Crypto Against All Odds (PC) Review

Seeing a game made about cryptocurrency is a pretty interesting idea, merging tower defence with a small tale of trying to fight off hackers. Although crypto has not been a stranger to games (including some of the more infamous scams such as crypto kitties), approaching a more mainstream audience with its wave-focused gameplay makes it easier for less technically inclined people to get a small taste.

Crypto Beyond All Odds is very simplistic. It starts with a small chunk of story, then heads off to battle, which is a screen of squares (6x10) that towers are placed on to battle against invaders. Players start with some money that they put mining rigs on. These generate bubbles that must be clicked on to get 'hash power' which can then be used to buy various cryptos which act as towers. Along the way it is also necessary to 'mine' the grid to unlock new squares to place the cryptos on, essentially expanding their territory each level. The level and screen are always the same, but there might be some differences, such as starting locations, though they largely are going to play the same.

Tower-wise it's the typical mix here; Bitcoin is the slow, standard tower that fires forward. There are others like Ethereum which acts like a freeze, Ripple which is a rapid fire, Monero which is a slow AoE move and so on. At this stage some of the towers seem woefully underpowered, and spamming Bitcoin was largely the most effective strategy in some cases. Some of the towers are simply undeniably worse, though it was funny seeing how some of the cryptos play out, such as 'Turtle Coin' which just acts as a shield.

The pacing of the game turns very fast, very quickly. There is so much flashing of shots, explosions, lights and so on. Furthermore, it is necessary to be clicking on blocks to 'mine' them, clicking on the 'hash power' bubbles, putting more towers down, using powers, and so it becomes very frantic. However, the speed goes a little too far, and loses a lot of its fun and strategy. As stated above, most of the towers just aren't good. Furthermore, there is too much happening to give it the strategic thought that some of the towers require. A slow mode or pause would be very much needed. For most of the level so much is happening that there isn't anything to think about but to keep clicking and putting Bitcoin towers down.

Overall it is a fun, short romp that starts to get repetitive despite the new unlocks. Knowledge of crypto in general would likely improve the experience as many of the jokes, history or memes get lost otherwise. It hits the notes it was going for, but never rises to anything crazy. For someone looking for a tower defence and has an interest in crypto, this will work well.