Day 38 - Bloons TD 6
Multiplayer, Tower Defense, Youtube Game ·
Sam’s Take:
This is the ULTIMATE Youtube game. Balloons try to make their way down the track, you build towers that pop them before they reach the end. If too many make it through, you lose, if you pop ‘em, you win. A simple concept made interesting with a plethora of different towers and upgrades. This game on one screen, a four hour video about the Disney Star Wars Hotel on the other, and you’ve got whole-ass evening on your hands. I could go through a whole laundry list of what each tower does, but the short version is, at first your map looks like this:
Then four hours, a billion upgrades and sixteen trips to the wiki to review Sun Monkey Sacrifice Tables later, you get this:
Recommend: Jesus Yes
Replay Percentage Chance: 98%
Time Played: 30 Minutes
Skeeter’s Take:
The Bloons series should need no introduction at this point, but if you need one, you can check out this short, nearly 3 hour Youtube video by orangE to catch yourself up to speed:
There are a million things that could be said about Bloons. The monkey variety, the upgrade paths, the balloon types - all this adds to the surprising depth of this monkey tower defense balloon popping game. Seeing as we are doing a review a day, I don’t feel like I have time to write a review that explains all these mechanics, so I’m going to boil this review down to what it is that makes me love Bloons. This is Skeeter’s 100% fool proof method to having a blast in Bloons TD6!By which I mean, I do this same build damn near every time because I have no creativity and I like what I like.
First off, you’re going to need some Prerequisites:
- Free Glue Monkey Unlock
- Ben Jammin’ Hero unlocked
- Full Bank upgrade unlocked
- Friends
- A good movie/youtube video
The beauty of Bloons is it’s easy to play. It falls under what I categorize as a “Youtube” game. Meaning the game is slow and simple enough that you can put a youtube video on the second monitor and split focus between the two very easily. So, that’s the first step to this guide: Put a video on!
You’re going to need a friend, or multiple friends for this to work, so grab a partner and hope they have hit lvl 20, otherwise they can’t play with you (I’m sorry, Julia). A friend is crucial because they will need to carry my shitty build through the early game.
Pick any map, on any difficulty (though I recommend Hard because it’s not that Hard). When you load in, immediately use your Free Glue Monkey and place it down near where the bloons enter the map. DO NOT place it at the end of the map like Sam did when we were playing because then the glue monkey will do nothing (LOL):
[SAM NOTE: I BOUGHT A HELICOPTER MONKEY AND MOVED HIM SO FUCK OFF SKEETER]
Now pay attention because this next step is really important - Immediately after placing your Glue Monkey, shout at your teammates “I AM SAVING FOR BEN JAMMIN” so they know they will need to spend all their stupid money to carry you as you are saving $1,165 for Ben. Once you have put your intentions out there, it is important to not spend ANY money. You want to get Ben Jammin’ out ASAP. That should be your sole goal at this point. Ignore any close calls with losing, or your teammates complaining about you doing nothing for several rounds, these don’t matter. You are saving for Ben Jammin’. You can cool the tempers of your teammates a bit after every close call, or every couple rounds by pretending you are thinking out loud and saying “Hmm, I’m pretty close to Ben Jammin’. I think I’m going to save and I’ll buy some towers that help after.
Once you have saved your money, place Ben Jammin’ as out of the way as possible as he doesn’t need to be within range of the track. Immediately after placing Ben, announce out loud to your teammates “I AM SAVING FOR A BANK”. And start saving up for the Monkey Bank Upgrade. This should take less time than saving for Ben as he will help you earn additional money. Again, it is impertinent to NOT spend any money during this section as you are saving for a bank. Once you’ve upgraded to the first tier, lowest level Bank, start saving for another. There’s no need to announce this one as by this point your teammates have normally given up on you making any impact on the game. After you have your second lowest tier Bank, save to upgrade them both to the level you can start taking out loans. Now you have a bustling economy to assist with upgrading your monkeys! From here, you can pretty much go hog wild. Start taking out loans off cooldown and make sure to invest in your Bank as Ben gives bonuses to investments! Once you’ve upgraded a few helpful monkeys (I recommend the Wizard Necro as he’s spooky and fun, or Monkey Ace because it’s funny cluttering the screen with flying planes), your teammates should be grateful you actually placed a tower. So, naturally it’s time to start saving for the full upgrade for one of the banks! Feel free to add more banks and upgrade those to help get to the 108k needed for the full bank upgrade. Hopefully, your loser teammates are strong enough to carry you through to Free Play, and you don’t randomly lose to those crazy black-steel MOAB bloons, because you know are Mr. Monopoly bags from that one McDonald’s game. From here, upgrade any monkeys you want. Start filling the board with dart monkeys until there is no space for your teammates to place good towers, upgrade your forgotten glue monkey, or if you are a real Mr. Beast Fan, start dealing money out to your teammates and watch the despise wash away as they can finally afford to buy their own banks or can finally afford those upgrades they were saving for. With any luck, you’ll make the screen so cluttered that anytime you need to use your mouse, you lose it in the chaos of towers and darts. From here, go forth as far as you can, rich as hell, giving out loans to anyone who needs them! Become the capitalist you were always meant to be!
Recommend:
Replay Percentage Chance: 100%
Time Played: 30 Minutes
Guest Writer Julia’s Take:
Before playing Bloon’s my only experience with it was hearing Sam say, “Bloon’s Tower Defense.” And I’d laugh for like 15 minutes straight every time he said bloooons because it’s just an inherently funny word. Blooooons. After playing for about an hour tonight and finally getting strong enough to play with friends (lvl 20 wtf), I can say that I’m most likely gonna be a BTD addict…I love all the options you have and how you can invest in your favorite monkey units and make them OP.
I’ve never really played a tower defense game. The closest I can think of is Plants vs. Zombies (which I’ve played A TON). The glue gun monkey in BTD immediately made me think of the corn plant that throws butter to slow down the zombies.
But yeah, what makes a tower defense game a tower defense game? According to Wikipedia (plz don’t tell other librarians I’m using this as my source): “In a tower defense, the player’s main character is often invincible, as their primary objective is the survival of the base rather than the player.” Under that vague definition, yes, Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game I guess?? But anyway, I like tactics games in general and so I guess it makes sense to like a game where you put monkeys down to kill balloons.
I will say the freedom to place your monkeys anywhere definitely makes this game much more chaotic than the ordered grid formation of Plants vs. Zombies (or my most beloved grid-based games, Fire Emblem Three Houses and Fire Emblem Awakening). As I move up in difficulty and my maps get crazier and it becomes even harder to find my cursor, I might start liking this game less, but we will see! I like order goddamnit–but I may be able to embrace the chaos of the bloons.
Recommend: Yes! Bring on the chaos!
Replay Percentage Chance: 100%
Time Played: 1.5 hours
Random Review