The Velocity series is perhaps the sole success story to ever emerge out of the PS Minis, Sony's first attempt to push indie games on the Playstation platform. The series has always centred around rapid top down shooting and quick movement, blending various gameplay styles to create a game that was quite unique at the time and proved successful enough to get re-released on the Vita as Velocity Ultra. 2X is a proper sequel to the original game and while the core gameplay has seen a significant upgrade and the addition of quite a few mechanics, the rest of the game feels like its been left behind somewhat and it still suffers from many of the same problems of the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdCgryZd9H0
Gunplay has always taken a back seat to exploration and traversal in this series, but the incredibly linear nature of this genre and the small amount of rewards on offer for participating in it still makes the exploration part feel like an odd fit.
What's more is that this part feels more than ever like its taking focus away from the other far better aspects of the game. It feels completely unnecessary and I suspect the game would have benefited greatly form leaving it by the wayside.The exploration bits are tedious and repetitive ta the best of times, requiring you to utilize a teleportation mechanic to backtrack to selected points in order to hits a series of switches in numerical order to open up the rest of the level.
The teleportation itself is hassle free and quite nifty in its design and use but its let down by the level design as you'll be hurtling your ship down increasingly familiar corridors time and again.
When you actually start participating in the combat the game reveals itself to actually be one of the most responsive and enjoyable arcade shooters out there. The combat is incredibly smooth, fantastically fast paced and provides a great amount of feedback as enemies explode and particle effects scatter everywhere.
Yet it still falls flat in spite of being so meticulously well put together. The enemy variety borders on tragic with the all foes being regulated into either turrets that shoot slow projectiles in your direction or larger enemies that serve no other purpose than to fly in circular patterns and serve as easy canon fodder.
The fact that the weapon variety falls similarly flat also doesn't really help matters. You have a basic rapid fire laser shot that can be fired in front of you and bombs that can be fired in the four cardinal directions. There are weapon power ups littered throughout stages, but these are so scarce that I started to consider them a myth after a while.
There's also a new side scrolling part of the game that sees you docking your ship and disembarking to complete objectives on foot as Kai, the game's heroine. These parts switch the game from a to down shooter to a side scrolling action platformer and a pretty decent one at that.
These sections don't feel like a tacked on afterthought at all, they're fluid, fast,packed with tight combat and control exceptionally well. The gameplay in these sections channel a lot of mechanics from the top down portions but adapt them to much different ends. With the exception of the teleporter (which becomes quite unintuitive here) it all translates rather well.
It turns 2X into a strange hybrid game and the new on-foot sections severely overshadow the original part of the game. Still the way these two sections interlace and flow into one is a marvel of well designed levels that keeps the action going constantly.
Presentation wise the game is definite step up, boasting some gorgeous visuals thanks to a art style that wouldn't fail to stand of place anywhere. The game has a wonderfully bright colour pallet that's bolstered with sharp edges and it all looks stunning in motion,
The visuals are backed with a suitable soundtrack that fits the mood and pacing of the game but in itself its not really anything special, sounding overly generic and very much like you've come to expect from games of this type.
There is a story, but I don't think I could recount a single part of it to you.. Its incredibly forgettable, but I will commend it for its well written dialogue and the fact that it doesn't take itself overly seriously. It's cheesy, but well humoured sci-fi that only really serves to throw you into the next level, a throwaway plot to be sure but at least it doesn't get in the way.
There's a decent amount of levels on offer in 2X and if your someone that enjoys raking in high scores and ranking in a competitive leader-board then you need to check this out. Collecting survivors and crystals scattered throughout the level determines your overall score at the end of a level and there's significant bonus points on offer if you manage to cross the finish under a certain time.
Other features like a quick restart (triggered by hitting R2 and L2 at the same time) makes this game prime real estate for the speed running community, but outside of increasing your score the collectibles serve no purpose. There's no upgrade system to speak of whatsoever and its especially strange because it feels like 2X was designed from the ground up with one in mind.
Its strange, conflicting game in the end. The core gameplay is outstanding, but everything surrounding it serves to be so lacklustre that it undermines the whole game. There's so little incentive to keep going, from the story to the gratingly repetitive level design, there's not a lot that serves to grip the player. The on-foot sections make a valiant attempt to compensate for the rest of the game and actually manage to do a fair job of it.
7/10
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