Rating: 8 out of 10ĭisclosures: This game is developed and published by 10tons Ltd. As far as twin-stick shooters go, they don’t get much better than this. For a title that gets so much right, that’s a weird thing to ask of players.ĭespite that bit of questionable design, Tesla vs Lovecraft is a delight thanks to its fast, tight action and its smart use of setting to push it over the top. I made it through the entire game on all three difficulty levels and I never managed to unlock more than a quarter of the possible upgrades, suggesting that someone would need to spend dozens of hours to unlock everything by grinding the same levels over and over again. The problem is either that the upgrades are too expensive or the crystals are too rare. In addition to the basic leveling-up that happens during each level, the player can collect crystals which unlock improvements - things like more teleport charges, a longer mech lifespan, a better chance at epic random perks, and so on.
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However, the one thing TvL botches is its upgrade system. Fortunately, the maps are only 1-2 minutes long, so a bad draw won’t annoy players for long before they get a chance to start again from scratch. Success in any run is dependent to on the way players level up, and that’s as much down to luck as it is skill.
With each new level the player gets to choose between two random perks - everything from bonus damage, piercing ammo, and multiple barrels, as well as a host of ways to speed up Tesla’s movement. TvL uses a Crimsonland-style upgrade system, meaning that Tesla starts each map at level 1, and quickly levels up by killing enemies.
If the player collects all six pieces, they can unleash the mech again, giving them the chance to turn the tables on huge gluts of enemies. The Pigeon falls apart after a set amount of time or damage has be reached, and its parts scatter around the map. The player also has a ‘War Pigeon’ mech that they begin each level using. Impressively, they’re balanced enough that none of them seem particularly overpowered, and with the right perks everything but the starting pistol can be transformed into a formidable weapon. There’s a strong range of guns between wide-shooting and fast-firing, perfect for any playstyle. Notably, the camera is agile enough to make sure that movement never becomes confusing, even when multiple players co-op on the same screen. This frees the player up to take the fight directly to the enemy, knowing that there’s little chance of winding up cornered. This keeps the game from becoming a slog built around surviving battles of attrition, as Tesla can warp right through hordes of enemies or across small gaps - even through walls. Tesla is equipped with a teleportation backpack which allows the player to jump a set distance in their direction of movement with the press of a button, picking up any items that lay in their path. At the same time, they’ve built levels perfectly designed to utilize the mechanic. Smooth movement is vitally important for a great twin-stick shooter, and 10tons have done a brilliant job of developing one of the most agile systems for moving characters in top-down games. This leads to thirty levels of hectic action as fishmen, shoggoths, and a few other Mythos-inspired enemies attack in ceaseless hordes, forcing the player to test their reflexes to the point of exhaustion. Lovecraft has one of those fantastic settings, pitting the famous inventor and his arsenal of electrical weaponry against the abhorrent hordes that Lovecraft summons using his trusty Necronomicon. The why isn’t as important as the how, but a great setting can elevate a solid shooter to unexpected heights. Players want swarms of enemies, monstrous powerups, and (depending on their preference of foe) fountains of blood or showers of sparks. Settings don’t matter much in twin-stick shooters. LOW Getting trapped by the Elder Polyp’s energy vortex again and again. HIGH Using a fully-upgraded War Pigeon to wipe out two hundred monsters in a matter of seconds.
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