rayword45 (2013-03-13 10:56:45)

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NOTICE: ROUGH-CUT VERSION - Will be adding photos and editing the review soon.

EscapeVektor is a game almost impossible to describe in terms of gameplay, and one where screenshots will not help. Stealing from many Fire Emblem reviews, think of it like this. Pac-Man and Qix had a child, and that child went out to a rave and took some acid. While tripping, it took on the pseudonym of EscapeVektor. It's really a unique experience, it must be tried (with some time invested) to understand it.

A slightly less imagery-based attempt at reviewing this game, EscapeVektor is an arcade/action/puzzle game for the 3DS eShop (as well as the PlayStation Vita). You control Vektor, who in gameplay takes on the shape of a white >, adjusted for direction. Your goal is to fill in all cells by tracing over them while avoiding enemies and reaching the end goal in each level. Along the way, you get upgrades to increase your speed and kill enemies, and eventually Boostenate, a combination of the 2. This adds a bit of depth to the game, and a lot of speed. A lot of speed. On the level select screens, Vektor takes place as a clump of pixels that eventually increases resolution as we learn more about him. Oh yes, there is a story, but I must avoid spoilers and it's deliberately incredibly vague towards the beginning.

Back to criticizing, the graphics are highly stylized and work incredibly well, but that brings up the game's biggest flaw, the size of the playfield. Your view is incredibly zoomed in by default, making it near unplayable. Thankfully, you can hold down the R Button to zoom out, which is likely what you'll do the entire game. Why this wasn't made the default view is baffling. On the more positive side, there are no glaring flaws with the music. In fact quite the opposite. The soundtrack does a great job matching with the graphics, and sounds great the entire game.

The game for the most part controls well. You move with the D-Pad or Circle Pad, and use the other buttons for their respective powers. The placement may seem off by the time you reach faster levels as the fastest boost is away from the detonation button (Y-A) but other then that, no complaints here. The difficulty curve in this game is fairly steep. While it starts out slow, the game soon gains a lot of momentum and eventually the game will be incredibly hectic, with screens filled to the brim with enemies. There are some unfair enemy spawn points as well, and the button placement occasionally leads to unfair deaths. Still, t

The biggest accomplishment of EscapeVektor by far is the lasting appeal. The game was originally set to be on WiiWare, split up into 4 chapters priced at $5 each. When those plans fell through, Nnooo chose to instead release the entire package for $10, consisting of 150 levels split up into 27 worlds. The amount of content here is staggering, despite the short nature of the levels (Typically lasting about 1-2 minutes) simply blasting through the campaign will take you at the very least 12 hours or so. Afterwards, there are bonus levels, achievements, and medals/leaderboards for every level to last you several more hours.

EscapeVektor is quite the unique game. It's definitely not without it's flaws, some of which are completely jarring, others minor. The steep difficulty curve certainly isn't going to bring in more players. However, the graphics are good, the music sounds great, the gameplay is addictive and the enormous amount of content helps justify what is seen as a steep price tag by eShop standards. Hey, if you're actually reading this, check back in a day or two and I'll fix this up with an actual conclusion.

SCORE BREAKDOWN (Screw addition and division):

Graphics: 7/10 The style works, but it is incredibly basic.

Music: 9/10 Isn't this subjective anyways?

Gameplay: 8/10 Addictive style of gameplay let down by some minor control and playfield issues.

Difficulty: 6/10 The curve is really awkward at first.

Lasting Appeal: 10/10 $20 was planned to be the asking price, and it's clear. Expect hours to come out of this.

EscapeVektor gets an 8.5/10, which is IGN's favorite 3DS number.

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rayword45 (2013-03-14 08:35:57)

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It would be nearly unplayable, but the camera can be fixed simply.by pressing R.

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