I find tower defence games engrossing and sometimes hypnotically relaxing. I think it is because you are often mowing down swathes of enemies and feeling very powerful in the process. Space Cycle is a new tower defence game that has a couple of interesting quirks to consider when you tackle waves of evil aliens. Whilst it has some good core mechanics, it is a game that commits to a long grind you might not fancy.
There are two modes in Space Cycle – random and free mode. I recommend starting off in random mode first to get to grips with the game’s unique mechanics. Each game in Space Cycle takes place on a floating metal plate. There are 25 grid squares for towers to be placed into and an enemy perimeter that runs around the outside. You aren’t defending a goal here, instead you are worried about weight. Enemies weigh one or two points and if you have more than 50 points of weight on the plate, it’s game over, as you’ll be overwhelmed and the plate will fall. Random mode offers you three towers to choose from each enemy wave but then randomly places it somewhere in that 25 square grid. This means you’ll never have the perfect layout for an effective battle as the placements might be lopsided or not great for the range of attacks the tower can provide.
There are a few tower types but not strictly the 50 that Space Cycle advertises. You’ll have a machine gun turret but you’ll have different versions of it. One might cause less damage by slow enemies down, and slowed enemies can take more damage later when their health is lower. Another variant will be a resonance machine gun – where you can select a resonance version of multiple towers to add a damage multiplier to all those towers. Most towers have a standard, silver, omega, epic and ultimate version, so when you think of 50 towers, it’s more like 8 with variations on themes. Towers either cause single attack or area of effect damage and whilst some enemies seem to take more damage from some towers than others, it is quite a minimal difference. Instead, it is worth discovering which tower prioritises attacking what enemy as this is not covered in the game properly, and so you have to observe the tower’s behaviour to plan what you need next.
Towers have a normal mode and an upgraded mode, which requires currency to spend. You get currency from killing enemies and by placing down certain towers that generate currency per kill or as their main skill. The real twist here is that upgrades are not permanent. They only last for the wave you are trying to survive. This means you can’t upgrade yourself out of a bad situation and every 60 seconds you’ll be rushing around trying to upgrade towers again if you need them to be beefed up. Some ultra and ultimate towers do carry over some of their upgrades permanently in a level but it’s a rare trait. Once you get the hang of this mechanic, Space Cycle clicks into place and you balance how to save your currency for the tightest of situations and then invest in towers (and upgrade them each round) to generate enough currency to stay upgraded.
Random mode is succinct and plays well despite the frustrations of sometimes being totally done over but bad tower placement. The luck element is a little too large for me, and that’s where free mode comes in. In free mode you have full placement autonomy but you are given a set amount of money to survive an entire run at various difficulty levels that you can select. A higher difficulty means enemies have more health so they’ll take longer to kill and thus weigh your metal plate down. The issue with this mode is how drawn out the experience is. You start with 1000 cash for towers that will only get you a few waves in but initially, you’ll get 10 cash per complete wave you survive. This will eventually buy you one basic tower which doesn’t get you much further either. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat for a couple of hours and you’ll have money starting to roll in that allows you to make substantial differences to what towers you buy, but it is a long slog that I got tired of long before I felt powerful. It is a roguelike TD mode that takes far too long to get going although if the game gets under your skin, there will be hours and hours of game to enjoy. There are 99 difficulty levels to clear and then an advanced mode unlocks with more challenges.
What Space Cycle needs is a third mode somewhere in the middle. Give me some different level shapes, a new tower for each wave and the ability to place it where I like. It’s more traditional, but it works. Breaking up my control across two separate modes means neither quite scratch the right itch. Add to the fact every level is a giant square and you’ll be playing 2x speed permanently, it makes Space Cycle feel dull over time. I applaud the upgrades per wave idea, and I like the perimeter and weight mechanics too. It just needed a bit more structure to the goal you are reaching for to make this a must-have TD title.
Higher Plain Games is part of the Higher Plain Network. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me via Patreon for as little as $1/£1 a month. There are additional perks for supporting me, such as behind-the-scenes content and downloads. You can also share the website or use the affiliate buy now links on reviews. Buying credit from CD Keys using my affiliate link means I get a couple of pence per sale. All your support will enable me to produce better content, more often. Thank you.
