Scoregasm is a top down space twin stick shooter, similar in design to Geometry Wars and Beat Hazard for the PC and Mac. While Scoregasm has good basic mechanics and game design, the game is very basic and predictable. Scoregasm has some interesting levels, but everything in it feels like it’s been done better elsewhere.
One interesting feature of Scoregasm is the branching paths. It works as a way to travel to various stages through the game, and allows the player to choose the difficulty of the next stage. I really appreciated this design choice, and it was nice because it allowed breaks between crazy stages.
The graphics in Scoregasm are not all that impressive. They are by no means terrible, but they seem typical of what has already been done several times over. There are flashing lights everywhere and uninteresting backgrounds, but players should not be paying too much attention to graphics or they’ll die fast.
The sound design is has its positives and its negatives. The soundtrack has some hits and misses, but overall the soundtrack is generic electronic music that is easily forgotten. The sound of enemy ships exploding is good and the robotic announcer sounds cool. Overall the sound is pretty well done but I did find another annoying issue other than the generic techno music.
The other gripe I have is with the robotic sexual sounds. At first it was funny but every time I went to enter a stage or got to the score board it would make these sounds. After a while it got stupid and annoying, and wondered why this was even in the game.
Scoregasm plays very similar to most twin stick shooters out there already. The main thing that makes it stand out gameplay wise is the close quarters explosion the player can do with the ship. When an enemy or even a bullet comes close, the player can right click and cause a close quarters explosion that takes out anything in that’s in your ships personal area. This is tied to a meter that depletes every time the explosion is used, but it can be refilled by shooting enemies down with lasers and missiles.
Some of the levels and bosses are fun and challenging, but many levels that are downright boring to go through. Picking different routes did aid in the excitement though seeing what the next stage was for awhile, but eventually it turned into tedium. The stages are all different, but that doesn’t mean they are all fun to play through.
The enemies in Scoregasm vary a little bit from stage to stage. A lot of enemies will reappear in different stages, but that is to be expected. Some enemies will chase you, some will only shoot at you, but even bullets in this game can be considered as enemy ships since they can be shot down from hitting you using the close quarter explosion.
The controls are pretty solid in Scoregasm. I never had a feeling that the controls got in the way of me playing the game. If I died during a stage in Scoregasm, it was 100% my fault. This is an important aspect that tends to get neglected sometimes or purposefully done to add to the difficulty of some games. It’s a comforting thought, though, that I don’t have the game completely working against me to get me killed.
The main problem I have with the game is it has this been there done that kind of feel to it. The graphics, play style, and sound are all similar to if not exactly like other twin stick shooters. Super Star Dust HD, Geometry Wars, and Beat Hazard looked, played, and sounded better. Scoregasm doesn’t have any gimmicks that make it stand out or anything interesting going on under the hood like other twin stick shooters.
It has good mechanics and some of the stages are fun, but throughout most the game I was bored. Scoregasm is a game that seems to want to be like every other twin stick shooter out there. It succeeds in being like the other games, but it is no where near as good. It It was great for a stage or two, but as soon as it started I wanted to put it down for a better twin stick shooter.
