Gran Vitreous Reviews

I know my time playing the game as of writing this review is short, but I can safely say that it's my kind of game. It's very much in the Geometry Wars family... perhaps a bit too much, but with skill trees and lasting ship upgrades thrown into the mix, it's got enough going on to make it its own game. It's fun to play, with good twin-stick controls and lots of variety in enemy type, complete with "boss battles" and differing objectives (I started one level only to be told my weapons weren't working, so I had to stay alive and dodge rather than fight). Secondary objectives add to the mix in each system, and environmental hazards are factored in as well. Controller support is outstanding with my Xbox 360 controller. Colored icons that look like buttons make things easy to navigate (always a nice touch). Everything is smooth and responsive. The only gripe I have control wise is that bombs and "super weapons" use a control scheme that's completely inpractical in a twin-stick shooter - you use your targeting controller to place them, while continuing to move about with your main controller, and then once releaced, you have to go back to shooting RIGHT EFFIN' NOW or you're dead. There's a difficulty curve here, but death penalties are minimal, and it's pretty easy to pick up and play. The visuals are flat but functional - nothing special, but perfectly servicable. The game's main downfall is the sound - unimpressive effects and a flat-out boring soundtrack. If the dev could address THIS particular problem especially, I think this would be a pretty awesome game. At only $4.99 US regular price, the game is well worth it. I got it for 40% off, and I can only say LUCKY! If you're into twin stick shooters and persistant upgrades, then it's worth a play... but turn off the music and play your own. (edited for a spelling mistake - hey Valve - where's the spellcheck?)

Thumbs up for gameplay and a good roguelite twin stick shooter, but there does not seem to be any ongoing developement /bugfixes and it has crashed at least 3 times in the 2 hours I have played. Others have not had this issue So your computer may be alright but if you get a couple crashes in the first hour just refund because it is not worth the hassle. Recommended , but buyer beware.

Fun game, but grindy. In fact, with the right combination of trash gear, you can keep going until you simply don't do enough damage to kill fast enough, then upgrade to the appropriate level of trash gear, and repeat the process. Rerolling the gear is fun as always, but costs are too high for rare gear. Charge ability is a bit OP, whereas nukes aren't that useful. All in all a fun game that requires very low initial time investment (as opposed to say, Diablo III). Still highly recommended however, as I find this great for stress relief.

I can already tell after .2 hours of playing this game that it is a very fun twin stick shooter. I think someone else described it as being a cross between Geometry Wars, FTL, and Rogue Legacy. That description is very apt. Procedural generation + Roguelike + upgrades and inventory kept after death prevents this from being repetitive, frantic action makes it fun. A lethal combination that makes it one of the better time-killers available on Steam for $5.

Gran Vitreous is a highly polished, FAST paced 2d twin stick space shooter with rogue light elements and a deep skill tree/level up system(say that once fast). It's got lots of loot and great graphics with tons of mesmerizing particle effects. Catchy tunes and punchy sound effects. GV also has fantastic writing and complex yet streamlined RPG style menus and UI. Addictive and highly recommended.

[b][i]Gran Vitreous[/i] is a wonderful shmup, well worth the asking price.[/b] There is [i]alot[/i] of game here, as long as you are ok with the graphics (I personally love them, as someone who loves the indie retro style). [i]Essentially, you fight your way through level-after-level of bullet hell, collecting stuff along the way in order to perma-upgrade your ship for future runs.[/i] It's as simple as that. [b]Pros:[/b] +Hours of fun for a too-small asking price +Great retro visuals and graphics - explosions and pickups are epic! +Controller support works really well for a great couch experience +All the upgrades are complex enough to keep me coming back, yet simple enough to dive into without too much trouble +Upgrades really make you feel more powerful - and they are quite diverse, which changes your playstyle substantially [b]Cons:[/b] -Definately only for those fond of bullet hell with retro-ish graphics [b]Totally worth the five bucks.[/b] You will get well worth your money if this is your jam.

Loot driven Geometry Wars, as simple as that. So far, neither of these two parts is excellent, but both are very good. Requires you to look past the subpar graphics. Expect to die a lot at the beginning, your lv1 white equipment won't take you too far.

My thumbs hurt -------------- GET THIS GAME The paper napkin pitch? Twinstick shooter roguelite. Geometry Wars mashed with Rogue Legacy, with a dash of FTL. -Geometry Wars: You are a shape, shooting other shapes for points. -Rogue Legacy: There is an item progression and a skill progression. You retain these when you die, which allows you to push further. -FTL: The game is comprised of 4 sectors that you must progress through and defeat the boss at the end. Being a roguelite there is also a healthy amount of randomization throughout. Each sector has dozens of levels. Each level is randomly generated with a subset of the enemy shapes, and various buffs and debuffs. For example, 50% smaller playfield, 200% Enemy health, 75% increased item rarity, and an ASTEROID FIELD. Beat one level and unlock paths to 2-5 others which are similarly randomized. The classic FTL conundrum of pushing forward to simply survive to see the final encounter, versus moving laterally for more loot/XP is in full effect here (though there is no pressure of an enemy fleet encroaching). There are at least a half dozen primary weapons, probably as many secondary and super weapons, and likewise about as many items for the Utility slot, which have various effects like a repulsor field, 'phase shift' which grants a moment of invulnerability, or simple speed boosts. Rounding out the equippable items are hull and shield items, which aren't really as exciting. All these things have their own iLevels and stats. Your Level 15 Rare quality hull is probably better than the level 20 Common hull that just dropped. Standard roguelite stuff. But it works so, so well. FTL, Rogue Legacy, and Geometry Wars are heavyweights with devoted fanbases, and deservedly so. Gran Vitreous is the result of putting those games in a blender. It's $5 USD (!!!) and well worth it. After 6 hours I've just beat the first sector, and I want to do nothing more than dive back in right now. You know if you're the type of player interested in this game. You really ought to check it out.

Geometry Wars + Rogue Legacy = Gran Vitreous if I want to say it in tl:dr format. [h1]So what to expect from this shmup[/h1] Well the game got to offer some RPG-lite elements( leveling up, passive skills,gear) and Rogue-lite elements(randomly generated lvls) . Gameplay is pretty straightforward : Kill or be killed. At the moment you can pick one of the two modes to play : Campaign and Endless. [b] Campaign [/b] There isnt much of a story in the campaign: your goal is to destroy Gran Vitreous, the mother shape that creates the ships that attack the galaxy. In order to find Gran Vitreous you need to find its coordinates so you go on an adventure to collect 3 segments from the meaniest ships created by Gran Vitreous . So the campaign is separated into 4 zones and each one of them got a level range(0-30,30-60,60-95,95-125) . Though the level number seems to be high you wont need to reach the suggest level in order to complete the zone( I was able to finish the game as level 83) . Each zone contains a lot of arenas to fight in . The fun part is that each arena gets random "perks" like increased enemy,drop, player's damage and the likes but also you may encounter and specific arena perks like asteroid field, debris, gravity wells, solar flares . When comes to encountering enemies you may end up against a mothership, station or a boss monster( once you beat the zone boss,you can find it as an encounter in next zones) . Other bonuses you may find are infinite secondary or super ammo ... or why not ... disabled weapon systems! Every arena got only 1 way to be completed : kill everything, kill the "elite" , wait for the timer to finish the countdown, repair the ship. Depending on the arena you pick you will get an additional objective that you can try to complete for bonus experience. Overall a good RNG system that may frustrate you if you are down on your luck. [b] RPG elements [/b] Game features 6 gear slots(main/secondary/super weapon, hull,shield and utility) and 3 skill trees(offensive,defensive and utility). Hull and shield are simple , the higher the number the better . At the time of the review there are 6 utilities, each one of them with their own pros and cons. During playing I tried only half of them but overall they enchant the gameplay and are able to save your ship quite often. Same goes for guns, not big variety of guns at the moment in my opinion but gonna be added some new weapons later on with updates. The general stat for your weapons is damage/ damage per second , the higher the better ... if you like the gun of course. Depending on the rarity of the gear you can get bonus stats : higher numbers mainly with some utility like bonus items/higher chance for better gear and the likes. You can upgrade your gear in the dock hub(aka before you go on adventure) with credits. Skill trees provide only passive bonuses and cost skill points and credits to unlock them. You can unlock higher ammo capacity, more lives at the start , higher chance to find items, get more experience, deal more dmg and so on. Overall Campaign offers quite good content if you have only 10-15 minutes to play . [b] Endless [/b] Endless mode is completly different compared to Campaign . In Endless you pick utility and then RNG picks your weapon and put you in an arena in which you have to survive for as much as you can . You can upgrade your weapons when the clock hits 0(its time-gated upgrade system) and upgrade your hull/shield/utility from collection dropped items. In Endless you will encounter everything that you saw in Campaign apart from boss monsters(thats if you played Campaign first) . That includes both mobs and galaxy events(asteroids,debris and so on) The goal of endless mode is to survive as much as possible and compare your result with other players thanks to steam leaderboards . [b] Art/Graphics [/b] The graphics are simple but flashy ... at times WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too flashy ... so flashy that you may end up confused for a split second ... in which you got hit by an asteroid. But graphics are doing their job just fine. [b] Sound [/b] The background sound of the game is fitting, it doesnt break immersion but the sound effects at times are bad. To be more precise : you can hear a boss to charge its gun ... that you just destroyed. Now I need to say that the first time you play you may encounter 2 crashes : once when you reach your first store on the galaxy map , and the 2nd crash is when you try to load the game after the 1st crash but after them I had no issues with the game [h1] Overall [/h1] The price tag is fair for the content that the game offers and its a steal if you are fan of the genre. The game is fun and offers enough genuine content and playtime to make the purchase worth it .

This is Geometry Wars mixed with Rogue Legacy. Everytime you die, you start over from the first level but keep your upgrades and can buy new upgrades with the money you made from a run. Features: [*]You can customize your ship with new hull components, weapons, secondary weapons... [*]Ship changes appearance based on the weapons you carry. [*]You can level up and buy upgrades in a skill tree [*]You can reroll the attributes of an item. [*]You can switch between 4 main weapons (gatlin gun, laser, particle cannon, phaser arrays...) [*]You have a secondary weapon like missiles, mines, drones.... [*]You have a super that allows you to throw bombs, grenades, clustergrenades... [*]Randomized level generation which is reminiscent of FTL (you travel between nodes) [*]Level modifiers like area size, enemy size, exp gained, player damage, enemy damage but also environmental effects like black holes or meteor storms. It's quite the ambitious project! And it mostly delivers! One of the downsides is (and why a lot of people would give it a pass) is that the graphics don't look great. If you can look past that, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised.