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Review: The Creeps!

February 20, 2009
Overview The Creeps! is a game that requires you to stop horrible monsters coming from a spooky closet from reaching a child’s bed across the level. It’s a tower defense type of game, which means you set up “gun” turrets that attack the monsters. It may sound simple, and some levels are - but there is a strategy involved in the game as well.

Features

  • Levels And Bad Guys and Bosses, Oh My!
There are 16 stages, though technically only eight, since each level can be played twice: once with a set number of waves of creeps, and once with an unlimited number of waves. And really there’s only two locations… but the creeps have different paths on those stages, so… It doesn’t matter. It’s fun. You have to unlock the levels to play them, by the way. You get to kill 10 kinds of creeps as well as bosses! (Which are mostly larger versions of the creeps).

  • A Little Out Of The Ordinary
Though the majority of the gameplay is your standard tower defense style of gaming- there are times where you get to be a little more... hands on. Get it? That’s a pun because you use your hands to play! Yeah... There are special towers that you can use in battle that you actually control by using the accelerometer. For instance, there’s a UFO that shoots a death ray. You tilt your phone around which moves the UFO. Fun, fun, fun. (You can also sell those special towers for a big payday and by regular towers, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing that. That oil can is really useful.)
  • Location, Location, Location
Hi. Remember how I mentioned “strategy” a few paragraphs ago? Okay, here’s what I meant. Each level has destroyable obstacles- like rocks and tombstones and evil trees. When you play, you’ll have to destroy them in order to build towers in the necessary places. The trick is figuring out when to destroy them. If you wait too long, you could end up paying for it. (Well, actually the little child on the bed will end up paying for it.) Plus, you get money for blowing up obstacles. This money can be used to buy more towers. Ahh... the circle of life...

Breakdown

The Good: I liked this game. A lot. I found myself playing it for hours even when I wasn’t planning on doing so. I have to give a major “good job, sir” to the art design. The characters, the levels, the load screen- it all looks awesome. Yes, awesome. I have chosen to use the word “awesome” to describe something I like… sue me. At first glance it reminded me of ‘Invader Zim,’one of my favorite, underappreciated cartoons from a few years back. It’s got a nice style. I dig it. I like the addition of “special” towers. It adds for a little more excitement in the game, because after awhile, you’re not doing much other than watching your towers attack the creeps. It’s good to get yourself involved again. I usually save the special towers to battle the bosses, because those guys are strong. It takes a lot to put those suckas down, and every bit helps. The Bad: Okay, my biggest complaint about this game is the effect it has on my phones battery. It drains it something fierce. It’s upsetting because I was hoping to play this on the plane during an upcoming trip, but if it kills my phone that quick- I’ll have a pretty boring flight. So that sucks. What else… hmm… Uh, the sound effects can get a little annoying after awhile. I’d recommend shutting them off, but it’s your life, I won’t tell you how to live it. Wow, I really don't have much to say here. I wish that you could target multiple objects/creeps. It sucks when I want one gun to shoot a tombstone, but all of the guns start shooting at it, completely ignoring the creeps. Lame. Update please!!!!

Verdict

Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure this was the first tower defense style game that I’ve played. And… I like it. (I played Fieldrunners after enjoying The Creeps! so much, and I wasn’t very impressed.) Right now, this game is on sale for 99 cents, so you should snatch it up in a hurry. Would I pay $4.99 for it? No, but I’m cheap. I’d recommend you try the lite version first. But for a buck- get it! Wow… it’s been awhile since I’ve played a game on the iPhone that I really liked. This feels… good!

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