Spacejacked

When I first saw this game, I thought it would barely have enough content to keep me entertained for a couple of hours. Well, I'm glad I was proved wrong!
How can I even start to describe this game? "A super fast-paced arcade tower-defense" it's a good start but it doesn't cut it.
This game makes most tower-defense look easy by comparison:
- You have to defend your spaceship's cores located in different rooms. This means, you have to fend off hordes of enemies in several separate rooms, basically at the same time, with limited resources (metal). Since you barely gain any metal from the monsters/ aliens you kill, most of the time you'll be running from room to room destroying your turrets to get metal to build or upgrade turrets in another room and then repeating this process until all rooms are secured.
- To complicate things further, you can only build a few turrets in each room and those must be built-in predetermined spaces (there are specific spots to build them).
The character itself is very easy to control. He can either walk on the ground or in the ceilings. And did I mention that he wields a blaster that looks like a chicken as a weapon? It has limited fire time though (cooldown).
To help you gather metal, there's also a bullet hell mini-game, in which you control a pod and try to destroy ships and other objects for as long as possible while trying to collect metal. If you touch another object, your pod is destroyed and you are back on HQ (hopefully, w/ more metal). You can only play this mini-game once a day.
The story is funny and entertaining but it also takes time to complete, especially if you are after the achievement "Perfectionist" like me.
Besides Story Mode, there's also "Challenge Mode" (which contains several challenges to be perfectly completed) and "Endless Mode". Both are a lot harder than the first.
The soundtrack is very fitting for this arcade game and the artwork and animation is what you can expect from a retro game, (not that it's a bad thing!).

Target Audience: Tower Defense players who want something a little bit different in the genre and some action elements.
Summary:
It's a good mix up of the genre, as the idea of an active tower defense game taking place in a spaceship is intriguing, and the idea does execute well at first. Having to protect your cores between rooms while switching around turrets in a more active format (aka you're more in the action as opposed to a bystander) works rather well, as the alien hordes keep you on your feat by throwing various different types at you. And there's some good design elements that went into the blaster that your main character has: holding back enough so that you can't solely rely on it, while making it so that you can really contribute to the fight. Honestly, it's a good idea and execution....that loses steam after the first two hours. It's a game that could definitely use more content and variety, more parts of the ship, more turrets, etc. For 10 bucks, you will get your money's worth in my opinion, but not much more then that, and I sit here and wonder what the game could be if it were taken to the next level. But never the less, a game that I had fun with and that feels different in a genre that typically is the same thing over and over again.
Gameplay Footage and Video Review:
Lists:
Positives:
Like the basic idea of a spaceship having to be defended in rooms around it. It's definitely a good change up of the basic tower defense concept.
Having to switch between rooms in a multi-room defend mechanic definitely works, and should be investigated by more games to take the concept to the next level.
Good design regarding the blaster and heat mechanism. Holds back enough to make you consider when to attack and when to let the turrets do the majority of the work. Keeps you engaged.
To a certain extent, like the fact that you can reconfigure your turrets at any time to optimize it. This works mostly due to the fact that you don't have a huge setup time, so you have to actually think about what you're doing.
Challenge modes help extent play time with alternate missions and restrictions.
Light hearted sense of “fun” with the story. Appropriate.
Art style does the job for the most part. Sound design is alright, but it's got that presentation that does the job, but isn't going to wow anyone.
Negatives:
I just wanted more. The basic idea has a good amount of potential, but it starts to fizzle out even wit the different enemy types. The game shows what it has to offer in the first two hours, and there's not much after that besides enemy types.
The rooms idea, it's great, but again, add more. Two/three more rooms really could take this to the next level. Hell, make it DLC. This is one of those games where I think holding back more
It seems like there is one default configuration that is best for each room, in particular with the use of the slow down statis turret.
Really, it needs a couple of more turrets. While the alternate “programmed” turrets brings variations, it doesn't really take the game to another level in terms of strategy.
Would suggest a small penalty on the selling of turrets, so there's some consequence. Not to high, as I do think it helps in complementing the action, but you need SOMETHING to punish the player for making a “wrong” decision.
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So far I've played and finished the Story Mode and I enjoyed it a lot!
At first, it was a simple tower defense game with a playable character to assist the defenses but hoo boy did it change soon into a challenging game. The difficulty curve had a little spike, but I felt it was at the right time to make the player understand how each action, each defense unit placement is important. I literally went back to the beginning of the story mode just to retry levels with the new knowledge and build up a solid knowledge foundation for upcoming levels.
There are not many elements in this game, only three kinds of upgradable defense mechanisms, placement options, the player himself with his blaster and a couple of monster types. Don't let that fool you into thinking this game is simple, you'll be busy enough figuring the best defense and optimize your characters positioning and where to invest your resouces. It feels like an action packed tower defense puzzle game. But then again, at times I also managed to muscle my way through alien invasion without much preparation. So it's not mandatory to plan perfectly, but it sure is satisfying to do so.
There are two modes to play - Endless and Challenge modes - once you wanna try out a harder challenge. I've yet to try them out and looking forwards to it.
tl;dr: I had fun playing this game and will play more. Hopefully you too :)

I know they’re not generally the most sophisticated of games but there’s just something about tower defense games that keep me returning for more. I find the genre to be particularly enjoyable and addictive. They’re addictive because each level sets the bar just that little bit higher. Today Steamified is fortunate enough to feature a new tower defense game and one that has somewhat innovative gameplay. Spacejacked is the Steam debut of Rotten Mage a Singapore based indie developer.
First, what I thoroughly enjoyed about this one is just how fast it is and that not only do you get to build the actual towers to do your defending for you but you also get to shoot the big bad aliens as well. In that respect a similarity can be drawn to Fortified which we featured back on Valentines Day. However, unlike Fortified which draws its third-person shooter and graphical inspirations from the likes of Orcs Must Die! Spacejacked is a pixelized graphics game that appears to be more of a platformer-arena shooter. Another component that achieved satisfaction is the requirement of large doses of quick thinking strategy in order to be successful. The seemingly simplest choices that you make from the beginning of the game can make a significant impact later in the game. Resources carry over from day to day as do the defenses that you have already built. But be certain not to make too many of them because resources are scarce enough that the game can almost be considered a resource management game. You never stop and that is one of the really beautiful things about the game.
The only thing negative that I can see in the game thus far is that the level of difficulty can swing rather violently in both directions. At one point I was seemingly crushing the enemy and then without warning I was dead on the very next wave. There was seemingly nothing that I could do myself to save myself from this death. I didn’t think that I had overspent on my towers and I thought that I had utilized the correct ones. It was just that one wave was suddenly much harder than the one preceding it. Those who have finished the story mode have complained that the second half of the game is weaker than the first in regards to difficulty. This may be because the first half of the game teaches you exactly what defenses you need and you spend the rest of the game using your resources to upgrade and if necessary repair.
The dev team were intelligent in their design choices bringing the game to Steam with both trading cards and 22 Steam achievements. They also utilized the Steam Cloud and Steam Leaderboard systems. The game has full controller support.
If you’re looking for a new tower defense game with some innovative gameplay mechanics then Spacejacked will be right up your alley.
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Short Version: Fast paced tower defense plus 2D run'n'gun that pushes all the right buttons. Awesome retro simplicity in gameplay (run, jump, shoot, build one of three towers) with plenty of modern features (upgrades and extra challenges galore) along with an intentionally silly story make this game utterly scrumptious.
You know those crazy dreams where a bunch of random pieces from your life / movies / video games get smushed together in a ridiculous fashion that somehow make a weird kind of perfect sense? Well, imagine a dream where Megaman lost his job and decided to instead pursue his secret wish of becoming a spaceship handyman, only to be sucked into an 80's sci-fi movie plot where aliens were invading the ship and only his newfound turret-building skills and rusty blasting action could save the day. This is Spacejacked in a nutshell, and it is glorious.
Spacejacked's innovative take on the usually stagnant tower defense genre seems almost ridiculous on paper (retro-arcade 2D tower defense? Reeeally?)... but somehow, it just *works*.
You control a Mega-Man-esque engineer named Dave, blasting away at waves of various enemies while your turrets provide an abundance of heavy fire support. However, instead of one simple tower defense layout to maintain, you have *multiple* areas of a space ship to defend, with enemy waves attacking one or more areas at a time as they try to reach the ship's core. In the few seconds between waves, you must frantically warp between rooms to tear down turrets (which refunds their entire cost) and build up new ones in the room(s) that are about to be under attack.
Simply put, I adore this game. The gameplay is fast and fun, and the frenetic action is interspersed with a quirky story that meshes well with the underlying retro-sci-fi vibe. While Tower Defense isn't everyone's cup of tea, the beauty of Spacejacked is that it turns the usual layout-planning concept into a strategic-action-arcade mashup that anyone can enjoy. Spacejacked is the perfect example of an Indie title done right, and I highly recommend giving this delightful game a shot.
Received a free copy for testing/reviewing purposes. This review is part of the Steamified Community Review program.

Compared to the other games I've talked about so far this one's a bit obscure, and seems to have gone under the radar. I was fortunate enough to be gifted it during the Summer Sale, and I'd say it being overlooked is a shame, because it's quite a good title, especially for the developer's first game as it seems to be.
Spacejacked manages to be even more low-key than Orcs Must Die in its environments. As the name implies, it takes place entirely on a single spaceship with four rooms, only three of which will actually be attacked. You also have much less towers than usual in this kind of game, at only three: a gun that shoots rapidly in a straight line, a high damage, slower laser, and an area of effect one that slows enemies down a bit. A bit mundane, but the real trick is in the layout of the rooms. Enemies will spawn at the top before working their way down to the room's core, and some complicate matters by crawling along the ceiling to take detours. Thing is, your player character can do the same thing, by manipulating gravity. This lets you build towers on both the floor and ceiling, which can drastically alter how good your defense is. You also come equipped with a blaster, which as another reviewer put it, is strong enough to matter but isn't too powerful, and can only fire for so long before it has to recharge.
You'll need every advantage you can get, as despite the game's cutesy look it becomes brutal pretty fast, with any of the rooms spelling a game over if it goes down. Your defenses persist throughout the campaign, but it's good about pressing you despite that, and selling turrets (which gives you all of what you paid back) is sometimes a necessity. Each level is one day, which so far contains three waves, meaning that losing doesn't set you back too much though, which is nice. I'm not sure how long the main campaign will be, but besides it there's an endless mode and a lot of challenge levels if you're still looking for more. It seems designed for more arcade fun than a sheer amount of content, which is certainly a valid focus to have.
Lastly, I also like the game's sense of humor; it's not hugely in your face, but it definitely doesn't take itself very seriously. One touch I liked is in the first challenge mission, which takes away your gun. Instead of just doing nothing when you hit the button, your spaceman points his finger and goes 'pew pew!' Hard not to recommend a game that does that.

Being a fan or tower defenses I was interested in trying out Spacejacked. After playing the game I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by Spacejacked since it is unlike any other tower defense game that I have played before.
In most tower defense games you build up your defenses and sit back and see if your strategy worked. In Spacejacked you are always working. You are building defenses, tearing down defenses, and shooting aliens. Since you don't have enough resources in the game, you are forced to break down your defenses and move them to where the enemies are. The chaos of constantly building and moving your defenses could have become overwhelming but the game does such a good job handling it that you will quickly be building up new defenses and tearing them down to move to a new location. I found this mechanic a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting.
I only have two complaints about Spacejacked. First the difficulty is inconsistent. At times the game is too easy and other times the game is too hard. Around the half way point the game gets really hard and relies on you having the best tower setup. Then the second half of the game becomes quite easy. The other complaint is that the story mode is a little short. The game only has around 20 levels which should take 5-7 hours to complete. The game does include challenges (which are hard) and an endless mode. While you can have fun with these modes, if you usually aren't into these type of modes you probably won't get much more than 5-7 hours out of the game.
If you don't like tower defense games, Spacejacked probably won't change your mind. If the idea of an action tower defense game appeals to you though I think you will really enjoy Spacejacked.
Note: I received a review copy for the game from the developer. Other than receiving a review copy I received no other compensation from the developer.
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