The Last Friend

The Last Friend (2021) is a strategy fighting game where you defend your team of dogs from the waves of baddies and bosses on a mission to save all the doggos. Play is a combination of managing your turret defences and running around beating up the onslaught of attackers with your character. It's a game that balances two well-known genres to create a fun battle that's approachable for youngsters.

---

It's not a story-driven game, but the set-up is a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is distracted by chaos, destruction, rampant mutants and all the dogs are disappearing. You travel the wastelands to find and rescue the lost dogs. In each location you have two ways to defend yourself: you place defences on each of the lanes of attack and you use your character's brawling powers.

What emerges is a tower-defence challenge like Plants vs Zombies combined with the fighting fun of games like Castle Crashers. You need to carefully pick and place your turrets to match which enemies are coming next. As you earn stars you can upgrade specific turret technology as well as the abilities of your dogs that control them. Then, as the enemies advance you aid the defence by running around and attacking them.

The result is a tactical challenge that's eased with the ability to correct strategic errors by focusing your brawling powers to paper over the cracks. The brawling benefits from the lanes of attack to simplify the movement and ease lining up attacks for youngsters. It's fun on your own but really comes to life when you play with someone else.

---

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked The Last Friend 15 months ago.