After a strong start, Nodebuster overstays its welcome by forcing you to purchase a long series of skill nodes which do nothing.

The first half of the game has you uncovering a fairly large tree, and there always seems to be something to buy after coming back from a run of massacring floating shapes, with new levels introducing new enemy types. Bosses drop a special currency which at first is spent on chunky upgrades, but is soon only spent to increment across an empty area of the tree to a final node you pour your main currency in to for the credit roll. By this time you will have such a glut of money that the tree is completely purchased, long after new enemies have stopped showing up. I no longer had to move the cursor to annihilate everything on screen, and there were no more skillful decisions to make or new systems to explore.

I had beaten the game, but the designer felt the need to extend its playtime arbitrarily, which is a real shame because the several bucks you'll spend is well worth the first couple of hours.

I wish Steam had a more nuanced score system than GOOD or BAD; the game is neat but deeply flawed in a way that spoils the overall experience.

After a strong start, Nodebuster overstays its welcome by forcing you to purchase a long series of skill nodes which do nothing. The first half of the game has you uncovering a fairly large tree, and there always seems to be something to buy after coming back from a run of massacring floating shapes, with new levels introducing new enemy types. Bosses drop a special currency which at first is spent on chunky upgrades, but is soon only spent to increment across an empty area of the tree to a final node you pour your main currency in to for the credit roll. By this time you will have such a glut of money that the tree is completely purchased, long after new enemies have stopped showing up. I no longer had to move the cursor to annihilate everything on screen, and there were no more skillful decisions to make or new systems to explore. I had beaten the game, but the designer felt the need to extend its playtime arbitrarily, which is a real shame because the several bucks you'll spend is well worth the first couple of hours. I wish Steam had a more nuanced score system than GOOD or BAD; the game is neat but deeply flawed in a way that spoils the overall experience.