Vector TDX developed by David Scott and the WDDG

I got wind of this flash game late last year and spent an exorbitant amount of time playing it. The goal of the game is to destroy the spinny things before they reach the end. Each spinner that reaches the end cost one life point. The game starts you off with just twenty. Later on, there are opportunities to gain more life but at the cost of other benefits. For each spinner destroyed, money is added to your bank. With the money, new weapons can be purchased or old cans can be upgraded to increase its range and damage.

There are sixteen types of weapons, categorized into four groups based on color and abilities. The green ones are your basic laser that hits one target at a time. The more expensive versions can target two or three. Unlike the green weapons, the three levels for red are pretty unique. The first one is sort of a spray, hitting multiple targets with lasers at once. The second randomly shoots little homing missiles at targets and the final one, which I feel is the best, sends out one big bomb which usually wipes out a spinner with one hit. The purple weapons are pretty much all the same. They focus on one spinner and charges up the power before sending one bolt of power. I find it pretty slow and useless. The blue weapons are awesome, especially the first one. The first blue one hits multiple targets for more damage than the red and slows it down as well. So if lined up in a corridor, you can create a gauntlet of death.

There are seven different spinners–red, green, purple, blue, orange, yellow, and gray. Three of the seven have unique abilities. The orange ones have a slow down/speed up ability which is really annoying. The yellow are always speedy and the gray has one big gray one which opens up four special benefits. Besides having unique abilties, these three don’t have a natural weakness. The other four have a weakness, that being they are weak against their own color weapon.

The four special benefits I spoke about earlier can only be selected once the bonus spinner is destroyed. The bonus spinner hangs around with the hard grey group and usually has twice the health. The red flame-like bonus provides a power increase of 25% to the surrounding weapons once placed. The green bonus provides a range increase of 25% when placed. The yellow dollar sign increases the interest gained by 3% for every turn. And the blue bonus provides 5 extra life points. It’s a tough choice to pick either of the last two when the first two bring immediate benefits, especially when you’re holding on by the slimmest of margins.

The strategy I used, which I gleaned from completed screenshots in a friend’s flickr account, is to place as many of the level 1 blue weapons on the board as possible. Then save up for the level 3 red weapons and increase their range either through monetary upgrades or the green bonus. Once everything is set up correctly, the blue weapons will keep the trail of spinners moving at a snails place, while the red weapons will pick off each spinner one by one. This strategy seems to work to perfection in the earlier Vector TD game but not so well in the TDX version.

The game is very addictive and time-consuming. I didn’t realize how long until I looked up from one session and noticed 45 minutes had gone by since I began. The repeat value of the game is much better in the TD version since there are multiple maps to choose from. The TDX version is just a morale downer, nightmares of the orange spinner can last for nights on end.