Grid Defender

Here's another game that nabbed a staff pick faster than you can say "Hey look, a good game was just released!" But it's no surprise, really. As everyone else says, it sports excellent graphics. Bravo on those, really. The sound, similiarly, was generally flawless; all sond effects worked and everything meshed well. No complaints there.

There was no story or plot. That's a good thing. I'm not sure if anybody is telling you to include one, but if they, ignore them. Some games are better off without one.

As for the actual meat- the game- it was good, but could still be better. There isn't much to it other than moving and firing. I think you could do something to spice it up- add powerups with various effects, maybe deepen the controls by adding some kind of brief but fast boost for tight situations... stuff to mix it up.

I think adding more unlockables is key, as well. Have a ton of small unlockables (maybe allow a new type of powerup to appear, or some such thing) so that the player has a reason to keep playing from his very first game. Right now your unlockables are all very distant achievements- give us some smaller goals to get us there.

One last thing- difficulty. I'm generally okay with it, but when a huge ring of enemies surround you I don' think there's any option but to use one of your right-click bombs. Eventually I run out, though, long before I reach the lofty goal of 70,000 points. This is another reason why I suggest a quick boost or something.

Overall, this is still a game that does what it came to do very well. Please consider some of the things I mentioned, though, to make it even better.