HORIZON VANGUARD

Horizon Vanguard is a love letter to late 90’s arcade action, particular of the Sega variety. The action is presented in (optional, but I would recommend) VR, delivering the excitement of that ‘pat your head and rub your belly’ mechanics that work best on VR. The gameplay has you firing your hoverbike’s lasers while you also fend off aerial enemies with your sidearm. Aim precisely for a score multiplier with each shot, and keep your eyes open for intel item pickups, which will unlock different routes in an Outrun-style branching path. Dodge enemy fire by moving your bike around (like a SHMUP) and utilize your radar during boss fights for a bullet-hell experience. The game provides a very stiff action challenge with difficult to find secrets as well. However, there is a built-in option to simply become invincible, or to utilize continues, while disabling scoreboard ranking. You can also practice individual levels once you unlock them. The graphics really deliver the colors, visual feedback, art, sound, visual effects, and even (perhaps most rare) the music of a late 90’s Sega arcade venture. The level designs and enemies are awesome and really evoke the classic style as well. The feedback the gameplay gives you is a mix of both retro and modern styles, the hit sound effects reminding me more of Call of Duty or Quake 3, which is necessary to inform the player how they might maximize their score, or if a power up just ran out. The game is also completely playable on mouse & keyboard or a gamepad without any VR hardware, but it is more intuitive in VR, and the interface and experience are better suited to VR. Horizon Vanguard is a perfect fit for classic arcade fans who want a very repayable, exciting, and challenging VR game. VR action aficionados will find a lot here to enjoy, and those classic arcade fans who do not yet own a VR kit may find themselves suddenly in the market.

[h1]Experienced on the Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality[/h1] [i]Please note: I received a free Steam key through the Steam Curator Connect program.[/i] You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/JlNVDz56IzY It's shocking that this game doesn't have more reviews. I know it came out during the Steam Summer sale, but this is one of better VR games. It's a good, challenging game. If you enjoy shoot 'em ups / bullet hells, this will be your jam. This game has a satisfying difficulty curve. At first, I did seem impossible. However, you get used to the layout and enemy fire patterns. You get used to moving at high speeds forward, back, and side to side while aiming up and in front of your hoverbike, all while dancing away from each danger coming straight for you. I found each level or zone, got progressively more difficult and that made me have to get just that much better. You can lower difficulty in the settings, however, I don't advise it. This is one of those games where you feel you are oh so close to beating the challenge, you just need one more try. Soon, what seemed impossible seems old hat and new challenges await that will further sharpen your skills. The graphics are retro. I'm not going to sit here and tell you they look as good as Half-Life: Alyx because they simply don't. However, the good news is that the game did run smoothly for the most part on my 1060 GTX. You do have full locomotion on your hoverbike, there is no smooth or snap turning and it's not really needed in this game since most of the action is coming straight at you (although enemies will come from behind or from the sides so you do have to keep your head on a swivel). I did not experience any serious bugs, however, it did seem that the gun angle was slightly off on the Oculus Rift as I did have to aim a bit lower than usual to aim dead center. Unfortunately, on Windows Mixed Reality, motion controllers did not work by default and I did have to edit controller bindings within Steam VR to get it to work correctly. I hope that gets fixed soon and WMR official support is added. [b]Rate 7.5/10. Satisfying challenge. Highly recommended to fans of old school arcade shoot 'em ups / bullet hells. [/b]

A challenging schmup that wants to scratch your Panzer Dragoon itch.

VR対応のアーケードライクなシューティングゲーム。 弾幕シューティングとガンシューティングのハイブリッド。 VR目当てでずっと楽しみにしていて、遂に発売されたので購入。 残念ながら日本語対応されていませんが、単純なシューティングゲームでありチュートリアルも完備されているので不自由は無いかと（英語だから読めないけど）。 以下はVR仕様（Oculus Rift S）での感想です。 操作は簡単。 右手は、トリガーで手持ちの銃の射撃。 Ｂボタンで視点のリセット。 左手は、トリガーでバイクのショット。 スティックで移動。 Ｙボタン長押しでメニュー（一時停止）。 プレイ感覚は「スペースハリアー」と「パンツァードラグーン」を足して割らずにＶＲへブッ込んだ感じ。地面を走るバイクで敵弾や障害物を避けながら、地上の敵をショットで倒しつつ、空中の敵を手持ちの銃で撃ち落とす。 実際にプレイしてみると、最初のステージから障害物やら敵弾が結構飛んできて、かつ空中の敵をリアルエイムで撃ち落さねばならずかなり忙しい。 が、そこでこのゲームの最高に素晴らしい独自システムが光る。自機に迫る敵弾の射線上に入るとその敵弾がターゲッティングされるのだ。つまりターゲッティングされた敵弾があればすぐに気付け、回避が可能。また、空中の敵には緑のターゲッティングがあり、手持ちの銃を向け射線上に入れると赤く点滅する。これにより、リアルエイムが容易になるのである。実にユーザビリティに溢れる親切仕様！ そしてそれらで補っても余りある高難度！ ”SIGNAL”なるアイテムを集めると、バイクに付属のディスプレイにレーダーの様な２Dの画面が表示され、コレを見て動かせば２Ｄ縦スクロール弾幕シューティングとしてもプレイが可能。まぁ、弾幕を避ける際に肉眼よりも距離感が掴み易いけど、ぶっちゃけ交通量の多い都市部で車を運転しながらカーナビ見るようなもんで見てる余裕なんてまるでないし、存在感の薄さは否めない。いっその事、常に表示してくれても良いんじゃないかと。 基本はアーケードモードで、ステージを進む際に「ダライアス」的なステージ分岐がある（初プレイ時はロックが掛かっており一方しか選べず）。プレイヤーレベル的なものがあり、プレイする毎に経験値が溜まり、レベルが上がる毎に何かが解放される（英語だから読めません）。ステージを選んでプレイする事も出来る様で、自由に練習も可能。オンラインランキングにも対応。グラフィックもＢＧＭもレトロゲーム調で、まさに「おうちでアーケード！」 値段的には、スペースハリアー（１回２００円）の10プレイ分を自宅で楽しめると考えれば、妥当な価格かと思います。 まだそれ程プレイ出来てませんが、期待していたモノがそのまんま期待通りに出て来てくれて、小生、大満足であります。 欲を言えば日本語対応してくれると、嬉しいな、くらいでごわす。あと説明書が欲しい。 ／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／／ しばらくプレイして、何となく解ってきた事を追記。 『INTEL』というアイテムを一定数（３個？）取得してステージをクリアすると、次ステージを選択する際に分岐ステージが解放される。（ゲームオーバー時にリセット、プレイ毎に取得が必要） 手に持ったハンドガンを連続して命中させると得点にボーナスが付く。バイクのディスプレイの左にチェイン数が表示、最大17チェイン？　普通に進めて２面のボスまで進めるより、１面のボスが自爆するまで粘ってミサイル撃墜でチェインを稼いだ方が得点はかなり高くなった。 プレイヤーレベルが上がるとコンテニュー回数が増える模様（最初はゼロ）。オプションでコンテニュー回数を変更出来る。 基本、真っ直ぐ進むゲームなのでVR酔いは一切なし。普通のシューティングゲームは敵の正面にまわってショットを打ち込むしかないが、このゲームではハンドガンを使って敵の横っ腹を打ち抜く、サイドから迫ってきた戦艦との撃ち合い等、他にはない戦い方が出来るのが本当に楽しい。 恐ろしい程の高難度で未だにステージ２が限度だが、それでも繰り返させる中毒性のあるゲーム。シューティング好きでVR環境があるならおススメです。

This game is pretty damn cool. Has a sort of Sega Saturn type feel with a bit of Star Fox. I recommend it. One criticism to the Devs: As some have said you don't regen shields after each zone, but after playing 23 minutes I unlocked 2 continue credits after backing out which I'm guessing takes place of shield regen. Just start us out with some continues or regen our shields after each zone. On first playthrough you legit can't get far not because of skill, but because you don't have the continues. That's not a good type of grind (even though its hardly any grind, just give us them). It's like forced stale progression when you first start out. Other than that its pretty cool. Got to the 3rd zone with zero credits. I'll see how far I can get with 2 now. Btw there is an option to start at and play zones you've reached, but they won't count towards your score or Intel unlocks. Intel unlocks are hidden in zones and unlock alternate routes kind of like Star Fox on N64 and its alternate routes.

The first thing that needs to be said about HORIZON VANGUARD (not shouting), other than I played it on an [b]Index[/b], is this game is tough. If you dont like games in which you die a lot and start over, this probably is not for you. Playing this really reminded me of various games of the 80s and 90s, not even specifically of this genre, but ones that had you face off against bosses with [b]bullet-hell[/b] style action. It had a [b]nostalgic[/b] feel, even tho I wasnt thinking about any particular game. On the subject of [b]difficulty[/b], there are no settings per se, however there are cheat-like options if you wish. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2174739969 I played for the most part at defaults, at which it took me a good 10 attempts to complete the first level! I tried briefly with invincibility on and its exactly as exciting as you can imagine! The speed options is kind of interesting, I tried 80% (enjoyed it) and 20% (stoooopidly slow.)) [b]Gameplay[/b], its straight out of a 90s arcade. SEGA-virtua-somethingsomething-crisis-cop-on-rails-4. You can maneuver around a square area, while you fire a laser from your bike and wield a pistol in your dominant hand. You will need to watch not only your front, but also your sides and overhead (and even behind in select encounters.) Lives are limited and extremely rare (too rare IMO!). There are some basic pickups, beefing up your bikes laser, "intel" which unlocks alternative routes should you collect them on within a single run, etc. Performance is interesting. I monitored 2 sessions. The 1st with everything turned on, MSAAx4, res shown in game was 4936*2740 and a refresh target of 120Hz - this had my 2080ti being well pushed, but it was smooth with no noticeable drops. The 2nd I left things at default, everything on, MSAAx2, res scale set to 0.8 and a target refresh of 90Hz - this had my GPU asleep, it was at about ~30% usage with passive cooling. Thats a bit of a difference in performance! I cant say there was a huge difference between the 2 during play, apart from aliasing being unpleasant on the horizon, I wasnt feeling like I was missing out otherwise. The takeaway is, without needing to butcher settings, entry level VR hardware will run this fine. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2174741077 Its a thumbs up, but not an overly enthusiastic one. It feels a bit too "gen1", I was wanting a little bit more of a spectacle. Not everyone will care/miss this of course. I do like my flashy bangy OTT effects and positively ridiculous Michael Bay level explosions and this game wasnt giving that to me. But it does deliver that punishing shmup formula, if thats what you are after ;) [i]This game was received free via [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/23133713/]*this*[/url] VR group.[/i]

This game is super dope.

A bullet hell arcade style VR game with awesome music. Freakin dope. Fair warning though the game does pose a bit of a challenge but that's part of the fun. Definitely recommend it if you are looking for something to expand your VR library.

This is an arcade style game that plays very similar to games like Starfox (SNES/N64) and draws inspiration from the likes of Gradius and Space Harrier. Being an arcade game, it is very difficult and relies on repetition for you to start clearing levels. The game absolutely nails the art style, music and pacing of those arcade games, with a good amount of polish. It is super fun to play, and mastering it will take you a long time!

These devs get it. High-octane shooter gameplay, flawless performance, great style, super smooth blend of genres, and probably the best shooting experience I've had outside of an arcade. If you enjoyed Virtual Cop, Hang On, Wave Race, Time Crisis, or even Touhou you'll love this game. Buy a copy for your friends.