Listen up, Colonists! Do we have our laser blasters? Check. Heavy guns? Check. Rocket launchers? Sure. Bug spray? Uh....
In Tofee Games' new stylish and challenging addition to the tower defense genre, The Last Shelter, a habitable planet has been found after years of searching and it's time to put down roots and start building energy collectors. But there's a catch, as there so often is in sci-fi-themed tower defense games: you are not alone. You'll have to battle it out against spiders, scorpions, armored beetles, and all manner of creepy crawlies if you are going to survive.
In each stage, you start out with a small amount of energy and a limited choice of where to place three different kinds of guns... weak, but rapid firing blasters (100 energy), slow but powerful heavy guns (150 energy), and devastating but expensive rocket launchers (250 energy), all of which can be upgraded as you progress through each stage, and more upgrades are unlocked. The challenge comes in gun placement. You can only place turrets in spots that have access to thermal energy, which amounts to only a small fraction of the map. Do you place the heavy weapons closer to the base, or nearer to the energy collector?
If things get real tough (and they will), you have the ability to call in air support, in the form of conventional bombs or nukes. But use them wisely, because you will have a long recharge time before they become available again. If you do manage to beat back the relentless insectoid onslaught, you will be rewarded with experience points to go towards upgrading your turret armor, reload times, resell value, as well as valuable enhancements to your bombs and nukes.
The most frustrating, and unique, thing about The Last Shelter is its sheer challenge. Even on Easy it can seem close to impossible to beat. And, while it could have clearly benefited from more turret choices and upgrade paths, it does push the limits of both casual and flash gaming in creating a stylish and professionally made free game that will have you playing and strategizing for days beyond that initial lunch break session.
It's really too difficult even on "easy." The hardest TD game I've ever played. With a little fine-tuning and more upgrade options (and easy actually being easy), it could have been a game to remember.
I agree with ambseks, this is really too tough. I've gotten the first eight zones on Ultimate, the 9th with 3 stars, the 10th with 2 stars but can't beat the 11th screen, regardless of what combination I use. The last wave is close to impossible with the armaments we're given.
I need someplace to use my 300+ XP, since all the Research is maxed. I need my missiles to be able to shoot over a little pile of rocks. The difficulty curve is hyperbolic. I enjoyed the first 10 fights, though.
Well I've 3 stars up to level 10. 2 stars on level 11, 12 & 13. Currently on 14 - I've made it to the last wave but then got eaten...
I've now completed 14 and 15 (on easy) and gained two stars.
It is tough but I like it like that. It would be nice to know that it is possible to complete all the levels will all stars and the ultimate though.
The difficulty increases way too steeply indeed. I breezed through the first few levels, easily beating them in easy/normal then ultimate and then around mission 7-8 it becomes really hard. Starting mission 10 on easy, I seriously wondered if it was even possible.
In the end, I got Ultimate up to 9 and three stars on everything else but missions 12 and 14. The only way I could get three stars on the later missions was by juggling/micromanaging the front towers, selling them before they get destroyed and immediately replacing them. Now I have 262 Exp and I'm pondering whether I should try to beat the game on Ultimate. I hate playing a game while wondering if it's even possible to beat it :\
Anyway, constructive criticism/suggestions:
It's not easy to cancel the building selection. You can cancel with Esc but it pauses the game. I'd like to toggle it just by pressing the hotkey again (1-4 for towers, E-R for support spells)
The missiles should deal splash damage proportional to its level
At level 2 or 3, the missiles should be able to fly across rocks
There are no tower stats, so I'm upgrading without really knowing what I'm doing
Oh and also, perhaps we should be able to infinitely upgrade with exponential costs (e.g. upgrade level 4 range for 40, etc...) This way, if you're not good enough to beat the game (which is pretty difficult, as previously stated) it would still be possible to win by grinding it.
I'd really like to know how you get past mission 10... I mean seriously... that is wacked hard... on EASY! The last wave is just horrible! Tried it on normal setting as well... for kicks... no... freaking... way... Designer obviously did not test his own game.
I think that all levels can be done in Ultimate. I'm at 45/45 & 12/15 right now.
I can't remember how I got 3 stars on Mission 10, I think I started with 3 Miniguns just above the command center thing and another 3 at the right of the screen. Start next wave early to upgrade the right miniguns ASAP. In the later waves, the turrets at the right will fire at the bottom, but you'll still need some defense at the right of the command center. The cluster at the bottom at the screen can also shoot at the path at its left.
Start with Miniguns and progressively replace half of them with Heavy turrets. I usually put the Miniguns in front of the Heavies, but I don't know if that's a good idea since we don't know their stats.
Time your support spells right and try to get 3 stars in Easy. There's no point ever playing in Normal. Once you get 3 stars, Ultimate is unlocked. In Ultimate, all you have to do is finish the mission, luckily you don't have to have a perfect run.
I'm completely stuck on level 13. I can't get past it at all. Apart from that I love this game.
I've been trying to figure out the placement, sequencing and upgrading of the different weapons for the levels that I'm stuck on (Lvl 10 at 2 stars, Lvl 11 can't finish). To do that I've used an arcade prehack site that lets me use 1) unlimited health 2) immediate cooldowns on my air support 3) money (in 100 increments) and 4) XP.
The only way that I can think of to beat these levels is micro-manage the towers. Put a tower up to slow down the bugs and, just before they get exploded, sell them and immediately build and upgrade another in the same place. Then jump to the next tower they're eating (if you can get to it in time). Sorry, don't have enough capital for shields.
Man, that's not a game in my opinion.
I'm surprised people are calling this game difficult. All of the stages can be done on ultimate with a fair bit of skill and strategy.
I'm slowly working my way through this. Currently I'm up to 42/45 and 11/15. I've done this without selling units when they are about to die. If you are needing to do this then you are doing something wrong.
It is tough but not too tough. It just takes some thought as to what to do and when.
I am liking this game a lot!
Believe it or not...I BEAT THE GAME!!! On normal mode anyway. It was really doggone hard! It seemed a bit easier once I finally got past level 11. I think ultimate mode is just going to be so hard as to be no fun at all.
I can't really offer much in the way of help other than to say it's mostly trial & error. Balancing when & where to put what. I can say this for sure. The rocket launcher becomes your very best friend. Protect them with the original turret equipped to 140(lasers)and the cannons are virtually useless. I stopped using them altogether.
Good luck! At least you know it can be done.
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