Written by Alexander O. Cuaycong and Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title:
Tesla ForceDeveloper: 10tons Ltd.
Publisher: 10tons Ltd.
Genre: Action, Arcade, RPG
Price: $16.99
Developer 10tons’ Tesla Force can best be described as an eccentric little distraction. It pulls from history the four genius minds of Nikola Tesla, HP Lovecraft, Marie Curie and Mary Shelley, and tosses them into a twin-stick rogue-like shoot-’em-up arena of blood, bullets and robots. With procedurally generated levels, a plethora of weapons to pick up, and tons of enemies to mow down, Tesla Force is all but ready to provide bite-sized levels of entertainment.
Tesla Force doesn't really know when to hold back. After a brief tutorial level, the rest of the game is really up to gamers to explore. They can choose what stages to play through, navigate its maps, accomplish a variety of small objectives, and mow down waves of undead in the process. And, truth be told, despite its seeming simplicity, it holds interest. Its art style is flashy but not garish, with its eye-catching particle effects shooting across the screen while not being overly flashy or silly. Combat feels punchy and impactful, especially with weapons that can be acquired deeper into the game, and enemy density is balanced well enough that pressure is felt from all sides, but not to the point where close-to-impossible effort is required. Movement is fluid, and the presence of upgradable abilities, from simple damage passives to more entertaining active abilities like teleportation, gives it some much needed depth as it chugs along.
If there’s any problem with Tesla Force, it's in what is continually offered. As it’s essentially a rogue-like, keep-going-to-the-end offering that restarts gamers’ progress each time death occurs, there isn't much progression to be had other than seeing how far patience and resolve will go. Levels are randomly generated, but the designs tend to have a been there, done that feel. Coupled with the lack of variety in the objectives, the slog becomes evident a few hours in.
It’s Tesla Force in a nutshell. It’s an interesting game with a ton of variety in the first few hours, but it gets let down by its repetitive nature. Its true lack of variety to spice things up becomes a hurdle as time goes on. And while it’s an entertaining experience overall, it’s one that does better with repeated respites in gameplay. Those looking for an hour or two of diversion at random intervals will find some pretty good twin-stick action in Tesla Force. It’s not deep, but it doesn’t pretend to be, and what gameplay there is will certainly tide gamers over until the boredom’s gone and frustration takes over. It begs to be played with, and then left alone, time and time again.
THE GOOD- Charming art style with a decent amount of flair and personality in its designs
- Smooth gameplay and framerates, especially on the PS5
- Fast-paced action that’s simple to pick up and pretty easy to get the hang of
THE BAD- Rather simplistic and straightforward, leaving not much room for experimentation
- Repetitive gameplay loop, even with randomly generated level variations and a variety of power-ups
- Plays a bit too safe with its silliness instead of going all out
RATING: 7.5/10
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