Review: Rainbow Wake: the Game

Download it Here!

Man, I find out about two top-down pony shooters in a week? I must be dreaming.
DeftFunk's relatively new game is based off of the thestoicmachine's unusual comic Rainbow's Wake. Rainbow Dash has stolen Twilight's horn, and the resulting insanity lends itself perfectly to bullets and explosions. 

Does the game live up to the oddball humor of the comic? Yadda yadda yadda and more, after the break.

While Rainbow Wake lacks the trademark flood of bullets emanating from it's bosses, it still has several elements similar to a bullet hell shooter, and it's tagged for being 'close enough'. It does contain a number of complex attack patterns that the player must exploit in order to beat each boss.

This is as cluttered as the screen gets, besides a couple of Celestia's more linear attacks.

Rainbow Wake: the Game consists of a series of escalating bosses, following the comic's storyline. After overcoming Pinkie Pie's killer robot and Fluttershy's army of wildlife, the player must defeat Rarity's fashionable, yet deadly airship and finally Princess Celestia herself. The game contains some excellent original voice acting, and, true to the comic, it's a little difficult to tell who's really the villain here. While Fluttershy pleads with you throughout your battle to just return the horn and apologize, Rarity seems to relish hurling mines at you and Celestia appears positively tyrannical, screaming "Die!" as she bombards you with high-powered princess lasers.

These two are just screaming because Ponyville's getting cratered. Nothing else is going on here.

Unlike some top-down shooter games, as you weave your way through enemy attacks, you can aim your own fire using the mouse. This gives you the option of moving to the top and sides of the screen to dodge as you attack, giving you an advantage if you move more vertically than you might otherwise be inclined to. From time to time, the errant Derpy Hooves will drop power-ups which allow you to improve your fire or unleash a powerful, stage-wiping sonic rainboom upon your enemy.

A lot of work clearly went into the development of this game. Besides the voice acting, the cutscenes (panels taken from the comic) are cleverly woven into the storyline and animated. Although the game is brief, bosses are detailed and have a wide variety of attacks. Kudos to those who manage to beat Celestia - she's pretty hard.

I could just post screenshots of this all day.

Occasionally, this game seemed rough around the edges. Depending on your personal sense of humor, you might not find the comic's screwball comedy, and therefore the game's cutscenes, very tasteful. The hit boxes of several enemy attacks were a little too large and bulky at times. Some obstacles knock you off course, sending you pinballing frustratingly between them and dealing a disproportionate amount of damage. In a couple of places, such as the pause menu, the graphics seemed neglected.

However, I have to applaud the amount of work put into this game and the way it made me laugh. It's engaging, difficult, and fun to play, which is what counts. Although tricky to quantify,  Rainbow Wake: the Game is a unique experience, and rates a nifty 7/10.

Review: Bullet Hell Ponies (My Little Pony vs. Starcraft II) v1.6

Download it Here!

I promised myself I'd beat this game on Pony Mode like a man before I reviewed it. Two days later, I've emerged bloody but victorious, and I'd call myself qualified. For over a year, huod umop apisdn (get it?) has been developing this classic Touhou-style game, which we posted way back in the day. The download link above goes to the games' development blog, which also contains download links for the XNA and Microsoft .NET frameworks required to play the game. If you want to see the game before committing to downloading all this stuff, the team released a trailer here.

Bullets! Ponies! Bullets! Starcraft! Friendship! Bullets! That stuff, as well as some (hopefully useful) advice, after the break!

Man, pony games this hard are unusual. Bullet Hell Ponies has four modes: Derpy, Filly, Pony, and Trollestia. If you're new to the Bullet Hell genre, get ready for a finger workout. Dodging waves of bullets may seem a little overwhelming at first, but you'll get better quickly after a little practice on Derpy Mode.

All of the mane 6 are playable characters, each with their own abilities and styles of play. You're allowed to choose which pony you start the game with, and you can switch between them in-game by grabbing power-ups that bounce about at the top of the screen. Said power-ups take the form of balls with cutie mark icons indicating which pony they will transform you into, and give you a health boost. Small packets dropped from defeated monsters refill your magic bar.

Getting screenshots of this game was a trying experience.

Of the mane six, I found Twilight to be the most useful. Her twin magic bolts are powerful, especially when focused into a single pulse of energy, and they fire rapidly. Her special launches a magic bomb that explodes into smaller bolts. Pinkie Pie was also useful - as her magic increases, the amount of cherries that she fires increases from two to four. Rainbow Dash fires a rainbow-colored beam that penetrates all enemies, and is therefore useful for clearing the back of the screen. Applejack's giant apples (what?) are also powerful stage-clearers, but their firing rate is slow. Her special attack (the only one besides Twilight's to focus on offense) launches even larger apples. Fluttershy's cloud of butterflies lacks the density of the other ponies' fire and is tricky to aim but effective if your aim is lacking. Rarity's gem shower is very hard-hitting but it's short range made it the least effective in most situations.

Each pony has a standard shooting attack, as well as a focused version used by holding the shift key. For some reason, when focusing your attacks, your pony can move only to the right. However, if you can spare an unmoving second, the focused attacks are more efficient at dispatching bosses. Additionally, each pony has a third most powerful attack that consumes your magic. You'll want to hold these attacks back for emergencies, as most of the ponies' standard attacks are more powerful when their magic bars are full. 

I took this AND THEN survived to beat the game. Stick that in your juice box.

The game takes you from Equestria into space and back again before the ominous "To be Continued" flashes on the screen. After beating down Terran, Zerg, and Protoss alike, you face down corrupted Derpy, Zecora, and Trixie bosses. The controls are snappy and responsive, and the size, music, and number of attack styles are all laudable. 

Bullet Hell Ponies is an impressive member of it's genre, with engaging patterns and too many bullets to count. It's difficulty (and the ability to change it) was just the icing on the cake, and thus it receives an impressive 9/10.

Shattered Limits

Play Shattered Limits

Just now, I'll bet you were sitting there, all blue, waiting for some high-speed, log-jumping, boulder-evading, Temple-Run-style 3D pony action. If you weren't, you should have been. Regardless, that's what you get.

Shattered Limits is a simple, addictive dodge-the-obstacle type game set in an endless world of boulders, thorns, and other obstacles. Run your customizable pony avatar until he or she drops, and then do it again, and again, and again...

The download's a little slow, but the game's worth your while! Have at it.