Project Thor by Jury Shortki is a bit of an odd-ball when it comes to classification. Strictly speaking it's another castle-defense game, but replace castle with planet and defense with Arkanoid. If nothing else, Project Thor demands attention for being so genuinely unique.
It's hard to describe the gameplay, but it goes a little something like this: While defending a new planet for humanity, you control a giant shield that reflects incoming attacks while building a large temporary "outer" shield to provide auxiliary defense. Both platforms can be rotated using a control stick and "Thor"'s weaponry can be fired with a touch button that can be configured from the pause menu for more power, different firing modes or entirely different weaponry.
Gameplay in the main campaign is initially very slow as you gradually upgrade Thor and the outer platform to reach a population of 111 million. Eventually things get more lively, but it'd be nice if the game cut to the chase earlier or provided more early challenges to keep you interested. The graphics are mostly 2D sprite based, but are beautifully rendered with an easy to read interface.
There's some replay value in the "First Blood" mode, but proper mission checkpoints for the main game would have helped immensely as a single game can take a very long time to complete. Project "Thor" is a unique castle-defense game that will keep you busy for a while and an interesting addition to any fan's collection.
Description
Bounce asteroids off, fight with robots, the salvation of civilization is up to you!
After wars called Mechanical only 8000 people survived. They took refuge on a small planet safely hidden inside a large asteroid field. The shelter of mankind was created in advance and equipped with a unique system of planetary protection "Thor". In one of its projections the system resembles by its shape Mjöllnir — the god Thor's hammer, which determined its name. Rotating around an axis of the planet the protection system repels all attacks, with no damage.
First, the new Commander has to repel asteroid attacks, the game at this stage is contrary to Arkanoid having as the objective to prevent falling of an asteroid close to the populated areas of the planet. Later, the system will be equipped with the Battle platform. Now "Thor" not just silently beats asteroids back but can also "answer" with a plasma charge. Also, the battle platform allows to expand the armor, which is able to cover the entire planet by a protective circle. Unlike the system "Thor", the armor gets damaged and must be constantly renewed. Good news — our hammer protects the armor that is directly above it against damage and moreover gradually mends it. Now the gaming style has changed: we need to shoot down small asteroids (for big ones the weapon is yet too weak) and continuously monitor the state of the armor defending and mending its weak segments.
Unfortunately, over time, the planet will be discovered by a scout of Axiom — a formation of robots. This will signal the beginning of massive attacks on the planet. It should be noted that the game has no fixed waves of enemy attacks; depending on the success of a player and the level of population of the planet, Axiom estimates for itself the level of threat from mankind and each time re-determines the time of the next attack and the makeup of the fleet. We will be attacked by different types of enemy ships, each requires its own tactics and knowledge of vulnerable sides. So the game constantly adjusts the difficulty level to the player rewarding skillful ones more generously.
The main task of the Commander will be to study new types of armor, to improve the battle platform and to constantly expand the power grid. Three types of weapons: plasma gun, volley gun and ray gun — will be at our disposal. First two can be used in the single shooting mode, in the automatic mode and in the accumulative mode (firing a ball of energy that's the more powerful, the longer it is charged up). Firing energy is determined by the player and the capabilities of the energy system.
The goal of the game is to reach the level of population sufficient for survival: 111 million people. The command of the project will put the objectives from the Survival plan before the Commander by following which one can succeed. A player may follow his own way but in this case it will be difficult for him to complete his mission successfully.
What's New in Version 1.7
A small training session and the time machine allowing to return to the saved point in case of failure added to the story mission.
New mission "Decoy aid" — repeat the feat of system "Thor II".
