I love 2D Shoot em Ups, especially those in the classic arcade style. So when one comes along that is trying something new, that will get my interest. But will the end result be any good?
Teslapunk is a shoot em up full of ideas. It wants to have a narrative like some others as well as be a fun and intense shooter. The problem is that the way it goes about this doesn’t mix well. The shooter aspects are well explained and straightforward. It is a bit repetitive at times, but is still fun in its own way and can definitely be challenging.
The issue is where the game puts messages and stuff like that, at the side of the screen. This immediately draws your attention away from the action and can lead to you dying repeatedly. It is the developers attempt to tell a story and have an engaging villain but it just distract you most of the time, and ends up detracting from the experience. That is a shame, because as mentioned above, the shoot em up elements are actually kind of fun. The game has amazing visuals, and the soundtrack is amazing. The soundtrack is the one part of the narrative focus of the game that does not detract from the gameplay and works to enhance it, but it does not make up for the game’s faults.
Teslapunk can be commended for trying to innovate in a genre where doing so is incredibly difficult. But the way they did so just made things worse. I cannot recommend this at the current time.
Disclaimer : A review code was provided for this game.