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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Review: Rainbow Wake: the Game


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.



Comments (31)

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The reviewing rampage continues! Sorry 'bout the confusion, DeftFunk.
5 replies · active 190 weeks ago
this game is really well made.... but I would have liked it a lot better if the story didnt revolve around rainbow dash being mean :)
2 replies · active 190 weeks ago
WinterSpeed's avatar

WinterSpeed · 190 weeks ago

I remember my first time seeing Touhou on youtube...I was like "HOW DAFUQ DO YOU BEAT THIS GAME?" And now, ponies. I thought it was hard enough to try to finish Twilight Vs Walking. AND NOW THIS?! I will be wasting my time on it now, thankyou. :)
1 reply · active 190 weeks ago
HAH! The Humor in this reminds me of back in the day... When Gunbird
could be found in every single arcade known to man! The quirky anime
sense of humor translates VERY well into MLP, and seeing Gilda is always
a nice touch for someone that's incredibly biased towards her!

It was such a great throwback to that classic shooter...
And as such, It's definitely worth playing!

By the way, if you didn't play Gunbird, I suggest you do so!
You'll laugh yourself to tears with the running gags!
I GOT SENT TO THE MOON!
And I was doing in all on my first try!
It would have been a First try clear....
CURSE YOU CELESTIA!
That was trolling at it's finest!
1 reply · active 190 weeks ago
Yay! It got reviewed! I don't really care if people don't like it or even don't play it, I just wanted a post. Now I can die happy! :D
(Can you imagine dying with this look on your face :D? That'd be pretty creepy.)

"Engaging, difficult, and Fun to Play." That is what I was going for. Mission accomplished!
Though I recognize that my game lacks polish as well. Thank you for pointing that out and thank you for the review.
5 replies · active 190 weeks ago
Played it, loved it. had to re-play Celestia 4 times to get past the Elements part.

Got a certificate of radicalness on 2nd try :D
Can't beat Sweetie Belle Derelle D:

Loved the artwork

8/10 great job!
Does somepony god glitchy sound? I do
1 reply · active 189 weeks ago
Lots of time killing fun.
I think it worth more then 7.
Whooooa...! That Was a Blast! Ooh! Dash! No!
Now Die! Hey, Dash. Over Here! DIE!
That was actually pretty cool and fun.
Did everything, including the challenge (not so hard if you burst rarity using your three bonuses) and the OTHER challenge (way harder but made it after you keep a pattern and find a safe spot on the right near sweetiebelle.
One hour well spent.
8/10.
I've obtained The Certificate of Awesomeness (1st try, http://prntscr.com/31dfkn), The Certificate of Coolness (6th try, http://prntscr.com/31dfsl), and The Certificate of Radicalness (1ST TRY!!! I defeated the boss's in order, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and then Rarity. Had 1% of health when I was done. http://prntscr.com/31dg3x) I'm truley Rainbow Dash!
Also, the artwork and the voice's in this game are not that bad, quite funny actually. By funny, I mean the amount of humor that's in the game. The part of when Rainbow Dash stole Twilight's horn just like that, left me in laughter! Also the part of what Twilight and Applejack were doing!

Difficulty: Normal - Insane. The main story is not that hard, since I was able to finish it on my 1st try.
(THE SPOILERS will be on my next reply to my comment. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't look at it! Don't hurt Pinkie's heart!)

Overall, it's not only a great game, it's also very hilarious to play. I will rate this a 8/10! Go play this if you are a fan of Touhou (since this game reminds me of that series), or you just want to have a good laugh.
1 reply · active 106 weeks ago

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