Had this tower-defence/twin stick shooter hybrid existed in the ‘80s, it would also certainly be an early Apple Macintosh exclusive. The two-tone colour scheme of beige and black, along with the crispness and formal nature of the UI, recalls the sharp monochrome visuals of Apple’s early computer line, only here there are splashes of green and red to liven things up. It would’ve also been considered quite advanced for the era. Well, that’s providing we ignore that lack of dual analogue sticks would’ve ruled its existence out completely.
Road Defense: Outsiders features seven increasingly challenging battlegrounds or varying size and complexity, each viewed from an isometric perspective. Your job is to protect armoured units that make their way along a path, achieved by weaponizing fixed-position towers and dealing with mobs of enemies yourself using a combination of your trusty pistol, a mechanical drone, and an axe with supernatural homing abilities. Yes, there’s a sci-fi undertone present.
It appears you’re up against zombies – enemies are lacking in detail, essentially being glorified stickmen – but they’re actually bandits armed with pistols, melee weapons, and later missile launchers. If too many vehicles are destroyed, the ‘panic meter’ will max out, ending your run.
Initially, you’re both underpowered and relatively weak. Don’t expect to even clear the opening stage without several retires. The whole shebang is based around purchasing permanent upgrades, with every kill awarding a single XP point. There’s a long list of upgrades available; your weapon can be improved and the axe’s cooldown shortened, along with incremental increases to your health, speed, and armour. More crucially, the armoured trucks you’re tasked with protecting can be made more resilient. Overlook this, and you’re in for a hard time.
Temporary perks are also bestowed during play, gained via pick-up tokens. You don’t need to worry about gathering these while blasting bandits, as they’re automatically swallowed up at the end of a round. Sadly, there are no random/unique perks to acquire, ergo no possibilities of creating crazy builds – you’re simply able to improve health regeneration, weapon efficiency, speed and such. A cash drop can be helpful though, as currency is needed to equip towers with weapons. These vary from an AK-47 to a laser gun, and each can upgraded – although these enhancements are costly, and not always noticeable. Tower weapons have different ranges, but that’s about it for strategic elements – the majority of the seven maps only contain a handful of tower slots, removing the scope for experimentation. One stage has just a single tower. Once you’ve boosted the starting cash several times, you may as well bring out the big guns straight away before forgetting about the tower elements entirely.
This does at least allow you to concentrate on twin-stick shooting. This is where things get a tad sloppy. The controls are responsive enough, and aiming never feels unreliable, but the waves themselves can feel unbalanced. Due to the game’s fast pace, within seconds of a wave starting the screen can be swarming with bandits armed with rifles, filling the screen with bullets. If you haven’t invested in health regeneration, death can come swiftly. Indeed, success lies heavily on both regeneration and making sure the vehicle’s armour is strong enough for the journey ahead.
I spent around five hours with Road Defence: Outsiders before committing to this review, and after a few hours the cycle of ‘retrying, purchasing upgrades, and retrying again’ started to feel endless. The late stages are incredibly challenging, pretty much forcing you to grind for permanent upgrades. In the game’s defence, all levels are unlocked from the outset, and it isn’t stingy with unlock tokens – they’re handed out quite liberally, but at the same time, there’s perhaps too much to invest into. To beat all seven stages and max out every stat will take quite some time, so if you do become hooked, the £4.19 asking price makes this decent value for money. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t offer a smoother ride. This isn’t so much a race against time, but rather a race between your attention and patience.
Minicactus Games’ Road Defense: Outsiders is out now on consoles. Published by QUByte Interactive. A PC version is also available.