Antbuster
is a tower defense
web game by rstein in 2007. In it, you deploy cannons to exterminate ants before they run off with all eight pieces of your picnic cake. Rather than following a set path, like in many tower defense games, the ants use artificial intelligence to route towards the cake while trying to minimizing damage from your cannons. These cannons range from the "normal" bullet-shooting variety to laser guns, ice cannons, boomerang launchers, and more. The game is endless, only finishing when the increasingly powerful ants return all eight pieces of cake to the nest.
Antbuster contains examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: You can upgrade the Double Cannon II into the Boomerang I, which launches boomerangs. They have good range and damage ants throughout their arcing path, but only one can be fired at a time.
- Always Accurate Attack: The Laser I and II instantly hit an ant after firing, giving them no time to dodge.
- Ant Assault: An endless swarm of ants tries to steal cake at a picnic.
- Artificial Stupidity: The ants' pathfinding will occasionally leave them circling near the nest, failing to get the cake.
- Boring, but Practical: The Long Range Cannon may not shoot missiles or lasers, but its range lets it pick off ants close to reaching the nest with cake, especially if the player locks onto that ant. Also, hitting so much of the field means it's often in effect.
- Chain Lightning: Strikes from the Electric Cannon II can extend to other ants.
- Critical Existence Failure: Ants with one HP can carry an enormous piece of cake unlimited distance, instantly collapsing and falling apart when they hit zero HP.
- Crosshair Aware: A variation: the player applies crosshairs onto on ant when locking onto it, which orders all cannons to fire at it. The crosshairs let the player visually focus on one ant in chaotic environments.
- Damage Over Time: The Flamethrower I and II can burn ants, damaging them and increasing their speed, while poison from the Poison Spray I and II only does the damage.
- Energy Weapon: The Laser I and II, which lock onto a given ant with a tracking laser.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Flamethrower I and II.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The Flamethrower can light ants on fire, the Ice Cannon can slow them down, and the Electric Cannon II can create Chain Lightning.
- Gatling Good: The Machine Gun and Machine Gun II have the highest Frequency in the game, tied only with the Flamethrower I and Flamethrower II, resulting in this trope.
- Hit Points: Ants have hit points depending on their level; the farther into the game you get, the more levels and hit points they will have.
- Homing Projectile: The Missile Launcher I and II fire homing missiles.
- More Dakka: The Double Cannon branch of towers specializes in this. The Triple Cannon sends three bullets per shot, while the Machine Gun just sends an immensely quick stream of bullets. The Boomerang I, part of this same branch, averts the trope, only sending out one boomerang at a time.
- Strong Ants: They can carry pieces of cake many times their size.
- Technicolor Toxin: The Poison Spray I and II spray green gas clouds of poison.
