Tesla Wars II

The first Tesla Wars showed how fun it was to zap hordes of tiny enemies to death with a giant Tesla coil - which is a pretty safe assumption, really. So the sequel, Tesla Wars II, doesn’t have as much to prove outside of why anyone should play it instead of its predecessor. And the answer it came up with is a pretty good one: add more chaos.

Tesla Wars II plays very similarly to the first. There’s a giant Tesla coil in the middle of the field constantly under siege by dark stick figure invaders. Players tap the screen to send a bolt of deadly lightning onto their foes and hold it in place until the target is dead. However, with limited energy players must be precise with their strikes to keep the tower safe from the onslaught. Our review of the first game mentioned issues with control accuracy, but I had no such problems here. Tilting the device to subtly change the camera is also a nice, if unnecessary touch.

Zapping little people again and again is fun enough on its own, but the animations are especially pleasing. The wounded limp away and even try to carry away their dead, but all that does is slow them down so players can retaliate because no one can survive.

Tesla Wars II wastes little time ramping up the insanity even further with lots of new destructive abilities. Players can assign special moves like air strikes to hot keys, and upgrade the tower to make it more powerful and longer lasting. But the key addition is the ability to build and upgrade two turrets on either side of the tower. By providing essential automatic assistance during the heaviest firefights, they turn the game into a more active kind of tower defense game. And with better offense comes stronger enemies, including armored ninjas, crafty mechanics that set-up durable bunkers unless wiped out, and a handful of towering bosses that make tragically few appearances across the 80 levels.

But while the increased spectacle is great, and the game’s shiny visuals and pounding dubstep victory theme would make Michael Bay proud, Tesla Wars II is still just more Tesla Wars. The sequel’s mantra of “bigger equals better” might be enough for fans since the original came out over three years ago, but don’t expect many shocking changes.