Scoregasm

Developer:  RC Knight
Steam Release: February 2012
Hours Played: 5.2
Similar To: Bullet Candy / Mutant Storm Reloaded / Son of Scoregasm
Rating: 2/5 Parsnips

GAMEPLAY
Thanks to seminal 1980s classics like Robotron and Asteroids, we now have more twin-stick shooters than we can swing a twin-stick at. The principle is simple: left hand controls movement while your right hand takes care of the firing. All the while, of course, you kill tons of enemies and avoid bazillions of missiles. It's all fast and furious fun. With Scoregasm, screens are confined by boundaries so the action is tight and restricted and incredibly intense. You have a slightly different gameplay mechanic for all 47 levels and a good variety of quick and zippy enemies. Its main gimmick is a slightly overpowered special attack which kills anything within a few inches around your ship’s radius. Explosions and colour fill the screen as you constantly blast away and pick up power-ups that float about the screen. Each level lasts about 40-60 seconds.

BALANCE & PACE
You get 3 ships and it's game over when all lives are lost. You can start a game from any unlocked level but if you’re after your best score it’ll make sense to start from the first one entitled Easy Peasy. Most enemies have one hit-point but with power-ups aplenty the usual sight is to see a monumental stream of bullets issuing forth from your ship and swarms of enemies exploding into smithereens in their path. At the completion of each wave, you choose up to three levels to continue with and the eagerness to dive back in is strong. The amount of levels to choose from, which the game calls “exits”, depends on your final combo-count on the previous round. The choice will be a normal, hard or insane level but there really isn’t that much difference between their standards of difficulty. The Challenge mode for each level is truly insanely difficult.

PRESENTATION & DESIGN
On starting, your ship is in outer space and forms the cursor that can be moved to select ten different options. The title screen also doubles as the level-select screen so moving your ship to the right scrolls through and uncovers the map of levels. Be warned though, it is a badly designed mess that will have you confused. No explanation or description is given as to how navigating through the game works and the overall aesthetic looks quite cheap. You are also greeted by a whirly mess of a screen between waves. Sound is a mixed bag. Pumping, trance-like tunes get you into the zone and work effectively while playing but while in the menus the peculiar soundtrack coughs and splutters, resembling a badly distorted electronic fart. Graphics are fine, comparing similarly to the game's closest competitor, Mutant Storm Reloaded. 


PROGRESS SYSTEM
The progression system in Scoregasm is disorientating to say the least. Each of the 47 levels brings up its own stats but they're initially hard to interpret. In a nutshell, apart from Level 1, levels are numbered 2a, 2b, 2c...3a, 3b, 3c...4a, 4b and 4c etc up to Level 15a, 15b and 15c. The choice at the end of each level is to either do the a (normal), b (hard) or c (insane) for that number. You continue like this until you lose all your lives. You get a full score at the end but this isn’t stored as it’s done through a broken online connection. However the high-score, best combo score and rank (S, A, B, C, D, E and F) for each individual level, if beaten, are stored and can be viewed on the stats page afterwards. Unfortunately unless you’ve written these stats down you don’t know if you’ve actually beaten that score during the session or not.
 

CONCLUSION
Scoregasm remains one of the most intense Asteroids-inspired / twin-stick shoot ‘em ups of all time. Clearing tricky levels by a split second through skill and dexterity is always greeted with satisfying relief. Although it may not have the polish and class of a Geometry Wars it gets a lot more things right than other games of this ilk such as Bullet Candy, Gran Vitreous and Death Ray Manta. On the other hand (like in Mutant Storm Reloaded) it would definitely benefit from giving the player the option to play individual levels in isolation. The alternative Challenge levels are also too ridiculously tough for casual players. Still, the sheer enjoyment gained from the main part of the game is immense and largely makes up for these minor quibbles.