Do you like Star Wars? Silly question, of course you do. It’s one of the biggest things in the history of history. And what is the best part of Star Wars? The space battles of course. Fancy flying and lasers and rockets oh my. And if you, like me, have ever wanted to be one of those heroes then Strike Vector EX is the game for you. The whole aim of this game is to take part in fast paced, and nauseating battles in the skies above a futuristic dystopia.
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• Developer: RageQuit Corporation
• Publisher: RageQuit Corporation
• Reviewed on: Playstation 4
• Also Available On: N/A
• Release Date: Available Now
Piloting a high-tech jet fighter called a Vector, your task is simple. To eliminate the enemy pilots, blasting them out of the sky with your auto cannons and reducing their inferior vehicles to burning scrap. that’s it really, no further context or edification required really. There is a story mode in Strike Vector EX but it’s really just a series of missions strung together by some freeze frame cutscenes and some voice acting the creators of Street Fighter 5 would have regarded as too low effort.
The flying itself is a different story altogether though. If you’re looking for a detailed flight simulator with realistic physics and excruciatingly precise landing procedures then you’re probably better off with Elite: Dangerous. Instead Strike Vector is all about the dog fights. The ship you’re piloting has two modes, a helicopter like stationary mode that moves slowly but allows vertical lateral movement, and FAST mode, which is where you move fast. Combat requires balancing both fo these modes, because it’s very difficult to pivot or aim whilst moving in FAST mode, but staying too long in stationary mode guarantees that you’ll get picked off by some Red Baron wannabe with a rocket launcher.
Since I’m not a qualified fighter pilot, (and likely won’t be unless they relax those frankly ridiculous rules about height. And colour blindness. And general fitness) I can’t tell you how the piloting in Strike Vector compares with the real thing. however, compared with the same type of activity in most other games it’s leaps and bounds ahead. The FAST mode combat is a riot of speed and breakneck turns as you try and avoid flattening yourself against the side of floating oil rig long enough to pull off a perfectly timed barrel roll and unleash a barrage of rocket based smackdown on the enemy pursuing you. It’s fair to say that those of you who suffer from motion sickness might have a problem, as the world whirls by with little regard for the traditional concept of ‘down’ or ‘sideways’ for that matter. Movement in a 3D space is tricky. No wonder birds are always so angry.
Although there is a story mode as I mentioned before, there’s also a multiplayer. This is a little more satisfying than the slightly half-baked story mode in the sense that you have to try and outwit your human opponents. Although I admit that the tactic of flying straight past them and the launching your counter attack as they try and work out where you went. The multiplayer also allows you to customise your vector and although it’;s not the deepest system I’ve ever seen it gives you every weapons, special ability and passive right off the bat, and only restricts the cosmetic items through a XP based system. There don’t seem to be any micro-transactions or paid DLC at all, which is a small but notable feature.
If you’ve ever wanted to fly through the sky at close the speed of sound flinging rockets and blips on your radar, then Strike Vector is the game for you. And it’s an awful lot better than I just made it sound, I promise.
