Autobot Stronghold
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| Developer | Soap Creative}} | ||||||
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| Publisher | LG Electronics}} | ||||||
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| Platforms | Online}} | ||||||
| Release date | May 28, 2009}} | ||||||
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Autobot Stronghold is an online game capitalizing on the hype surrounding Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. Once again, the game demonstrates just how capitalist the Autobots can be.
It is also insanely addictive.
Synopsis
[edit]The Autobots have to keep the Decepticons from reaching their "LG Stronghold". The Decepticons keep coming and coming in wave after wave. They're relentless! Fortunately, by taking the Sparks of their fallen foes, the Autobots can purchase LG technology to upgrade their offensive capabilities. They can also use the souls of the dead to buy duplicate versions of themselves to keep the Decepticon hordes occupied. It's kind of horrifying when you think too hard about it.
Gameplay
[edit]Play-wise, it is a standard "[[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}tower defense|{{#if:||tower defense}}]]" game; players purchase various turrets (in the form of Autobot defenders) in order to prevent increasingly challenging waves of enemies from reaching the end of the map. Defeating enemies gives the player credits (in this case the Decepticons' very sparks!) with which they can purchase new turrets or upgrade existing ones.
The game has 50 waves of Decepticons, with each wave consisting of a set group of Decepticons advancing on the Autobot LG Stronghold along one of three (four if you count the flying Starscreams) set paths. Each wave is increasingly difficult, and as the game progresses, multiple Decepticon types will emerge during the same waves. You can send out the next wave sooner by pressing the "Send Next Wave" button, though this needs time to refresh after each push.
Shortly after the game's release, it was quietly rebalanced—the higher level enemies became stronger and attacked in increasingly complicated and frustrating waves, and some of the Autobot attacks seem to have been slightly diminished in effect. The scoring for the game was also changed to a more tiered system so that the further you get into the game, the more points you get for sending out Decepticons quickly. When asked about the change, Andy Cho, LG Australia Web Manager, said:
"We believed the game was too easy when if first launched with one path, and it was always our plan to add in more paths. So it launched with a single path and a basic wave set, but a few days after launch we updated it with more paths and an all new wave set, plus the ability to have multiple enemy types per wave (not previously possible). This lead to lots of value tweaking etc. Opinion still splinters whether its too easy or too hard, we think we hit somewhere in the middle."
Fair enough, Andy. Fair enough.
Scoring
[edit]Each Decepticon has a set kill score, which doesn't increase as the game progresses. See the individual character entries.
When you press the "Send Next Wave" button, you get a bonus to your score. The bonus is higher depending on how soon you press the button and how far you are into the game. Big bonuses for sending wave fifty in early!
If you clear the game to wave 50, you receive a 1 million point bonus. Yes, that's right. ONE MILLION. Good luck getting on the top ten without clearing wave 50, buckos.
When you register your score, you are asked a multiple choice question, "TruMotion 200HZ is an ideal feature for:" Well, we won't list the other options, so the answer is: "Fast paced sports program." If you get this question right, (and if you don't know, you really suck) you get a bonus 10,000 points.
Upgrading
[edit]Each of your Autobots can be upgraded. There are four forms of upgrades, three of which are named after LG brandings:
200HZ TruMotion
- Lets your Autobot turn more quickly, thus targeting enemies behind him more easily. For some reason, in practical terms, this basically translates to an extra boost to your turret's firing rate. Very good in concert with the next power-up to make slow-firing characters like Ironhide and Ratchet shoot faster... or to make Bumblebee incredibly deadly.
2MS Response Time
- Lets your Autobot shoot faster.
Smart Energy Saving Plus
- Since your Autobot isn't wasting as much energy, he can shoot further, increasing his range! No, I don't know how that works either.
Level Up
- Increases the damage from your Autobot's attacks. You can level up twice, getting to the rip-roaring level of... uhhh, 3. Usually, the first level up is a little bit cheaper than other upgrades, letting you purchase a level up quickly — especially useful for quickly leveling multiple dudes. Prime's the exception, his first level up is always the same price as all his other upgrades.
Featured characters
[edit]Autobots
[edit]
- Cost 10 Sparks
- Upgrades 8 Sparks first level up, 10 sparks all other upgrades
- Range Close
- Rate of Fire Rapid
- Attack Low damage
- A solid little piece. When the game was first launched, these guys were unstoppable killers once fully upgraded. A group of Bumblebees could destroy any opponent. Upon the game's re-jigging, however, his efficiency at killing seemed to be reduced. Plus, you couldn't just plant a corridor of these guys and kill everyone anymore. Still a damned good unit once fully upgraded. Bumblebee can only target one enemy at a time, and doesn't do damage to multiple targets occupying the same square.
- Cost 15 Sparks
- Upgrades 12 Sparks first level up, 15 sparks all other upgrades
- Range Close (better than Bumblebee, though)
- Rate of Fire Moderate
- Attack Inhibits movement
- Jazz is basically a support unit for your other troops, especially your missile launchers. He doesn't do any damage, but he can slow the movement of any of the advancing Decepticons, including the Starscreams. This is especially effective in concert with Ratchet's splash damage.
- Cost 20 Sparks
- Upgrades 15 Sparks first level up, 20 sparks all other upgrades
- Range Middle
- Rate of Fire Moderate
- Attack Homing missiles
- Ironhide is a dependable missile launching unit. While he doesn't do any splash damage, he can damage multiple enemies occupying the same square. This makes him particularly effective when teamed with Jazz, who can make the enemies bunch up together.
- Cost 30 Sparks
- Upgrades 24 Sparks first level up, 20 sparks range, 30 sparks all other upgrades
- Range Wide
- Rate of Fire Reduced
- Attack Splash damage missiles; Ground attack only
- Ratchet has a really long range, high damage and each missile can damage multiple targets in multiple squares. This makes him perfect for teaming up with Jazz. His main disadvantage is an achingly slow rate of fire. So slow. So very slow.
- Cost 50 Sparks
- Upgrades 50 sparks all upgrades
- Range Wide
- Rate of Fire Moderate
- Attack Upgrades to multiple targetting
- Prime kicks butt. When upgraded, he has range rivaling Ratchet's and can target multiple enemies at once, making him an enormously effective defensive unit. Too bad he costs so damned much. Prime only becomes available for purchase once your score reaches over 100,000.
Decepticons
[edit]Listed in order of appearance
Insecticon (winged back, light grey)
- Movement 3.0 speed
- Sparks 1
- Points 8500
- Debut Wave 1
- The most basic opponent. The Insecticons are only really dangerous in a swarm, or as cover for Ravages.
Shockwave (darker grey)
- Movement 1.0 speed
- Sparks 2
- Points 2550
- Debut Wave 3
- Designed to look like Generation 1 Shockwave, only grey, (that's right, movie universe Shackwave) these guys play like slightly beefed up Insecticons. The real big bonus is that they give you two sparks per kill. We... won't ask where Shockwave got that extra spark. No sir.
Starscream (only air unit)
- Movement 0.7 speed
- Sparks 1
- Points 5550
- Debut Wave 10
- Despite being called Starscream, his jet mode does not match that of the movie version. In fact, he more closely resembles Dreadwing, though he might also be based on Armada Starscream. Starscream flies through the middle of the screen in two columns of varying numbers (there's so many of him near the end of the game, you'll cry). Starscream's flight pattern has forced a lot of strategies for beating the game to be built around defending the central three columns of the game board.
- Movement 2.0 speed
- Sparks 2
- Points 6500
- Debut Wave 11
- Ravage is one of the most frustrating enemies in the game. Moving really fast and being relatively easy to kill, your defenders often don't target Ravages, going for bigger, badder targets, so streams of the little buggers pour through your defenses. Always have a backup. Oh yeah, and he really looks like Transmetal Rattrap.
- Movement 0.7 speed
- Sparks 2
- Points 8500
- Debut Wave 25
- Basically, upgraded Shockwaves. These guys are tough to kill, so unlike Shockwave, it's not a quick payout for your two sparks. At least we can guess where he got an extra spark—since it's Galvatron, he probably ripped it out of someone else and ate it. He may or may not be Megatron.
- Movement 00.1
- Sparks 10
- Points 8000
- Debut Wave 30
- Yes, Brunt. As in the tank that comes with Trypticon. No, it's not Megatron. In fact, there is no Megatro— oh wait. These guys are damned hard to kill and bad to have around because your defenders will prioritise them. Each one gives you 10 sparks. That's right, this thing is so tough it has 10 souls.
Development
[edit]
The game was developed for LG Australia by a group called Soap Creative. Nicolas Mountford from the team had this to say about the game... well, and other stuff, but that's private:
Autobot Stronghold is still very popular, there are around 100,000 plays each day and a total so far of about 1.5 million plays world wide. As for credits on production for the game, almost everyone in the company contributed in some way, its best to say the credit goes to Soap Creative.
Nick is awesome. Plus, he totally said our Wiki is awesome, which means we think he's awesome too. He provided the sketches for the Autobot missiles that can be seen to the right, as drawn by one of the Soap creative designers.
Check out the external links for more information on Soap Creative. Like for instance the fact that one of their team appeared on The Gruen Transfer. Yeah—that's gonna mean an enormous amount to about three of you, I know.
Notes
[edit]- The title page misquotes Optimus Prime, saying that "Fate rarely calls upon us at the time of our choosing" instead of "at the moment of our choosing."
- It is possible to finish the game without ANY Decepticons reaching the LG Stronghold using 14 fully-upgraded Bumblebees and only one fully-upgraded version of every other Autobot except Jazz. Jazz is dead by the time this game is supposedly set, anyway. Sorry, Jazz.
- Be warned: if you play it once, you will be playing it again many, many times.