by dunpeal2064 Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:26 am
Alright, first VB game in the bag, Vertical Force.
It turns out, in my little test run to see how the glasses worked, I was nearly done with the game. Its technically 5 levels long, but only 3 of them are "full length" (Maybe 3 minutes long?), Stage 4 is a little half stage, and Stage 5 is just the final bosses.
The game is alright. Moving between planes is fun, particularly when doing so to dodge around big boss attacks or stage obstacles. The weapon system (Wide, Laser, Shield) seems a little weak, as the game isn't mean enough to make shield ever worth, so you just do the typical "Wide Stages, Laser Bosses" thing. Weapons only power up twice, and never really feel awesome to use, but they suffice. You do get to carry over your current weapon level when you switch, so thats neat.
The biggest standout for the game (Other than the 3D stuff) are the pods, which you pick up as little powerups. There are a few different kinds, though they all seemed to do nearly the same thing, which is home directly to enemies and mow them down, even on different planes. You can also carry multiples of these, so once you lose one, you just swap to another. They have a life bar, and can be detonated as a smart bomb. These little things are neat, but are also way too strong. Taking just one pod into the final boss skips like half of his phases, two pretty much gives you the fight for free.
I think Vertical Force's highlights are its bosses, which are rather impressive in size/sprite detail at times, and can have some neat attacks. The last boss in particular is quite fun to fight, and is a multiform mecha/ship thing that looks rad. Its stages, for the most part, are pretty bland. Difficulty balance is terrible, as you can pretty much sleep through the first 3 stages, and then stage 4 just tries to steal your credit. Luckily its only like 50 seconds long, and a pod mixed with plane swapping can avoid the nonsense it suddenly throws at you. I got a pretty big Compile vibe/influence from this game, which isn't so good for me, but might be cool for others.
I liked Vertical Force enough to play through it twice, once for the clear, and a 2nd time to snag the pretty easy 1cc. I doubt I'll return to it, but I'm glad I played it at least. Feels like a 5/10 game, but its short and competent enough to be worth checking out imo, if you like the genre.