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[i]Vectro Blast[/i] is an arcade style top-down arena shooter that involves a steady process of obtaining upgrades in hopes of making it farther while hunting for the next high score. The game involves simple shapes and colors, and is dizzying after a while. But in short sittings it can be rather fun and addictive.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
In top-down view, move around a simplistic shape (your vessel) and shoot 1 of 3 weapons at the enemy shapes that are also color coordinated as they spawn in waves and come after you. As you destroy the enemies, they will drop arrows that you collect as upgrade tokens to be able to upgrade your own ship. Every few waves a boss enemy will spawn for you to deal with. (I might just be really bad at this time, I have only seen two bosses so far.)
There's hopes of making it farther after putting in some upgrades, but you are also hoping to achieve that next best high score, making you also spend points in upgrading the starting multiplier. Unfortunately the enemy waves become harder and the time between waves shorter as a result, leading to continued short runs that also keep this game engaging.
There will be some in-game powerups such as boost for your shot, shield, bomb, freezing that are timed except for the bomb, which sets off a blast from the site of collection, clearing up a small region. These can be upgraded as well.
The upgrades work as diminishing returns after a while. The more you upgrade, the less you will get with subsequent upgrades, and the more they will cost each time. It's a good system, it keeps the players on their toes. You cannot relax just because you boosted your ship a bunch. To get a good high score, you still need to take down a number of enemies and bosses with a high enough multiplier for them to count.
It's one of those games that gives the player that one-more-try mentality, as each run is bound to be fairly short and you get into that perpetual habit of restarting in score chasing. I found the game to be rather addictive, and just when I thought I could make it farther, I started to make small mistakes one after another, and I still haven't made it very far. I doomed myself by boosting the starting multiplier in trying to go after high scores and now even the early waves are rather difficult.
Yes, I shot myself in the foot.
[h1]First-Look Video[/h1]
Here's a video I made before I shot myself in the foot, trying out the game for the first time:
https://youtu.be/rlvZ5Y6kYiQ
[h1]Controls[/h1]
Keyboard + Mouse. WASD to move around, hold down left click to shoot. 1, 2, and 3 on the number row switches the weapons. I would love to be able to change the weapon switch to my scroll wheel or a right click.
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
Simple graphics, there's nothing fancy at all about this game, and it works quite well. Think [i]Geometry Wars,[/i] but even more simplistic.
[h1]Music & Sounds[/h1]
The music is upbeat and works fine. It's not outstanding. The effects work reasonably but do get repetitive, because you are doing nothing but shooting bullets.
[h1]Audience[/h1]
People who like top-down arcade-style score chasing games with a twin-stick movement configuration will have fun with this.
[h1]Pricing[/h1]
The price is fairly reasonable at $6.99, in my opinion. It would probably see a few more players at a cheaper price, because it looks so simple, it's having difficulty finding traction. The game's been out over a week now and I am player #15 globally on Steam--as I am the 15th entry on the global leaderboards.
[h1]Positives[/h1]
+High paced fun
+Addictive
+Easy to pick up
+Short runs (for me anyway)
+Achievements that keep the player playing more
+Online leaderboards
[h1]Negatives[/h1]
-Could use a on-screen button to go from the game over screen to to the upgrades.
-I would love to be able to switch weapons with the scroll wheel of my mouse or with the right click instead of the number row.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
[i]Vectro Blast[/i] deserves some more attention for the game itself. There's not much new to the formula, as it's a simple top-down twin-stick arena shooter using simplistic shapes. But together this is a fun game, and with online leaderboards, you can also challenge your friends with your scores.
7/10
[quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]
