POSTED 16/5/13


VELOCITY ULTRA

Futurlab

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

Legendary world champion racing driver Mario Andretti said that. He was, of course, talking about this space shooty/dodgy thing called Velocity Ultra. He had a really early copy that fell through a wormhole so that it existed before the actual Vita did. Fuck that guy was good!

A ‘director’s cut’ of the really rather fabulous minis release, the Futurlab boffins have tweaked everything tweakable without breaking anything that was just fine how it was thankyouverymuch.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. For the uninitiated, we’re talking a classically-styled space arcade romp that feels comfy and familiar like favourite socks, and also new, challenging and heartbeat-thumping enough to keep the people who peddle blood pressure meds swimming in Porsches. That’s a difficult thing to pull off. You go upwards really fast, ducking, weaving, shooting, bombing, teleporting, rescuing survivors (not of the “reality” TV variety, thank fuck), pushing the screen quicker and quicker, marvelling at the soundtrack and breaking more glass than Hazel O’Connor ever managed – much to her chagrin. You’ll also puzzle a bit, sweat, stress, and blow up lots.

Featuring a gently amping difficulty curve, new bits and bobs ease into play gradually as you shoom about in your intricately capable Quarp Jet. Stick around for a while and you’ll still sometimes be overwhelmed. But just try not replaying and beating that fothermucking level that just done did deaden you.

As intimated, the trip to Vita sees several improvements. The graphics go for a funky comic vibe complete with added dazzle shippy effects, there’re online high scores and also trophies – including a platinum-num-num. There are also oodles of in-game awards, bonus levels and even a fricking calculator!

If you’ve ever enjoyed a classic arcade blast then get this and hold on tight. To quote another Mario, “Wahoo!”

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