Space Shooter Special | Velocity Ultra Review

In a nutshell, Velocity ultra is a traditional scrolling, top-down, space shooter with a few twists. In Velocity Ultra, you control the quarp jet and your objective is to rescue survivors from alien invaders. While the concept may seem familiar the game introduces concepts to keep the gameplay fresh. For example, players can adjust the level scrolling to be faster or slower, and players can point and click to jump to different points on the screen or even through walls. Velocity Ultra has 50 levels in all, each with a quick cartoon story to explain the mission so there’s plenty to do!

Each level must be completed within a certain time limit and with a number of survivors rescued otherwise it must be played over. Players also gain more experience points for completing levels faster which is where the adjustable level scrolling comes in handy. Additional experience points are earned for rescuing more survivors. As a result, Velocity Ultra emphasizes accuracy and timing of controller movements. The experience points are used to unlock later levels, which once unlocked can be played in any order.

The gameplay in Velocity Ultra is intuitive for the most part. The game even offers a series of in game tutorials which make it easy to get started. However, some parts of the gameplay such as side shots were left out of the tutorials. They’re pretty easy to figure out with a little button mashing, but is only a minor complaint for what is an overall fun experience. In fact, the controls are the only real complaint here. It feels like Velocity Ultra was meant to be played with a joystick instead of a keyboard because the keyboard controls are very spread out. It’s difficult to play without looking down at the keyboard from time to time. However, as previously stated this doesn’t significantly impact the overall experience.

Lastly, Velocity Ultra has online leader boards with high scores and a variety of achievements making it fun to compete and attain the high score. The game also offers different weapons such as the spreadshot double shot and side shots all of which are key to beating some of the more difficult levels. Timing and resourcefulness are critical to beat some levels as Velocity Ultra offers a variety of obstacles that require all the tools available. Overall, Velocity Ultra is a fun shooter and is definitely worth playing.

This review is based on a review copy of the PC version of Velocity Ultra developed by FuturLab