Space Cadet Defender HD: Invaders 4+

Endless Wave

I never use special weapons, except for maxed out missiles, on the actual levels. You do need certain things in order to do well and you can sit on a lucrative level to attain needed upgrades although it is very tedious...but doable.
It’s the endless wave section. Even with all upgrades I can’t get over 20,000 points. Maxed out special weapons and all other Max upgrades won’t do it mainly because the energy regeneration rate, even maxed out, is way too slow to support special weapons effectively. Recon is great because regen rate has a supercharge option and is much faster. So trying to get a high score here is virtually impossible without a faster energy regeneration rate. A supercharge option would solve this, but otherwise it’s really not worth it.

Developer Response ,

Yes, level 46 is one of the hardest levels to pass in the game. However, we did make it so that you can pass it without buying any extra medals. There are some tricks to passing it. We figured it's much more satisfying if there are some challenges once in a while. Here is one strategy that most use.

1. Make sure you start with a full bar of energy, play the level multiple times just dodging and dying till you have a full energy bar.
2. Try and save up enough medals so that you can re-charge your energy bar multiple times during the level. To do this pause the game, go to upgrades and buy a full energy bar.
3. With all this energy use the reflective shield special weapon.
4. By doing this and a little trial and error and good maneuvering you can pass the level.

Good luck, Thanks for playing Space Cadet.

Good for a flash game...

But frankly I think you can do better, you draw inspiration from classic Atari games such as space invaders. Not once did you try to pressure me with pop ups in game o give you a 5 star review or buy coins. Which is the kind of thing more developers need to do on the app stores.

But let’s move onto flaws, i noticed hit detection can be spotty, almost like your ships hurtbox is larger than you can visibly see. Also it lacks significant story, I did not feel much draw to continue(level 46 and counting btw).

Overall in my rating system I this game as A tier. I will keep an eye on you and hope for improvement in the future.

A good game but..

They aren't as mean on the surface like companies that make you pay to keep playing, this one makes it so hard to play that you need to spend money on upgrades in order to continue. Still quite Ahole ish IMO.

Update: I've decided to up the rating to 4 stars because the developer was kind enough to respond to my previous review. It's pretty awesome this still happens and they take the time to do so. They also have given good tips which I hope will get me past level 46. Even though they called me not smart, which is correct, I appreciate the challenge and Criticism given back. :-)

Developer Response ,

I am sorry you disagree with how we made in Space Cadet. We accept your criticism. However we would like to respond just so you understand us a little better.

You're right, many games out there make it so that you literally cannot play the game without purchasing in-app money. When we designed Space Cadet we didn't want it to work this way. We made the game so that you can pass the entire game without purchasing any in-app money. It does take some good strategy though, we wanted it to be a little challenging, that makes it more fun to pass. In our testing we make sure you can pass the game without purchasing anything. So, we would challenge you to start over with Space Cadet and see if you can pass it without buying in-app money, I think you'll be surprised.

Let me give you a few hints:
1. Make sure you upgrade. Use your collected money judicially and don't waste it. Ignore the super scatter and destroyer special weapons, they’re not as good as the others.
2. If you run into a level that you cannot pass try this: save up a full energy bar to start the level with, and then use your special weapon. Some very difficult levels may require you to pause the game and re-charge your energy so you can continue using your special weapon.
3. You may need to switch to reflective shield on a few levels (lvl 46).
4. If you still cannot pass a level then let us know, we are more than happy to give hints. Email us at our support email.
5. I have passed all of Space Cadet many times without any in-app purchases. It’s challenging but a great accomplishment when you do it.