Nooboo Mary: Witch Hunt
Whether you're going for the gingerbread transmutation or the old fashioned stew, you gotta respect the rights of satanic magick users to extend their lives indefinitely by robbing life from the young. Right? If you're on board with that proposition, you'll like Nooboo Mary: Witch Hunt, a time-based defense game from Nobstudio (remember NOBuzzle Tree?) where you defend a witch's house from an angry mob of villagers.
The game takes place over a long, horizontal field with the witch's house on the far left and the violent commoners marching in from the right. You can pan the camera over this moonlit real estate by dragging the mouse to the left and right extremes of the screen. Your spells are represented by icons on the bottom panel, each one costing a certain number of souls to cast. Try clicking on the frog, you'll see your mouse cursor turn into a targeting reticule. Hover it over an unlucky brownshirt and click to cast the spell. Click repeatedly to blow the frog up like a balloon, a total of six times (but never seven) explodes it into amphibious confetti. Each kill is one more soul in the collection bin, which you can use for casting more powerful spells or save to buy new/upgrade existing ones in-between levels. The first few stages feature only a few slow peasants, but they keep coming faster and in greater numbers. In order to deal with this surge, you need to invest your soul-cash wisely.
Analysis: It's nice to see a game with some attitude and a cohesive aesthetic. The music is moody but not "My Chemical Romance" moody. The writing is coy and sardonic, the graphics are crisp and iconic. The gameplay gets in a sweet zone after level four or so, where simply spamming frog spells won't cut it and you have to start spending those souls more strategically. Unfortunately, the game isn't perfectly balanced, so one particular spell emerges as a dominant strategy. I'd like to see a more even field there, to deepen the strategy, and more levels to that strategy. Untapped potential is always a drag on a reviewer's heart.
This game is a devilish little gem.
The black plauge spell interupts the effects of others, including frogs...
I have to say, this is a very easy game.
get your way to the insect swarm, level it up to max, then just frog everything in the same spot ( aim for thier heads not thier bodies, so you don't waste clicks on the actual frogs)
then unleash a insect swarm, instantly killing every frog and man who walks in.
There are many other strategies, for example:
Plague, combined with Ulgy to stop them in their tracks so they all catch the plague is a good one
Better yet:
Level Evil Trees all the way, summon 4 of them; even at the last level, only 1 or 2 were able to get past the first 3 trees, and quickly eaten by the 4th tree.
This game is quite the find, Patrick.
Game guide with wave and spell stats:
** Peasants per Wave **
#1 - 5 Peasants, #2 - 10 Peasants, #3 - 20 Peasants,
#4 - 35 Peasants, #5 - 45 Peasants, #6 - 50 Peasants,
#7 - 70 Peasants, #8 - 81 Peasants, #9 - 99 Peasants
Therefore, the highest score limit is 415 or the maximum number of Peasants in the game.
** Summoning Spells **
Spell 1 - Sexy Girls - Purpose: Delay Peasants
** Research: 8\5\5 = 18 Total, Casting: 3\5\7
** Upgrades: Longer Time
Spell 2 - Ghost - Purpose: Scare Away Peasants
** Research: 6\6\7 = 19 Total, Casting: 4\5\6
** Upgrades: Longer Time
Spell 3 - Giant - Purpose: Smash Multiple Peasants
** Research: 14\15\16 = 45 Total, Casting: 18\20\25
** Upgrades: Wider Foot
** Curses Spells **
Spell 1 - Turn Toad - Purpose: Delay\Kill Single Peasant
** Research: 0\2\2 = 4 Total, Casting: 0\0\0
** Upgrades: Longer Time
Spell 2 - Turn Ugly - Purpose: Kill 1, Delay Other Peasants
** Research: 9\8\9 = 26 Total, Casting: 4\5\6
** Upgrades: Longer Time
Spell 3 - Black Death - Purpose: Infects Multiple Peasants to Kill
** Research: 10\ 5\ 5 = 20 Total, Casting: 17\19\22
** Upgrades: How Quickly It Catches
** Nature Spells **
Spell 1 - Swamp - Purpose: Kill Peasants Until Full
** Research: 5\6\7 = 18 Total, Casting: 2\5\8
** Kills: 3\8\12 , Upgrades: How many kills before filled
Spell 2 - Evil Tree - Purpose: Kill Peasants Entire Wave
** Research: 6\7\8 = 21 total, Casting: 6\9\13
** Upgrades: How quickly it kills
Spell 3 - Insect, Purpose: Kill Everyone In Cloud
** Research: 12\10\10 = 32 total, Casting: 12\15\16
** Upgrades: Longer Time
I'll come up with strategies another time but there are certainly a few creative ways to use them together.
This was a refreshingly different type of defense game and I enjoyed playing it.
@Deadl0ck
I would have to say the best spell is the Evil Tree instead of the Insects. True, you could frog an entire wave and keep them close enough to one another to blast them all with one wave but for a less hands on approach, 2-3 Evil Trees at max can get you through the game.
Combo I would most like to try:
Get max Ugly, Black Death, and at least level 1 Ghost.
Slow down the wave with a few Ugly's, then just as they are about to move forward, cast Ghost in front, then hit the head of the pack just as they turn to go the other way with Plague so that they infect everyone behind them.
Would have to see if Black Death would cancel Ghost and have them run/crawl back towards your house instead of back in the ranks of their fellow peasants..
If that is the case, you'll have to cast Black Death somewhere in front of the fleeing pack so that you infect as many Peasants as possible.
The music, in this case, is from Capcom's Resident Evil. I'm kind of surprised that Nobstudio doesn't do their own tunes.
I like the swamps! they don't cost much to use even at max, and anything that gets past a few trees automatically gets eaten, just put in a new one after it's full.
Way too short! Bwaaa! X(
Knew that music sounded familiar...
Did anyone else find this game to be extremely creepy? This would be good to play on halloween, though.
Will someone PLEASE post a walkthrough for this game!?
Err, you need a walkthrough for THIS? Okay....
1) Use Turn Toad to get enough souls for lvl 1 Swamp
2) Purchase lvl 1 Swamp
3) Use Turn Toad to get enough souls for lvl 1 Evil Tree
4) Purchase lvl 1 Evil Tree
5) Use Turn Toad to get enough souls for lvl 2 Evil Tree
6) Purchase lvl 2 Evil Tree
7) Use Turn Toad to get enough souls for lvl 3 Evil Tree
8) Purchase lvl 3 Evil Tree
9) Build enough lvl 3 Evil Trees in each level to completely consume all peasants
I've always loved the games this designer creates, but sometimes his violent features creep me out a bit. :)
Rahari, just use swamps and upgrade them whenever possible. They'll completely destroy the incoming peasants.
I don't like the swamps, myself. The ROI is too low. Only +1 for a Level 1 swamp and +4 for a maxed swamp.
Pretty awesome game. maybe a but longer and a way to turn the sound off would have been nice though ;)
Am I the only one that saw the picture and thought a game with bloody corpses dismembered and impaled onto bloody spikes should be tagged "kidsafe"?
I liked Evil trees the best, the others require a more hands on approach.
The kidsafe tag is a bit of stretch imo.
Black Death is more effective then I thought. On Wave 5 (45 Peasants), I used one Level 1 Turn Ugly and then just as it wore off I cast a max level Black Death on the group and infected them all. Since infected peasants walked slower, the peasants behind them all caught up and caught the Black Death too. I had been concerned that I might have to cast it multiple times but with a price tag of 4 for Lvl 1 Turn Ugy and 22 for Lvl Max Black Death, that wasn't too bad.
I don't like this game because whenever I would collect souls it wouldn't register them when I went to buy something.
I really enjoyed this game. I wish it had kept going in the levels just so I could play around with combining different attack/defense strategies and really whack the townspeople.
The best way to win is to first kill all the peasants as soon as they come out, save for a level one swamp, then a lvl 1 2 then 3 evil tree. After that, you shoud get your frog all the way up, then your swamp Then, around seven, you should get the one that turns the enemy into a witch all the way up, then black death. Then swarm then xy girl (all the way up) Last get spook one level, then giant. All the while, as soon as you get trees all the way up, summon at least 2 every level. Frog the peasants that get past and finish them off quickly. At level 7, you should have 3 trees. During the last level, you should summon 4 trees, and, if you want to have some fun, the xy girl or the one that turns them into a witch. Then, after enough are there, either use black death or the giant foot. By the way, only do this after the first wave, otherwise you won't have enough.
By the way, you should always save up all your money after you buy the trees until the 7th or 8th level. Also, do not spend your money on anything else unless for fun
It's a very nice concept and I like the graphics, but it suffers from using souls both for upgrading and casting spells. The most used spell ends up being the one spell you begin with, simply because it doesn't use any souls. Some of the other spells tend to be absolutely useless, because they cost too much to cast. It wouldn't have been so bad, if the cost would remain constant, but upgrading actually makes the spells more expensive to cast.
BTW, the captchas on this site are quite hard to read. Here's a good article on the subject: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000712.html
The thing about some of the spells is when to cast it and how often per wave while being cost effective. Strategy-wise, staying inside one category of spells is cheapest but some categories are better than others. I think Nature is the best because Evil Trees are the most efficient spell (since they last an entire wave) while Insects is the cheapest costing attack spell. If you can get by with just Turn Frog and one of those then you're guaranteed to be able to win.
The other categories are a bit more challenging to use. I've finished off an entire wave once with Black Death but couldn't repeat the same feat in later levels without the aide of Turn Ugly and even then I still didn't make it because some of the peasants got infected late and made it to the house before they died. I'm sure a Black Death / Turn Ugly or Frog strategy is doable though.
The Summons category is the most difficult to make use of because the only attacking spell it has, Giant, is so expensive. However, a neat side-effect of Giant is that any peasant who saw the foot come down will stop for a bit to curse before moving forward again. Ghost is awesome yet flawed. Since the goal is to collect souls so that you can keep casting spells, scaring all your targets away is almost counter-intuitive unless you can kill enough with Turn Frog or Giant to stay in the green. If that is so, a Ghost Spamming strategy is possible.
I was mistaken about Ghost, apparently once they reach the other right side of the map they turn around again. This makes a Ghost fence right next to the beginning really attractive for setting up Giant. Once you get going, you can afford to use a few ghosts until the end of the wave comes out and the stomp it with Giant. I actually see little need to upgrade Giant at all if you corral the towns people close enough to the edge.
Am I the only one who finds the clicking really unresponsive? It takes me way more than 6 clicks to explode the frogs--at least 12. With that, the game is a little too much of a click-fest for me.
Crazy bug and a fun and funny way to rack up points.
Max out foot and frog. You should be able to do this after level 4. Then in level 5 (or beyond), get at least 25 souls and start frogging the villagers but not popping them. Keep them frogged, getting anywhere from 20-30 of them all together. Yes, you won't be able to keep them frogged, but that really doesn't matter. Just don't "game over" once you have a good pack together, pick the foot and stomp the pack. The frogs will become villagers with ??? above their heads. Watch the foot come down and the points rack up!
Problem is doing this locks you from leaving the level. Still, have a little more fun by finishing off the remaining villagers. Then stomp Mary's house and watch the points rack up.
Too bad you can't take them with you, but it's funny to watch. Press "R" to restart the level as if you had "game over".
Update about the bug above.
When you stomp, the foot must be partly off the screen on the heel side for it to work. If the foot is completely visible or off on the right side, it will be a normal stomp.
Simple but a fun game. I really like the mood created by the music as well as the cute graphics.
Although this game isn't very challenging (Ex. Evil Tree) I think it is interesting that people are still playing around with it just to test out other strategies and to discover the other options. I was pretty entertained using pretty girl to amass a swarm of villagers and smiting them in one shot with insect or giant.
Working out a Black Death strategy was a lot of fun for me. Of the defense games I've played I think this one had the most replay interest.
Definite replay-ability. I would suggest for the next version (if this is something the Nobstudio wants to build on) to make different villagers that are immune to some spells. Like women being immune to girl, big brutes immune to the tree, long legs to step over the swamp. I know I'd be hooked! Still, fun timewaster.
I would LOVE to play this game, but the spells aren't working for me for some reason! Even after upgrading, I can ONLY get the frog to work. It seems my clicks on the other spells are completely unresponsive.
The other frustrating thing is when I go down to select a spell from either side of the "inventory", the screen scrolls to the side.
I tried this 3 times... I give up :(
This shouldn't be rated G. JAY!
I came across this by accident.
You can pop frogs faster by clicking and holding and boom there you are
Hope you benfeit from what i dicovered.
Sorry for double post but this only happens if you click on the frogs belly
I finished this game really easily by this strategey
1. have swamp at least lvl 1
2. have more than 12 points
3. go to the witches house
4. spam at least 5 swamps
5. and replace the ones that are dissapearing
Note: only upgrade your swamp if you have more than 40 points
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