GAME OF THE
MONTH COLLECTION!
TSUNAMI/VIX
(Christopher L. Tumber, 2002)
Yes! It finally happened! Tempest is on the Vectrex and so is Qix! These were
some of my favourite classic games from the early 80's and now they are finally
available on this underrated vector machine. You can even see that now famous
message by Cats from Zero Wing as a little joke or see your Vectrex turned
into a Magic 8 ball. Each one has a separate review below. Thanks Chris!
TSUNAMI
I don't know what Tsunami means but this is a close to as Atari's Tempest
has you may ever get on the Vectrex. Tempest was an acclaimed shooter that
used Vector graphics in web based levels with enemies invading from the center.
Christopher Tumber even included a option to use the Atari 2600 Driving Roller
pad (used for the Atari 2600 game Indy 500) to get an original arcade like
feel of the 1981 Tempest arcade controls, very cool.
The graphics are sharp enough to look like Tempest complete with different
style vector webs but a few things are missing like the zoom in and leave
effects after you completed a level and there are no stars in the background
either. There are however zooming effects at beginning of each stage which
is rather nice but the booming sound effects from the original Tempest game
are not here.
Moving on to the sound, well, there sure isn't a lot to talk about here. The
only sound effects I noticed were when your ship fired a shot and when it
hits the enemy, that's it! There is no noise when you use your Super Zapper.
The controls are where Tsunami really excels because there are three different
set ups to best suit you. The Spinner option lets you use the Atari Driver
Controller in the second player slot and the Vectrex pad in the one player
slot and is the recommend control for the ship's roller action but if you
don't have the Driver pad then it's both Joystick and Compass controls similar
to Gyruss for the NES.
Tsunami really captures the feel of Tempest, although the sound effects were
fairly lacking and there is no colour of course, it's still a fast paced shoot
em up with tons of levels and all the hazards like flippers, spikes, and more.
Tsunami is definitely worth picking up for Vectrex fans!
For 1 player only
graphics: 6/10
sound: 2/10
gameplay: 7/10
VIX
If you haven't figured it out, this is Taito cult hit Qix. In Vix you have
to defend the internet by blocking off the Vix virus but beware of the sparks.
Vix still has a lot of the basic fundamentals of the game it's trying to be
but the limitations of the 20 year old machine just can't handle certain things.
First off the graphics look good enough but with block your ship completes
the game blinks and resets to reduce the lines on screen but it gets a little
annoying especially if you like to make several little blocks first.
The sound was better then Tsunami but there still isn't a lot here. You have
some buzzing background sound and some sound effects when you draw a block
or when the screen fades. Nothing special but it still works.
The controls are not a problem here as you have the option to move slow or
fast just like the original. Vix was good but at times it was a little too
easy plus there is a bug that may give you a super quick victory even though
you just drew a block that deleted everything else. Vix is still an awesome
and relaxing that will make you think.