What Is...? Trace Vector
- 10 years ago
Mix 2 Parts Tron and 1 part Bit Trip Runner with a side order of 80’s style Electronica and Trace Vector is born. For what appears to be the debut title of Vexel Games it feels as though they’ve knocked out of the park already, I’m seriously impressed.
Created by a two man team Alex Hill (@VexelGames) and Tyler Poelstra (@VexelSoftware), with music by the amazing Michael Birch (AKA FlexStyle) we have a high octane modern retro action arcade game with some puzzle elements thrown in for good measure.
The goal of this game is to race your ship through each level collecting as many fuel cells as possible to stop yourself from running out of fuel. All the while your ships speed increases the further you progress through the level, with dead ends and speed boosts galore this truly is addictive to play. This is one of those games that will push your reaction times to the limit, with severe punishment if you mess up, this gameplay is very similar to that of Bit Trip Runner which is by no means a bad thing.
The game has two modes: Endless and Adventure. Endless mode is, as you guessed, a continuous game mode in which your ship constantly speeds up which is where the difficulty lies. In this mode there is no worry about fuel (which we’ll talk about later) but is more about reaction time. The further you go the higher the score, the higher your place on the leader board. This maze is infinitely and randomly generated it seems so you’ll never get the same one twice.
Adventure is the story mode of the game, the basic premise is you’ve found a ship that thought it was lost forever and now you’re in a race to reach home. 12 Unlockable levels may seem quite small but you can basically think of these as worlds with 6 sub sections to each world. This amount of worlds is fine however in my opinion, especially when you consider the difficulty of the game in the context of trying to 100% each sub section. Each section contains a certain amount of fuel all of which you need to collect to 100% the level.
There’s also another added layer of difficulty with the fact that you can’t pick and choose sub sections of a level. You must play the full level which adds more pressure for you to play perfectly.
Now before we go any further let me provide a segment on the music of Trace Vector. I’m a big fan of all kinds of music and it never ceases to amaze me how good music in indie games typically is. Trace Vector is no exception to that remark. Flexstyle (also known by his real name Michael Birch) has composed some of the most well produced game music I have ever heard period. Not only that but this music also dynamically changes to match your progress which is awesome.
I’ve said it before in my review of Hotline Miami but there’s just something about this type of 90s electronica music that just brings back all the best memories of my gaming life. Head bopping beats, beautiful melodies and just the perfect feel, this soundtrack has it all and in my opinion is worth the price of the game alone.
Game controls are very simple you can either use the arrow keys or WASD, with spacebar which slows down time at the cost of fuel. For each branch there is a node connector which is basically a dot and depending on if you have your ship set to up or down you travel along one branch or another. The beauty of this is the fact that the crux of the games difficulty lies in the fact that you need to make decisions fast and this is where your reflexes and simple control system comes in to play. By only needing to press up or down to set which branch you’ll take, you can look ahead and pre-empt the movement which becomes a must as the speed and complexity of the branches increases.
This game obviously opens itself to DLC and if they get Greenlit (Greenlight page here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=127512289) I’d love to see them have Steam Workshop for user created levels which would make this a game with constant appeal.
Initially the game is going to be released on Desura as a short Windows Beta starting on the 18th of January and once this is over it will then be released for Linux and Mac, pre-order price is £6.49, with full price I’m guessing rising to £6.99 which is definitely reasonable.
They also have plans potentially in the future to possibly bring it to other platforms such as portable device, iOS and Android and maybe even newer consoles.
If you’re a fan of games like Bit Trip Runner, Tempest etc. that push your reflexes to the limit, have kick ass soundtracks and are super addictive to play, this is the game for you.
9/10
Created by a two man team Alex Hill (@VexelGames) and Tyler Poelstra (@VexelSoftware), with music by the amazing Michael Birch (AKA FlexStyle) we have a high octane modern retro action arcade game with some puzzle elements thrown in for good measure.
The goal of this game is to race your ship through each level collecting as many fuel cells as possible to stop yourself from running out of fuel. All the while your ships speed increases the further you progress through the level, with dead ends and speed boosts galore this truly is addictive to play. This is one of those games that will push your reaction times to the limit, with severe punishment if you mess up, this gameplay is very similar to that of Bit Trip Runner which is by no means a bad thing.
The game has two modes: Endless and Adventure. Endless mode is, as you guessed, a continuous game mode in which your ship constantly speeds up which is where the difficulty lies. In this mode there is no worry about fuel (which we’ll talk about later) but is more about reaction time. The further you go the higher the score, the higher your place on the leader board. This maze is infinitely and randomly generated it seems so you’ll never get the same one twice.
Adventure is the story mode of the game, the basic premise is you’ve found a ship that thought it was lost forever and now you’re in a race to reach home. 12 Unlockable levels may seem quite small but you can basically think of these as worlds with 6 sub sections to each world. This amount of worlds is fine however in my opinion, especially when you consider the difficulty of the game in the context of trying to 100% each sub section. Each section contains a certain amount of fuel all of which you need to collect to 100% the level.
There’s also another added layer of difficulty with the fact that you can’t pick and choose sub sections of a level. You must play the full level which adds more pressure for you to play perfectly.
Now before we go any further let me provide a segment on the music of Trace Vector. I’m a big fan of all kinds of music and it never ceases to amaze me how good music in indie games typically is. Trace Vector is no exception to that remark. Flexstyle (also known by his real name Michael Birch) has composed some of the most well produced game music I have ever heard period. Not only that but this music also dynamically changes to match your progress which is awesome.
I’ve said it before in my review of Hotline Miami but there’s just something about this type of 90s electronica music that just brings back all the best memories of my gaming life. Head bopping beats, beautiful melodies and just the perfect feel, this soundtrack has it all and in my opinion is worth the price of the game alone.
Game controls are very simple you can either use the arrow keys or WASD, with spacebar which slows down time at the cost of fuel. For each branch there is a node connector which is basically a dot and depending on if you have your ship set to up or down you travel along one branch or another. The beauty of this is the fact that the crux of the games difficulty lies in the fact that you need to make decisions fast and this is where your reflexes and simple control system comes in to play. By only needing to press up or down to set which branch you’ll take, you can look ahead and pre-empt the movement which becomes a must as the speed and complexity of the branches increases.
This game obviously opens itself to DLC and if they get Greenlit (Greenlight page here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=127512289) I’d love to see them have Steam Workshop for user created levels which would make this a game with constant appeal.
Initially the game is going to be released on Desura as a short Windows Beta starting on the 18th of January and once this is over it will then be released for Linux and Mac, pre-order price is £6.49, with full price I’m guessing rising to £6.99 which is definitely reasonable.
They also have plans potentially in the future to possibly bring it to other platforms such as portable device, iOS and Android and maybe even newer consoles.
If you’re a fan of games like Bit Trip Runner, Tempest etc. that push your reflexes to the limit, have kick ass soundtracks and are super addictive to play, this is the game for you.
9/10