Vector Strain Reviews

GREAT beginner shoot-em-up. New players to the genre will find this game very easy to pick up, learn the basics, and progress consistently. Ignore the rough edges. Vector Strain simply sets out to be a quick, simple, top-down game. That's it. That's all it needs to do. And it does it.

Think of what I am about to say as more of a neutral response, since there's only recommend or not recommend. Hardcore veterans of the shmup genre will probably blow through this game like nothing. In terms of difficulty, it is lower than other shmup games. I personally find the music not very memorable, but I suppose it's a preference thing. This would be something I would suggest if you like shmups, but want something less intense to start off with and can't be bothered to play bullet hell or more difficult shmups.

aw man it reminds me of the good ol days... i played it with a controller and twas cool... it also has a nice modern feel to it, especially when played on a big TV screen :) the graphics and audio arent hi-fi and thats the point, just a bit psychedelic, but with all that action going on there i think it's a fun game tho

Decent space shoot em' up. I was slow to warm up to it, but once I got a feel for it I took a liking to it. Oklevels and enemies with solid controls. That is partially what makes it stand out to me from some of the other indie space shooter (I'm looking at you Blade Storm). It controls well and feels like a nice balance between Raiden and Danmaku. Gameplay wise I'd liken it to a combination of the two as well. Gameplay wise as far as powerups and bombs this is very much in the mold of the Raiden Titles but the gameplay feels more akin to Danmaku and other graze shooters in the volume of projectiles and changing speeds from very slow and methodical to hectic and fast. Initiallly the difficulty seems to be on par with the likes of those games but is ultimately and easier affair as it takes much less time to figure out the really dangerous moments. Still quite challenging relative to other genres but in the bullet hell world it is a very fair and approachable game on the original/arcade difficulty setting. Granted a newcomer to the genre would likely struggle even on beginner, but I think without too much dedication it is a very beatable game on that setting for lesser skilled players. 5 different ships with unique weaponry and bomb type weapons offer good variety and replay value (two must be unlocked). Oh and their is a shield mechanic that will let you absorb damage for a very short period of time but always must be activated and held by the player on reaction which I think helps balance the mechanic from making things too easy. It is not vital to use, but is a nice feature to get out of some of the really sticky spots. 6.5/10, especially when considering the price. It's a pretty game with a uniquely metal soundtrack that I normally would not dig but fits the game excellently. I lowered my initial score as I've come to find my tastes and standards change over time. I still think this is a decent shmup with fun to be had, it just has some very generic elements as well. The sound is not the best quality either. Still a solid beginner to intermediate shmup with some fun ships to use for a bit. Recommended!

Pretty generic danmaku, bullet hell game. It does its best to try and do what it supposed to do, but it falls rather short on every aspect. Enemies are not very creative, nor their firing pattern. Sound effects too often cuts short, leaving quite sad impression. Music is pretty short loop. There is no any special, innovative mechanic to the game as well. There are couple of issues I am not happy with, as well. As usual, some enemies has laser weapons, which they would telegraph first, and then beams become deadly after some time. The problem is, game does not really give away clearly the moment, when beams become dangerous, so you're pretty much playing the guessing game. The second is interface. Main menu [i]is[/i] navigatable with arrows, but it is not really convenient. It was clearly made to be controlled with a mouse, which is not really a good idea for a danmaku game. [edit] Oh, yeah, right, I almost forgot. Settings are pretty limited and not thought through really well. You can not switch to windowed mode for example, but as it is [i]made with unity[/i], you can just press Alt-Enter to switch from the full screen. Don't get me wrong, this game is not bad, and if you want a danmaku, sure go ahead and buy it; but there are just so many better bullet hells out there...

I rate the game Vector Strain 3.5/5. This game is pretty good, if you can get it for cheap like I did. This is another late 1980's style vertical scrolling action-arcade style of game. Some call these kind of games "schmupps" or something like that. Lots of enemies fly at you from the top of the screen and into the firepower of your ship which is usually located near the bottom of the screen pointing ever upwards. This game is pretty good but extremely difficult, making making it almost as frustrating as it is fun. +Good graphics. The graphics in this game are fairly dark though and look oddly greasy and shiny making for a fairly interesting and unique style. It is rainy in a couple of the stages but another stage is a desert and it still looks oddly greasy but this game still looks pretty good. +The controls are tight and responsive. +The enemies and stages are fairly inventive. +There are 3 ships to choose from and 2 more which might be able to be unlocked in time (but one of those unlockable ships requires you to be really, really great at this very difficult game as you would have to complete the game without using a single 'continue'). +/- The music tends more towards the alternative or heavy metal style rather than the frenetic techno musical style which most of these kind of games have. The music is somewhat catchy but the overall quality of both the sound and music is somewhat muddy. +/-The game's menu can take some getting used to and is best navigated by mouse though the gameplay itself should be played with a keyboard (I don't use a videogame controller so I don't know how well that works). -This is a short game. There are only 5 stages. -This is an extremely difficult and unforgiving game which could cause some major frustration, particularly if you try to complete the nearly impossible and attempt to unlock all of this game's playable ships. The speed of the enemy projectiles is extremely fast and they are numerous. The bosses are almost impossible to defeat without being destroyed multiple times. If you are looking for a simple little action game which will provide a severe challenge, this game should do it for you, at least for a while. -The title of this game sounds like it might have something or other to do with viruses or disease but I can assure you that this game has absolutely NOTHING to do with vectors (other than the angles at which enemies approach and fire at you) and strains (other than the strain of trying to play it without getting your little ship blown to smithereens). This game appears to provide you with no backstory whatsoever.

Decent game for the price. However I found it to be underwhelming in a crowded market. Areas of Improvement: Needs Better sound effects and maybe music. There are parts of the game that could benefit from audio. such as charged laser attacks from enemies. The music is a preference thing but it was dull and repetative though slighly moody. Bullet patterns are generic and uninspiring but there are some good level boss ideas that need more fleshing out. some transition scenes when moving in 3d space have bullets awkwardly follow when they should probably desapear. in the same transitions i was moving through the background objects. The game has a lot of potential but needs a lot of polish.

I cant really say there's a high point anywhere in my experience w this game. It has issues detecting controllers sometimes or just the buttons and the diagonal movement looks staggered initially but maybe I'm insane. The different shot patterns are cool, but oddly enough, the spread shot ship moves the same speed as the straight shot ship. The patterns are not very visually pleasing nor compelling to play against and the hitbox is an ugly flashing red dot and the soundtrack hurts meh. Buy on sale if you want to achievement hunt or think it's particularly visually cool or something

Much, Much more competent than AWA from the same Developer. Good Graphics, tight Control, Elevator Music (if the Elevator is in a Night Club) BUTT The same Problems as the predecessor... Bullet Pattern that gives you no room... to manoeuvre... hence the shield Bullet Pattern stay on Screen after you Die... hence DEAD AGAIN... because the Shield will overload in an instant... Worst the Enemies Bullets will hide in the the Background.. (Same Design Choice In AWA, but here they will hide in the Bullet Stream of your own Ship) It's Dirt Cheap on a Sale so i will recommend it... for what it is, a able SHMUP, but not a good one... and not a bad one...

Does not properly support controllers. Can only remap to A and B buttons on an controller, but the game requires 3 buttons. So I have to map Bomb and Shield to the same button. Game is ridiculously hard, but maybe it would be easier with the use of the shield which I can not use properly due to the mapping issue. Sound FX and music are dull and boring. Looks pretty though.