Last Stand

Gaming Genres: FPS, RTS
Story Genres: Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Exodus Games
Publisher(s): DigiPen
Initial Release Date: 2005-2006
Website(s): Homepage
Description:
Last Stand is a hybrid first person shooter and real time strategy game. In the game, you play the part of a lone space marine who must build and defend a base from swarms of oncoming aliens. (more)

The player finds his base under a massive siege by hundreds of aliens. On the surface of barren enemy planets, the player must defend the hatch leading down to the civilian colony at all costs. His quick reaction time and clever base building are the only things that stand between the aliens and the helpless civilians!

The emphasis of the gameplay is on the defensive strategy the player employs against the ruthless, evolving AI. There are four different types of enemy AI units. The Triblits exhibit ant colony behavior to swarm over the player's base. Orbiters do melee damage and Cyclones do ranged damage. Alien Queens lead the Orbiters and Cyclones to the weak points of the player's base to do maximum damage.

The player has a range of methods to fight back against the oncoming aliens. The player must collect resources by killing enemies, which he can use to buy weapons, upgrades, and structures for his base. He can build walls and four different types of turrets. The player must spend his time going back and forth between launching a personal assault on the incoming enemies and strategically building up and maintaining his base to anticipate the enemy's attack.

The environment of Last Stand consists of five alien planets. The terrain is fully deformable. Explosions cause clumps of earth to fly into the air and re-deposit elsewhere. As the battle rages on, the terrain changes. A spectacular, sci-fi graphical style is implemented in shaders using an original specular mapping technique. The sun and moon circle overhead, providing unique lighting situations throughout the game.

Last Stand is a fresh spin on traditional real time strategy and first person shooter games. It is inspired by Warcraft III's tower defense maps, and takes imagery from Starcraft and Natural Selection. Last Stand places the player directly in the action, which is a departure from traditional RTS games. The unique and frantically paced gameplay make Last Stand an exciting experience!

Opinion:
A moderately fun predecessor to Sanctum.

Images (+):

Hints/Tips/Walkthrough (+):

• Official Manual

Indieness: Indie
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