Writings of Mass Deduction

This game had a tonne of nice surprises. “The Cannon” could easily have been another simple defence game, but is elevated by a system (familiar to fans of Ikaruga and games inspired by it) where different weapons are either more or less effective against different enemy types. But it’s not a simple Weapon A kills Enemy B faster than Weapon C does, it’s much cooler than that: for example, electricity stuns most enemies, but completely fries enemy robots. Fire burns off the peg legs of enemy pirates, which slows them down but does not kill them. That kind of thing. The game forces you to be creative in your use of your weapons, as if you use one too much it’ll temporarily run out; mixing them up for best effect is the key to success.

Enemies include aliens, monkeys, ninjas, pirates, robots, and zombies. Your elemental(-ish) weapons are based on fire, ice, electricity, and vines (yes, “vines”). Vines grab and throw enemies. Electricity has the aforementioned effects, but also can chain to affect multiple enemies simultaneously. Fire and ice are much as you would expect them, but with occasionally surprising results on some enemies that keep you on your toes and force you to react as new enemies are introduced. There are 15 levels in the campaign mode, 50 awardments to unlock (including at least one inspired by a great Red Vs. Blue quote), and different backgrounds to earn (at least one of which appears to be designed after the Union Jack).

This is a creative 80 Microsoft Point game that has a great sense of humour at its heart, and is a great addition to any defence-minded gamer’s collection.

Here’s what the developer (Elemental Focus) has to say about the game:

“In the middle of nowhere, someone has built a wonderful weapon, but now every type of stereotypical enemy wants it destroyed! Beat back ninjas, zombies, robots and more with the cannon and its choice of four weapons! Fire, ice, lightning and vines. Each weapon has different effects on each enemy, so to stay alive, you will need to think on your feet.”