I like the game. The presentation is good, the UI is functional, and the graphics are coherent,it looks good, even the cover does. In terms of gameplay, everything works as intended, but I think you could add some more juice. For example, when picking up money, there’s no sound effect, and that should be the most rewarding and satisfying sound in your game. Also, when building, there should be a sound. There’s a lot of room for improvement in that aspect. That said, you did a great job with the dynamic music,that’s awesome.
Now, about the difficulty. The first level felt really hard for me. It took me a while because all the enemies were coming through turtle beach, while the other side of the island just needed a few cannons, but on turtle beach? Oh boy, I needed all the cannons with several upgrades just to sink that giant ship that comes out of nowhere at the end. Maybe I’m just bad, but you might want to check the balance on that one. Usually, in these types of games, the first levels are like a walk in the park. On the other hand, the second level was really easy in comparison, I beat it on my first try.
The UI works, but I have some nitpicks. When placing a cannon, the UI showing the different types of cannons and structures covers almost half the screen, making it hard to see the range of a cannon and decide which one is the best option. Maybe making it smaller or transparent could help with that.
Also, when switching to the other side of the island, the zoom resets to a fixed value, so I constantly have to zoom out again and again. It should keep the same zoom level from the other side because, in this type of game, I always want the maximum amount of information available by having the camera zoomed out.
Those were my issues with the UI, but overall, it works well, and I know you can refine it further.
Lastly, the game felt a bit too vanilla to me. Of course, I only played the first three levels, so I don’t know if there are mechanics later on that shake things up. But from my first impression, the only unique mechanics that stand out are manually picking up money after defeating enemies and moving between different points on the island. These two mechanics together can actually feel a bit overwhelming because you can’t pick up money from areas you’re not focusing. I don’t know if that was intentional to make the game harder, but it definitely does.
Overall, it’s a very good game, it looks good, it’s functional, has variety, I'm sure you can refine it an build so much over it. But for now it’s missing something to hook me. Or maybe it’s just me for getting stuck on the first level for too long, who knows.