Velocity 2X Out Today on PS4, PS Vita

77 18
Velocity 2X Out Today on PS4, PS Vita

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.

Velocity 2X

Take on the Vokh in race-tuned space combat…


Velocity 2X

…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!

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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!

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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.

Velocity 2X

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

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. =)

Comments are closed.

77 Comments

18 Author Replies

  • Thanks again for making this IGC!

    I’m sure my Vita would thank you too if it could talk!

  • Hey folks, total hype over here. Any questions, fire ‘em over =)

  • FREE on PS+!?
    SCORE TO THE MAX!

  • Velocity 2X saved this month’s IGC

  • IGN’s Greg Miller has the keyword “BEYOND!”

    At this point, I think FuturLab has created their own keyword: “HYPE!” :P

    Seriously, though, this game. I cannot wait for this game. And Day One DLC… ehh. I’m not a fan of it in general, but I’ll be very very tempted. If it was also available for Plus for free, it would be a definite yes. But it’ll depend on the price tag.

    In any case, congratulations on making it to release day, FuturLab! You guys have some well-deserved time off waiting for you after the Store updates in all regions this week. :D

  • Can’t wait to play this! Haven’t played the first though. Maybe I should…

  • Will download tomorrow. Can’t wait, looks epic.

  • Amazing game!!!!! Thank you for this lovely game.

  • I hear Velocity 2X is a contender for GOTY. Woah, I had no idea they were that good!

  • Bold claims! I’m looking forward to this game and really hope it delivers. The first one was a masterpiece. How much is the DLC? I may throw some money your way just to say “Thanks!”

  • I find it disrespectful to be compared to metroid. i think this game is overrated…

    • Hey, thanks for your comment.

      The ‘Metroid on steroids’ line came from lots of people saying just that (or more risqué versions of it) on our YouTube videos.

      If you think it’s overrated, give it a go, and if you still think so, come and tell us @FuturLab. We’ll be very happy to hear your feedback as we always want to improve!

  • I’m looking forward to playing, but I don’t think my brain works this fast any more.

  • @SlixShot

    Definitely go download the first one I did yesterday in anticipation for the sequel and i’m glad I did because the first one is awesome. I look forward to the store update later today.

  • @11 If you haven’t played Velocity Ultra, that’s understandable. You should check out Ultra if you can, but since you have Plus, you should definitely download 2X regardless and have some fun with it. :D

  • Game looks awesome + fast as heck!! Me likey!! :P And then teleportation on top of that! Aah, headache coming!! ;) Metroid AND portal on crack, hahaha, good stuff can’t wait to play it :)

  • @11, Metroid and CastleVania will probably always be the basis of comparison for these types of games, as they defined the genre. That doesn’t make it disrespectful.

  • James congrats to u and your team on the finished product!

    Since I’ll be getting this for free with PS+ I want to buy the DLC day one to support u guys. But how much is it?!?!

  • Missed out on the first game but definitely will be checking this one out!

  • I will try this out since its free and see how it plays out. Haven’t really been enjoying this free PS4 indie games though.

  • Velocity Ultra is my favorite PSN “not-full-priced” Vita game, along with Hotline Miami. I remember now, when I bought Ultra, I platinum’d it in, like, a week. Perfecting levels felt sooo satisfying. The experience was just AWESOME. Thank you very much, FuturLab!
    PSN store should update faster!!

  • I am really excited about the off-ship segments. Is there a good balance of both gameplay modes throughout the story, or are they more like special levels?

  • HYPE!!

    As a THANKS for the ICG, I’ll buy the DLC, I’ll literally throw money to screen for your great team!
    It wll be a blast playing this on Vita when I went work, and PS4 when I arrived home

  • Also bought Velocity Ultra and man that game blew all my doubt I’ve had before

  • Copy/pasting myself from the EU blog:

    Buy this game people! I’ve had an early copy since Friday and it’s something else. A brilliant game and these guys deserve all the support and recognition you can give them. A seriously quality piece of entertainment. I’m not ashamed to admit I’m addicted. :D

  • Looks like Shovelware.

  • Very excited to play Velocity 2X today! I’m happy to see it being free for PlayStation Plus members. I would have loved to purchase as I enjoyed Velocity Ultra alot on my Vita. Velocity 2X will also go great being played on Vita, nice having a PS4 version as well.

    James, I’ve enjoyed reading yours and Hussain post on the PS Blog. I can tell you both have put passion and effort into making a second Velocity game and it shows on here and Twitter. Thanks for making this game and bringing it to the PlayStation platforms :)

  • Can’t wait to put my hands on Velocity 2X, Platinum here I go!

  • I loved the first game, but can’t get past level 45…I guess I’m not very good at it.

    But one thing I didn’t like about it: I don’t like when a game demands you to replay levels over and over for “stars” in order to unlock the next one. If I finish a level, I wanna play the next one. Does Velocity 2x demand these replays?

    • It does have an XP gate on the later levels, yes.

      The way we see it, the entire game is a tutorial, designed to ‘skill you up’ – replaying older levels to earn XP shows you how skilled you have become, giving you confidence to try trickier challenges. Once you’ve got those skills, the rest of the levels open up naturally.

  • Can’t wait, really…the first was the best Mini, the HD version, one of the best Vita game… The 2x will be for sure my BG2014

    Thanks for supporting the Vita, other studios including sony should look at teams like futurlab and learn.

    You are the best !!!

  • Forgot to mention: this will be played on VITA exclusively for me. Loved the touch teleporting in Ultra.

  • I like the confidence and the pride in your work. Now saying it’s a GOTY winner is a lot of pressure. I’ll let you guys know if I agree.

  • After seeing the trailer and reading this post I was more than happy to pop down $20 for this but knowing that it’s going to be free for Plus members just made this game even better.

    Now I just need to convince all my friends to get it too… Or force them…

  • Loved playing the first Velocity, hours go by and you don’t even notice because you want to keep playing! I got through the 50 levels but I haven’t been back to get Perfects on everything yet. But I’m planning on doing it this time with Velocity 2X for sure! Also, artistically, I just wanted to say that what you’ve created here is comparable in my mind to the transition from the original Mega Man games to the Mega Man X titles stylistically and game play wise. That and second only to Mega Man this game has the most amount of split-second things you have to do in under 5 seconds (that’s how it feels anyway haha). If you’re up for a challenge, get this game/both games today!

    Good luck everyone :)

  • Also, EXPLOSIONS! BOOM! KABLAM! KAPPPPOOOOOSH! PEW PEW PEW!

  • Awesome! Thanks for the DLC! I was down trodden that I couldn’t purchase what looks like the best game on the vita thus far (now topping Velocity)

  • thanks for giving it for free for PS+ members. Im not a fan of the space ship part but the on ground combat looks cool.

  • I hope adding this game to IGC works out great for your guys. This game is going to be awesome! I can’t wait to play this on my VITA so thanks for bringing it there. Whenever I get a PS4, since this game is cross-buy, it’ll be great to pass the controller to see whom can get the best score/time, while hopefully helping me get harder trophies! ;)

  • I have to admit that when I first read about this game, I didn’t think very much of it. However, after watching the trailer, it looks like the type of game that I could get into. Thanks a lot for adding it to Plus! so we don’t even have to pay for it! I look forward to trying it out!

  • Can’t wait to get home to play this. Just counting down the hours in my day.

    Hopefully it’ll make me forget that god awful heavenly sword movie just finished watching…. I think it literally caused me pain.

  • So stoked for 2X! First thing I’m doing when I get home from work is loading this bad boy up :) Thank you for the amazing games FuturLab!

  • I hope there are no more speed levels, where you need to shoot a lot of stupid bombs in a lot of stupid switches. That was so annoying in the first game. But in everything else, I aa pretty hyped and exited. Yeah!!!

  • Never played this game and I am excited to try it out today. The visuals look beautiful from what I have seen! I have heard nothing but good things.

  • I sucked at the first one, and I am confident I’ll suck at this one too, but when the game is good, does that really even matter?

  • @gemuvan That’s pretty much what these games are all about though :D

  • I’d buy this if it was also released on the still viable PS3. Oh well, I’ll spend my money elsewhere.

  • Totally going to give this a whirl tonight after the store updates. Thanks Cyclops!

  • I love that you challenge yourself with the term “Metroid on Steroids”… Samus is my favorite Nintendo character so please know that I will be playing Velocity 2X a LOT because I’m pretty excited about it!!

    It is look gorgeous!!

  • This game looks absolutely fantastic. Looks like a real labor of love. Can’t wait to play.

  • Its great to see the evolution of you guys since the Velocity mini……I just can’t thank you enough for allowing this piece of awesomeness to be free on the IGC.Big thanks and success for you guys.

  • She looks like if Kim Possible and Shego had a daughter together.

    Somehow.

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields