Hey folks, I’m back for one last hype for Velocity 2X launch day.
A few weeks ago I came on here and told you all that I believed Velocity 2X was a game-of-the-year-winner. Today I’m going to explain precisely why I believe that is the case!
For anyone that hasn’t seen the trailer yet:
INNOVATION
First of all, people love something novel and exciting to get their teeth into, so we’ve made sure 2X has plenty of firsts.
Having two genres in one expands the speedy gameplay format in a meaningful way, pushing your skills and confidence with the teleportation controls in many different directions.
Take on the Vokh in race-tuned space combat…
…then dock your ship and continue the fight on foot!
Whilst combining two genres into one is the main attraction, it’s not the only one, as there are many other unique ideas along the way, including the ability to fly your ship inside a boss to melt its innards by hand, and teleporting to a mid-air telepod that you just threw!
General Glaive is a dangerous foe and must be confronted regularly!
Ultimately, Velocity 2X is a fusion of many different gameplay styles, with an emphasis on speed. This diagram illustrates how Velocity 2X is layered together.
CONTROLS
Of course, the single most important thing for those who know what quality gaming is all about!
We got the controls almost perfect in Velocity Ultra, and now Hussain and I have had so much more time to refine them for 2X — they’re super-perfect. The main teleport control is more responsive, the boost feels utterly fabulous, and performing a mid-air teledash through a fatal hazard makes you feel like a badass every single time.
GAMEPLAY
Trust me when I say that Ed Earl is one of the finest gameplay programmers out there; always looking to improve the function, feel, and fun of every game feature.
Smash & grab!
The entire Velocity 2X universe truly is a high-speed playground thanks to his pursuit for perfection.
You’ll also really enjoy fighting the Vokh. Ed created a deadly threat here which is incredibly satisfying to avert with a reliable dose of skill. I love them!
Blink and you’ll miss me!
ART STYLE
With a tiny team, we knew the Velocity 2X art style had to be unique and stunning without requiring thousands of hours of asset production. Chris Goff’s high-contrast, low-detail environment art, along with Jack Hamilton’s fluid and elegant character rendering achieves these goals beautifully. It looks great in screenshots, and marvellous in motion.
Hand animated 360-degree shooting feels great on the right stick!
VISUAL EFFECTS
If you’ve seen the Explosions and the JBraamz blogs, you know that Hussain Sheikh has the passion and skills to bring game worlds to life. Supported by a tireless enthusiasm for particles from Callum Roberts, the game is bursting with visual excitement.
From the environment lighting and effects to leaves blowing gently on the wind, Velocity 2X is alive and well at 1080p and 60fps.
LEVEL DESIGN
What’s the use of having awesome mechanics, controls and visuals without an exciting journey to discover them on? Kirsty Rigden has weaved a constantly evolving path with a perfect learning curve, carefully drip-feeding 2X’ many features throughout.
We treat every level as an opportunity for you to extend and improve your skills.
You’ll always be doing something new and exciting, whilst never feeling overwhelmed.
USER INTERFACE
The Velocity 2X UI is so slick and intuitive it needs its own hashtag: #TouchSlideRelease. You’ll be amazed at how much more fun you have when you’ve got Jack Lang’s respect for flow at your fingertips.
Are you the type that can’t be bothered to wait for the dials to animate to final position? Skip them and get a unique sound effect created just for you instead. Honestly, it’s quite astonishing how much Jack knows his stuff.
AUDIO & MUSIC
Whilst gameplay and visuals can excite you, music has the power to stir emotion. You’ll hear a wide range of moods in Velocity 2X, from peaceful melancholy to thunderous vengeance.
Also, let’s get something straight: game music very rarely manages to authentically capture what is great about the hit records driving genres forward. Well not here.
Authentic sounding electronic music worthy of a top drawer DJ set AND a wide range of emotions stirred? I sense awards coming, and it won’t be surprising because Joris de Man is the magician responsible for that Killzone theme you love. Yes that one.
You should check out the Velocity 2X soundtrack now:
STORY
With lovable characters and dialogue that will make you laugh out loud, Robin Jubber has created an engaging story that will keep you caring all the way through without getting in the way of the action. It’s also got skippable cut scenes, because gaming.
CHALLENGE
Then there’s me. What can I say, I love to reward skill, and I’ve made sure that you’ll enjoy a thrilling ride, flexing your gaming brain in joyful ways. I’ve spent countless hours obsessively refining every moment of gameplay to make you feel powerful, and my levels are tuned to the nth degree. Honestly, this game should be labelled: CLASS A.
QUALITY
Just in case it wasn’t clear, Velocity 2X is a game-of-the-year-winner for a simple reason: it’s the work of a small team that possess great passion and skill, who have worked incredibly hard to put their vision and talent into your hands, only for it to be sent back to them to improve over and over again by Dave Gabriel!
We’re all so proud of it, and we can’t wait for you to enjoy it! =D
OH BY THE WAY…
Velocity 2X launches with some day-one DLC. I know this divides opinion, but when we finally finished the game and submitted it to PlayStation, we realised we hadn’t fully explored some of the new features, there are too many!
So, we just kept on working…
The Critical Urgency DLC Pack will be available at launch, and features six obsessively fine-tuned speed-run levels that teach you new tricks and push your teleporting skills beyond the limits of your imagination — into the realm of gaming magic. Master these levels to dazzle your friends and scare your family with freakish talent.
Keep an eye out for this great looking poster on our shop in the coming days. It includes the names of our biggest supporters!
Velocity 2X is out today for $19.99, and it utilizes cross save and cross buy for PS4 and PS Vita!
Or, y’know, it’s FREE on PlayStation Plus…
Come and say hello @FuturLab. =)
So I take it the dlc is free as well for PS Plus members waiting for the store to update so I can download this & start playing it!!!!!!
ALMOST THERE!!! I think I’m even more hiped for this game than I’m for destiny…
This game looks gorgeous, I’ll be downloading this first thing after work today.
Wohooo!!! Free for plus? ima play this now!!!!! And please, more female protagonists, and more metroidvania style gameplay!!!!
Awesome thank you FuturLab for bringing the sequel to us, downloading as I write this and can’t wait to play it on my Vita! One question is the Critical Urgency DLC cross-buy?
Whoa! The store has already updated and I am downloading Velocity 2X now!
I’ll probably play this on the Vita… these games are better in bursts on a mobile device. Sony needs to bring some BIG titles to the IGC for PS4 now. I appreciate all the games, but there’s been nothing huge yet.
Never mind regarding my above comment, noticed it mentions in the description that the DLC entitles for use with both the PS4 and PS Vita just downloaded it!
What’s this? An AMAZING game that isn’t triple A? This is madness!! :P
This is one of those hidden pleasure type games for me. I remember playing the Mini and immediately falling in love with it. The level of difficulty curve is perfect and the music just keeps me hooked to attempt those perfects. Thanks for making more Velocity! And I love the female protagonist!
As someone who has never been a big shmup fan, I have to say I love the Velocity games. Something about them just plays so smooth and intuitive that I enjoy chasing the high scores.
Adding the on-foot levels just makes things even better, not to mention free with PS+!
And your love for the Vita is appreciated….I look forward to whatever game(s) Futurlab puts out next.
Played a bit, perfected ~8 levels.
I really like the story, art style (character portraits etc) is very nice, music is awesome.
Platforming sections are great, it’s great that you guys are not afraid to experiment with the gameplay.
My only complaint so far: friendlist activity spam, there are like 30 messages about me doing something in the game. And I am only at level 10.
I have to admit that I’ve had tVelocity Ultra on my Vita for months and have barely touched it after reading about and looking at the videos for 2X, I got really excited and decided to go back to Ultra again. Man Oh Man…I should’ve given this game more of my time. Ultra is AMAZING! Now I have to finish it before I can move on to 2X (that’s what I get for procrastinating…lol!). Congratulations FuturLab! Please continue your fruitful partnership with Sony and Playstation fans…everybody’s winning in this exchange!
I give it a 10/10 on the vita and a 8.5/10 on the PS4, it’s tailor-made for the vita.
Never did finish Velocity Ultra… I’m on level 10 now. I hate that it does the whole “Perfect” and the gold emblem, because I can’t help it but keep trying until I have it, I’m crazy like that. Fantastic Friggin’ game, and I can’t wait to play the new one on my PS4.
Day 1 DLC, GTFO
Thanks for the PS+ deal. :3 gotta go grab my vita and download it.
Great game, having a lot of fun playing it. I didn’t think mixing a platformer with a shooter would work, but you all pulled it off nicely. Looking forward to your future releases.
Awesome!