Game Reviews

Vector Blaster

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Vector Blaster
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| Vector Blaster

Depending on your mood (or how empty the bottle is), nostalgia can be anything from a mature acceptance of personal history to a full-blown melancholic wallowing in feelings best forgotten. But that's enough about our failed romances.

The whole retro scene - as we gamers quirkily label our particular form of nostalgia - is even less logical. How can the games of yesteryear compete with the huge boost in graphics, audio, story, characterisation and general lushness of today's masterpieces? Anyhow, surely by definition retro games can only be fun for players who got to experience them the first time around?

That's why the only retro games that work are the ones that don't try to compete. Thinking about remaking Pac-Man or Space Invaders in 3D? Forget it. The argument goes, they are so fundamental to the fabric of gaming, even new generations will enjoy them exactly the same as they were in the 1980s.

But where does that leave the lesser retro titles? Released in 1980 by Atari, 3D vector shoot-'em up Tempest has had its fair share of remakes; with Jeff Minter's 1994 Jaguar version, Tempest 2000, perhaps more famous than the original.

Vector Blaster, which was previously released for smartphones, N-Gage, and PocketPC now comes to iPhone. It looks back to the Atari source for its inspiration. Cue simple vector graphic playing areas and primitive box enemies on a black starfield background. The nicest way we can put it is: it's an unsophisticated Tempest clone.

The mechanics are straightforward. You scratch up and down with your left hand on the touchscreen to rotate your ship around the playfield (there's also an horizontal option). Meanwhile, you tap furiously with your right to fire laser bolts at the onrushing coloured cubes - sorry, there's no lefty reverse option.)

Total annihilation is the goal for each level, with every enemy that makes the journey from being a dot at the vanishing point start of its line to the end where your gunship is located knocking off part of your health. Thankfully, the occasional yellow box will also make its way towards you for the purposes of health replenishment.

It's the frantic navigation that really keeps things going. Stages vary from closed loops to more simple open levels and are packed with foes. As such, you're forced into firing at anything that moves, while also attempting to minimise the number of power-ups you miss, just to stay alive.

There are some additional twists too. Other power-ups include double and triple fire, which provide the ability to fire down multiple lines. Also, as some types of ships make it to the end of the level, they will remove the links you require to rotate around. If the level is a complete loop, this means you have to go the long way round. If closed, it's more serious, as you'll be trapped rotating around one area, waiting until the link regenerates and you can target the enemies in the other part.

And then there are the mother ships, which act as end-of-level bosses. They have a variety of actions, from depositing multiple enemies for you to target or chucking out waves of invulnerable boxes you just have to avoid colliding with.

Of course, being heavily based on a retro game, Vector Blaster's main weakness is longevity, as there's little more than a three-letter high score table to keep you coming back for more. But for short bursts of action from gaming's early days reinvigorated by iPhone control, screen and aesthetics, this is worth the memory.

Vector Blaster

Tempest-clone Vector Blaster hits the spot when it comes to moving and shooting with vector graphics. But its unsophisticated fun is limited to five-minute chunks.
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Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.