Velocity- PlayStation Mini Review

By developer FuturLab Limited, a new PlayStation Mini games comes in the form of a shoot ‘em up named Velocity. Does this break the standard pattern of shoot ‘em ups or is there some sense of uniqueness to this title?

Your mission, like any shoot ‘em up, is to make it to the end of the level. It starts off rather simple to the point that you’ll be rolling your eyes going “another shooter eh?” only to realize that the levels become way more complex and a lot more maze-like in later levels.You have many goals that you can accomplish; such as beating the level as fast as you can and rescuing survivors. The survivors come in the form of Tylenol shaped ships floating around, sometimes right in front of you or sometimes behind enemy lines. These are pretty much the collectables of the game and add a new chunk of challenge.

Acquiring survivors and racing through a level earns you experience points that goes towards new levels. There are about 50 levels in total and after level 25 things start getting difficult and confusing. Making you think of a strategy as you’re doing so.

Being a shoot ‘em up you can only shoot in front or direct a blast at either 4-directions. You cannot go back to grab a secret or survivor you missed. You keep moving forward, and, with a surprisingly innovated way, can speed up by hitting the right bumper. This will be used in some stages that require you to finish within a certain time limit. Your ship can also teleport to different locations on the map with a handy little cursor that pops up when the correct input is in. Adding yet another new feature to the game.

The game is a lot of fun and everyone can enjoy it. That definitely is not to say that it’s perfect as I have encountered a pretty bad glitch of having my ship spawn in an unreadable location. Like spawning in the middle of an obstacles or inside a wall making it impossible to progress. This resulted in me having to speed up the screen to get to a game over screen or at time restarting that level, and this has happened on more than one occasion.

There is also a lack of control options. For instance, I have a teleporter device that I can use, and I’m sure it showed how to use it at some point. But, for the life of me I can’t figure out what it’s for or how to use it. I’ve searched in all the options and extras and am thinking it’s what makes the later levels harder. Without any way to look back and figure out how to do something that I’m sure is simple kind of makes the game harder.

On the bright side the game is reminiscent to the 90′s shoot ‘em ups that we all love and enjoy. The graphics are exactly what you expect: your ship again a black background. This is perfectly fine since, well, you’re in space. The in-between story arcs are told in a comic book fashion that shows the characters and explanation, which also looks very nice. The sound effects are incredibly satisfying with ever “pew” from your pea-shooter to every explosion. The music is fantastic and deserve a lot of props for it. You’ll want to have headphones (PSP) or a home theater system (PS3) to enjoy the score.

There are a couple of bonus features as well, you can look through art, play extra missions with more to unlock, look at your in-game trophies and accomplishments, play minesweeper and even use a calculator. Don’t ask about the last one. The credit sequence is also fun.

In all Velocity is really fun give or take a few bugs and confusing navigation. I thoroughly enjoyed the new teleporting mechanism and being able to speed up the screen was a big bonus since I lack any patience. The looks, music and style of Velocity is something you’ll want to experience. If you’re a fan of shoot ‘em ups you have to try this one out. It’s addicting and the levels are short and sweet with enough replay value to keep at it.

8.5/10

PROS

Fantastic Music

Teleporting is fun

A lot to do

Cons

Some Game Bugs

Mazes can be too Confusing