The Brony fandom has a decent amount of shooters, but none of them are quite as absurd as TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVENGSHE (as the title makes clear). It was originally released back in August 2012 as a concept whipped up in 10 days but lacked a soundtrack and was rather unbalanced. This new update patches in everything that was missing in the original release along with several completely new features, such as the rage mode and bosses, and as a result of the new additions we've finally decided to give this game a review.
In a similar manner as to how Rainbow Dash's Cloud Dodging Fun was supposed to be the ultimate cloud dodger, TSR is intended to be the best shooter that one could dream for, but does it qualify? Find out in our review after the break.
Remember Canterlot Defender? One could say that TSR is essentially a far more advanced version of that game with extra weapons, upgrades, and no magic bar to prevent the player from firing too rapidly. The player controls Twilight Sparkle, who is apparently tasked with protecting Ponyville with a swarm of parasprites hailing from the Everfree Forest. The first few waves are rather dull, but as she defeats wave after wave of parasprites they become angrier and bigger. Thankfully these ugly insects drop cash after you blow them up, and you can buy bigger and better magic weaponry with your money. Now this game would be fairly simple if there wasn't more to it, but gradually the player is introduced to new varieties of parasprites that are either weak to certain projectiles, indifferent to them or completely immune to your fancy fire orbs and whatnot.
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| Earlier levels are quite dull, but thankfully the game doesn't stay this way for long. |
What really makes TSR stand out from the crowd is not the different weapons nor the weird enemies, but the fact that the player can equip up to three weapons at the same time; creating endless possibilities for mayhem and extra explosions. This ability is very handy and lightens some of the player's load, who must constantly switch between weapons in order to stay alive in the face of the parasprite invasion. Later on a "rage" mode is unlocked, that when activated transforms Twilight into her flaming alternate persona and spams ultra-powerful magic missiles that should make quick work of any overly threatening swarm. The game also features a global scoreboard, which adds quite a bit of replay value and reminds you that you probably won't ever live up to Stormcrow's incredible 14,122,102 points reached at wave #103.
Of course, a game may have lots of unique features and gimmicks, but the most important thing a developer must consider is that their game is actually fun. Is TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNGSHE fun? It depends on whether the player turns on autofire by holding down the mouse button. Without it the game is frustrating and nigh-impossible, but with it activated the game is an absolute blast once you get past stage ten or so. Unfortunately Penta Studios did not bother to mention the existance of autofire anywhere in the game, which forced me to waste a couple hours on the first few stages until I accidentally discovered it. This is a huge flaw that prevented many people from enjoying the game to its fullest, and which I hope will be corrected soon after the publication of this review.
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| It is really quite hard to portray this game in a screenshot due to its fast-paced nature. |
Strangely enough upon reaching the twentieth wave or so it is entirely possible for the game to be played without looking at the screen for periods of time, as one simply has to juggle weapons that the current wave is weak to while at the same time waving the cursor about wildly. It worked up until the 25th "wave", which was actually a single boss who was quite easy to defeat with the proper weapon combination, and for a couple regular waves after him. The jury's still out on whether or not this is a weakness or not, but I still thought that it was worth a mention.
What did I think of the revised TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNGSHE? It was definitely an enjoyable experience with great replayability, but poor documentation took quite a bit away from the game at first; so much, in fact, that before discovering autofire by myself I was initially going to write a vastly different review and give it an underwhelming 3/10! Thankfully this was not the case, and I'm quite happy to give TSR the following score:
Sorry I couldn't give it an 8, but the lack of documentation on the autofire was a rather serious defect in the game. Hope you enjoyed the review!
