 days in Hardcore mode: starting skill Luck+3
Hardcore Mode tips:
Achievements carry over to other modes, so get all the non-hardcore achievements beforehand in normal or casual mode, except perhaps for Robber. Your character is limited to 15 non-base skills, and the Robber 2 you get from that achievement will use up a skill slot and can't be removed.
The best classes are probably the rogue for his extra money and the noble for his extra EXP gain (the accuracy bonus is nice too, but the damage bonus is mitigated by not being able to get class-specific damage boosters.) Both help you build up your character at the beginning, which is the most precarious time. I used a noble.
If you have all the survival achievements you'll be able to immediately upgrade your house once, so you can have three people by the second or third day if you have trouble with the early waves, or ideally you can buy chickens and perhaps one museum upgrade to get your cashflows set up early.
Keep multiple copies of repair hammers and grenades in item slots 2-5. Each is on a separate cooldown, so this lets you significantly increase your peak healing/damage output.
The Revolver is the best personal weapon IMO. It has excellent DPS for a small gun, fires quickly enough to make up for its low accuracy, and holding the space bar down will function as a pseudo-Auto Reload, automatically reloading after every shot. It reloads faster than you can fire it (until Mk. 10+, or you put on a fire rate mod,) so you can fire constantly without worrying about getting stuck reloading right as a heavy hitter comes charging toward you walls. It also synergizes well with rogues and nobles, as its high damage makes them more likely to get the kill and reap the associated benefits.
A NPC with a gravity gun is basically a must-have, or else you'll eventually catch an unlucky break and be overwhelmed by a wave of barbarians or exploders. Aside from skills like Da Bomb, a gravity gunner's DPS is almost solely a function of reload speed, so set Reloading as a focused skill as soon as he gets it.
Leech is incredibly effective on a gravity gun, or any weapon that hits multiple enemies. I never could figure out whether Leech triggered randomly, periodically, etc. but in any case it can heal you for dozens of HP at a time. Another good mod combo is Impact on a combat or auto shotgun, especially in the hands of a sheriff. Being hit with an Impact weapon interrupts ranged attackers who are about to fire, so it prevents damage even if it doesn't kill the enemy outright.
The number of mod slots on an item is semi-random, and an item with more mod slots can be a better long-term investment than a higher-level one. Machine guns and laser pistols are especially good because they seem to often have 3-5 mod slots and can be improved with almost any mod, whereas the selection of valid mods for a bow, bowgun, or especially gravity gun is more limited.
Party hard! Early on, investing in your villa is much more cost-effective than buying new weapons, and partying every round basically becomes a necessity for survival after day 40.
Hiring henchmen can be useful on boss days. Your earnings on the summary screen will be negative, but you'll still come out ahead overall since you can sell the weapons the bosses drop. Boss days are those ending in 0 for the first round, then days ending in 7 for the next one I think, then presumably 4 for the third round if it follows the same pattern as normal mode (meaning that boss day is also mod day in the shop.) I was so sick of the game by the time I got the RNG Award I haven't touched it since to find out.
In general, hedge your bets. You need to be able to deal with air enemies, armored enemies, fast enemies, bosses, swarms of enemies, and any combination thereof.
My final set-up
Classes, weapons, notable skills, and settings:
Noble
Revolver w. Damage mod
Anti-armor & Anti-air
Hero mode (for judiciously picking off the enemies that the NPCs were too dumb to realize posed the biggest threat)
Ranger
Gravity Gun w. Leech mod
Reloading
don't attack air mobs, attack boss, don't defend (to maximize number of enemies hit by shots. If I could have set him to fire straight down the middle of the field every time, I would have.)
Militia
Machine Gun w. Leech mod
no great skills (would have liked Burst)
attack mobs in weapon range, attack boss, defend (all-arounder)
Sheriff
Combat Shotgun w. Ammo & Fire Rate mods
Cripple shot, Dr. Holliday
don't attack armored mobs, don't attack boss, defend (close-range defense)
Useful non-combat skills:
Active on two party members
Breeder
Cook
Defender
Love
Tower:
Low investment in sandbags
Low-medium investment in looters and trainers
Medium investment in repairers
Medium-high investment in walls
High investment in villa
Max investment in inventory and shop slots
Posted by: grahf | November 8, 2009 9:02 PM