Review - Velocity Ultraby Dorian Tranquille-Day
Format Reviewed on PC |
Velocity Ultra is the HD remake of FuturLab's Velocity, first released in 2012 for the PS3 and PSP. Ultra was initially designed for the PS Vita, making use of its touchscreen capabilities, before finding its way to PC.
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Being a shoot-em-up and a console port, I played Ultra with a gamepad and found the controls responsive and easy to use. However, I would have liked to be able to map the buttons according to my preference, rather than being stuck with the default configuration. In fact, there's not much at all in the way of customisation throughout the game. The pre-game pop-up window allows the mapping of keyboard and mouse controls and shows you the forced gamepad layout. You can choose from a variety of resolutions and two types of anti-aliasing. You can also tell the game that you're using a 4:3 ratio monitor and select fullscreen or windowed mode. Once you've launched the game you can access the options menu which allows you to alter the volume of the music and disable the left stick of your gamepad. Of the few options they did decide to include, I was most thankful for the opportunity to make the music go away. After listening to the same annoying track for the first three levels I opted to listen to my own music and this significantly enhanced my experience. Perhaps the music changes later in the game, but I was unable to persevere.
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As I've said, Velocity is a shoot-em-up – you control a spaceship, or Quarp Jet, from an aerial viewpoint as the screen scrolls vertically. You shoot aliens and turrets, avoid their projectiles, rescue survivors and speed boost through the levels that have strict time limits. Pretty standard stuff until you learn how to teleport. The Quarp Jet can teleport to any empty area of the screen, adding to the usual formula that we see with this genre. On top of that, on certain levels, you are able to drop telepods. These are essentially checkpoints that you can warp to whenever you want. The main purpose of these is to enable you to shoot switches in a specific order to open up areas of the level that are blocked by forcefields. These switches are colour-coded and numbered. If you shoot one in the wrong order you'll have to go back to the first one and start again. Some of these are optional, but for the most part you're required to clear the forcefields to finish the level.
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These three unusual additions are what sets this game apart and present you with a cross between a puzzle game and a shoot-em-up. The gameplay is fun, but I didn't find it too challenging. I'm used to instant death when I get hit by an enemy or I hit a wall, but Velocity is very forgiving. You can take five or six hits before you die and you have three lives in each level. You can also hit walls without consequence – useful when teleporting. However, if you hit a forcefield or a turret you experience that instant death that I am so used to. The game makes you think you're safe and then you're dead. It's inconsistent and I'd rather die instantly from all enemies than a select few. Teleporting is perhaps the most frustrating game mechanic, though. It sometimes requires great accuracy to pull it off and if you mess up you'll get crushed by the moving screen. Using a mouse is obviously a lot more accurate, but then you're left with the keyboard where a gamepad is far more comfortable. I can imagine this game working very well on the PS Vita, but I don't think it translates very well to PC.
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The visual style of the game is fairly pleasing to the eye. There are several colours on screen at any time and there's variety in the enemies. There are some comic-like panels at the beginning of some levels which also fit with the overall style. I've certainly seen better-looking games but Ultra definitely doesn't look bad. However, it does suffer from framerate issues when a lot of those enemies are on screen at the same time and they're all shooting at you. I didn't record the framerate, but the drop was significant and the game slows to a crawl for a few seconds. I should also mention that there is a basic copy of Minesweeper included and a simple calculator in case you get bored of solving puzzles and shooting aliens. I would assume that they are left over from the PS Vita version where they may have had a function, but having them included in the PC version is bemusing.
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Overall, I'm not really sure what to think of Velocity Ultra. I certainly enjoyed playing it, but only after I disabled the in-game music. The teleporting mechanic is frustrating at times and a simpler solution would have been appreciated. I think that this could be a really good game, but that this just isn't the right platform for it.
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Good - Fun gameplay, interesting take on an old genre
Bad - Teleporting can be frustrating, annoying music |
3/5 |
Game Supplied by Publisher
Images - from Publisher
Images - from Publisher
