TJ Okeeffe
TESLAPUNK
During my youth, classic hell bullet utter chaos shooters like this were my favourite. While my dad and his mates used to watch the football on the big screen in the pub i’d pester people for a few quid to play crisis force (another popular and similar game) and try beat the best score which was held by one of the older kids. It would fill my afternoon with joy destroying countless waves of whatever was put in front of me!
Teslapunk offers up a completely random warped experience only comparably to something that is hallucinogenic chaos, i must say i’m enjoying the game immensely. Vertical shooters have since fizzled out as they they haven’t really evolved with the times and don’t really offer up much else apart from killing countless waves of minions and oversized egotistical bosses with a billion guns, which is a shame as they used to be a great time filler.The artwork for this game is the most unusual i have seen ranging from a green Einstein who looks like he has just seen a local pub team spank real madrid 10-0 to Adolf Hitler sporting a red mohawk! Your screen is filled with transformers, tesla coils, circuit boards and many other electronics. Visually everything is kept simple but thoroughly effective.
There is a simple story to go with this arcade shooter which as you would expect is not a serious campaign, but a more tongue in cheek cheesy let’s destroy the world. Nikola Tesla played by you is on a mission to defend earth from a martian attack from Emperor Zangorax. I love how every alien enemy baddie begins with the letter Z!
“I love how every alien enemy baddie begins with the
letter Z!”
What i was most surprised with is the lack of power ups for your guns as it only limits you to three variable firm modes, firstly rapid rife which you hit the fire button continuously which is good for minion clearance, holding down the fire button which emits a strong single green beam which is seen in the above picture which is utilised more from mid to end bosses as it focusses the laser beam more slowly, another advantage to doing this is it helps you weave in and out of enemy fire more accurately. And finally a megaflow beam which destroys everything. When you kill the minions you receive energy which fills up your power bars to unleash the mega beam which is extremely handy when you’re in a tight spot and bullets coming from all directions, it wipes the bullets and enemies from your screen.
All of this is done in the arcade mode which is enjoyable but it’s the survival mode that grabs my attention. This puts you up against a barrage of enemies that scroll down the screen towards you, while killing them they drop coins and temporary upgrades such as magnets for coin collecting etc. Once you have collected enough coins you can then upgrade your ships and its weapons to go and battle again and again! Now for me this is where i will get lost into my childhood again losing countless hours destroying multiple enemies over and over again. It’s what these types of games are all about, having a purpose to what you’re doing, upgrading everything for the ultimate ship and destroying whatever crosses your reticles and reducing them to dust!
The soundtrack consists of a weird techno feel to it but actually works really well. At first visually it doesn’t look anything to write home about but on closer inspection you will find some incredible details that look as though this game has had a bit of time and effort to it.
