I really wasn’t ready for the end of summer right now. Then I got a hold of Monster Kill from Itunes. This great Halloween themed game will have you ready for pumpkin carving and costume parties in no time. Find out in this review why this simple wall defense game does so well.
This game pits you against a variety of monsters who are intent on eating your brains. Luckily, you have magical powers that can be used to slice and dice the monsters into bleeding pieces. Make it past the level and you are awarded with money and tokens that can be used to make your powers stronger and your defensive wall bigger.
The game features three distinct game modes. The normal mode is 20 progressively more difficult rounds one right after another. This mode introduces you to each of the various spells and characters in a paced fashion that allows you to learn the ropes without drowning to quickly. As I mentioned you are taken to a shop after each level and allowed to upgrade your wall or your powers adding a layer of strategy to the game.
The game also has an endless mode that challenges you to see how many levels you can get through without dying. Earn a high score or capture achievements and post them on the Open Feint score board to see how you compare to the world. The Onslaught game mode involves no walls and 20 tokens that are spent at the beginning. 101 and monsters stream down the screen – see how many you can stop.
The visuals in this game are really great. When you cut off a mummy’s head blood squirts out his neck in a fountain and his head bounces to the ground. The lightning and fire ball animations are also awesome. The game supports your own music but the Halloween themed music kept me listening to the original soundtrack.
My only beef with this game involves the magic meter. In order to perform any move your magic power has to be charged up. If you run out of magic you have to helpless watch as the monsters tear down your wall. One of the shop items was faster magic regeneration. In one game I did nothing but upgrade this. I still found the magic drained way too quickly.
I think the game’s developer failed to account for miss-registered swipes and as a result unintentionally made the magic meter very unforgiving. There is nothing more frustrating than having 5 vampires beating on your wall while you wait for the dang magic meter to recharge.
The controls in this game are all finger swipes. Draw a giant v for an ice block or a zig zag for a lightning bolt. The application correctly guessed my intended strike more often than not. Unfortunately, you will find the lighting bolts will often miss.
When the monsters are busy destroying your wall the finger swipes tend to be less accurate. It is hard to determine whether this is more from the frantic nature of your swipes or interference from the wall.
What We Liked:
+ Awesome death animations
+ Great game modes for extended replay
+ Strategy elements
+ Halloween Theme
What We Disliked:
– Magic power drains far too quickly
– Can be difficult to make a kill at the wall
Final Verdict:
If I reviewed this game in August or November I would probably care about it much less. The Halloween theme hit me at just the right time. The animations and music all really hit a chord right now. At the current price point this game is worth checking out. Just do it now – burning a mummy is a lot less satisfying in December.
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I bought, played, beat and re-played this game.
I’m a big fan of defense games, and this one was a real blast to play.
The review is spot on that magic power decreases way too fast.
The only possible way you can survive this game is to get the ‘upgrades’ for magic power refresh rate as soon as possible.
I also found the balance of the game to be WAY off.
The lightning bolt when upgraded is all you need to beat the entire game.
The fireball I found to be near pointless. A damage over time spell is so silly when the monsters take about 0.001 seconds to reach the wall and start banging on it.
The ice block is equally silly. It costs an too much magic power and why block the enemies and then kill them when for less magic you just simply kill them?
Spending money on repairing your wall is foolish for 95% of the game.
When you ‘upgrade’ your wall all damage is repaired for free, so might as well just save your cash for an upgrade.
It took some getting used to how to cast the lightning bolt correctly. Once I had the hang of it and was ‘patient’ when drawing it (despite being assaulted by hordes of monsters) things worked out great.
The game was also pretty short.
Even though I have several issues with the game, it’s level of polish and unique elements really did make it a great joy to play and I would not hesitate to tell my friends about it.
I look forward to a sequel, perhaps one with a bit more content and better balance.
PS – If the developer is reading this, by ‘balance’ I don’t mean “nerf the lighting bolt so I’m forced to utilize fireball and ice” but rather “tweak fireball and ice to be more tempting to use”
I like your comments on balance. One approach is to make certain monsters more vulnerable to certain types of magic.
Ooh. I really like the graphics on this one, and the swipe based controls sound cool. However, at least for me, all games like this get old after say 20 mins at tops…
Looks like a good game kind of a like a castle defense game but with a twist. I love Halloween so this theme is awesome!
origin8 makes great defense games so im almost sold already but the gestures to kill the enemies is what i really like. Its really unique and i can see this becoming a hit if enough people find out about it. Seems like a job well done.
The undead are always in season. Just ask Blizzard.
I like the cartoonish appeal of this. Looks like a great way to take a break from both work and serious gaming. I see some replay value here.
I’m thinking that a boss character or two wouldn’t hurt.
Did anyone else notice that some of the achievements are 666 kills of a given monster?
I first saw this in the app store a couple of days ago and wasn’t really sold on it. After reading your review, I’m a little more inclined to give it a go. Disappointed to hear that the magic meter drains so quickly, but the gesture-based interface and terrific graphics and animations really up the appeal for me. Of course, it’s Origin8, so it’s likely to be a pretty good game anyway. I’m not quite ready for summer to be over yet, so I might just hold off until mid-October. It’ll likely be an impulse buy as I start picking out pumpkins with the kids.
Just a thought… I’d love to see a Rip Van Winkle type character with a pumpkin head that would explode into pumpkin pieces when he gets attacked….. actually, that might convince me to get the game early!
LOL.. We will redline this to the developer
Great likes and dislikes. Really appreciating the new reviews.
Those graphics really do look great though.
I can only imagine how frustrating those control issues must be…they really can make or break a game…