Teslapunk

Release Date: July 26, 2013

Arcade, science fiction, 2D, indie games, shoot 'em up, shooters, singleplayer

5.8

OpenCritic

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Classic two-dimensional shooter with vertical scrolling. Sitting at the helm of a retrofuturistic ship equipped with modern weapons, we face the Martian invasion of Emperor Zangorax, who at night is one of the most popular DJs on his planet, and during the day turns into a possessed madman in power.

Plot
Mechanics
Game modes
Technical aspects

Teslapunk is a classic 2D vertically scrolling shooter reminiscent of arcade hits from the 80s and 90s of the last century. German studio klutzGames, specializing in simple mobile productions, is responsible for the creation of the game. The title was originally released in 2013 on mobile platforms, but its improved version was also released on XONE. The title is now available on the Internet. Unlike the mobile version distributed in the free-to-play model, the console version is a fully paid product.

Plot

The story of Teslapunk of the XONE version differs from the mobile version. However, the plot isn't the main focus of the game. The main antagonist is the Martian emperor Zangorax, who at night is one of the most popular DJs on his planet, but during the day he turns into a demon-possessed invader. We play the role of a pilot of a retrofuturistic ship, equipped with modern weapons, and our task is to defend the Earth from the invasion.

Mechanics

Despite the differences in the storyline, the mechanics of the mobile version and the console version are identical. While playing, we control the ship constantly moving up the screen, and our task is to eliminate subsequent waves of enemies and avoid enemy fire. As befits a worthy representative of the genre, Teslapunk features challenging bosses and a lot of upgrades and power-ups, which are installed in our ship to make gameplay much easier.

Game modes

Teslapunk on the XONE, AND, etc. was created exclusively for single-player gameplay. The creators, however, put at the disposal of the players two slightly different game modes. In the classic Arcade, we go through the next stages (3 in the mobile version - 6 in the console version), fighting against hordes of enemies and bosses with dynamically changing difficulty level. In the Survival, we have only one life and the goal of the game is to survive as long as possible. Both modes online player rankings and the option to invite friends from a social networking site.

Technical aspects

The graphics in Teslapunk doesn't differ significantly from most modern retro-style shooters. The game retains its classic atmosphere, although it is enriched with high-resolution graphics and spectacular special effects.

Last updated on December 3, 2019

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5.8

OpenCritic Rating

Game is Recomended by 14% of Critics. There are 7 Critic Reviews.

OpenCritic

Nintendo Life: 5 / 10 by Mitch Vogel

All told, Teslapunk is a very middling game. It has tight enough controls and fun shmup gameplay that has the potential to entertain for hours, but there's a lingering sense that this is a game too content to ride on the coattails of its superior predecessors, and it does so at the cost of forging its own identity. What we're left with is a game that's perfectly functional, but forgettable in nearly every way. If you really like shmup games and want to own a new one for the Wii U in particular, this may be worth a punt, but we'd otherwise recommend you take a pass.

Full Review

Pure Xbox: 6 / 10 by Justin Tomann

Teslapunk is definitely up there for being one of the stranger ID@Xbox games. It may not be all that visually impressive but its outright peculiarity and addictive gameplay makes up for that shortcoming. While it may not be that long of a game, high score addicts can sink a lot of time trying to be the best among their friends (or the world) via the leaderboards.

Full Review

ZTGD: 6.5 / 10 by Drew Leachman

While it's not going to blow any socks off, TeslaPunk still has a few decent tricks up its sleeve that make it a fun, but short shoot 'em up that fans of the genre will enjoy for a time.

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