Vapor

Vapor starts out with what I think might be the most unintentionally hilarious cutscenes I've ever seen.  All of the backstory, riddled with cliches, by the way, is delivered via voice over from the voice actress of the main character.  In-game, she does her job very well, but for some reason, in the opening scene, she delivers every line like she couldn't give less of a crap about what she's saying.  Maybe this is an odd thing to open up a review with, but it cracked me up, so I give the opening sequence my seal of approval.

But will the rest of the game be endowed with such decoration?  Spoiler alert: no. I quit the game after about five minutes because I passed by two gate type thingies that looked like checkpoitns, died, and was promptly sent back to the menu screen without an option to pick up where I left off.  Yeah, this is ground well trodden by this point, and I get that what the students at DigiPen are really concerned with is mastering game mechanics and design, but how exactly am I supposed to know whether you've made a good game if I get frustrated enough to quit before I've even experienced most of it?

There are three things I think are worth commenting on here.  First, the design.  Digipen delivers once again: the design is beautiful.  The graphics make my GPU happy and the visual style makes my eyes happy.  Second, the narrative.  Despite the opening being about as enthralling as a used litter box, the way the plot unfolded during my limited play time actually made me interested in what happened to the characters.  I attribute most of this to the voice acting, which is surprisingly well done for an amateur project.  Third and most importantly, let's talk mechanics.  Honestly, it's nothing special.  It's your standard isometric shooter, and I didn't play far enough to see them improve.  I mean, they are functional, and no matter who or where you are, beaning a goblin in the head with a fireball will always feel good.  Still, though, I found myself wanting more.  Again, though, maybe that all comes later.

I hate having to end my sentences with "I might totally be wrong, though," but when a game loses my interest, I stop playing it.  It's as simple as that.  Maybe you won't be quite as discouraged as I was about losing progress, but for me, it's a deal breaker.

that's all I got for now.  Until next time, stay vaporous.

Links
Vaypr: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26720

PS- I totally meant to post this yesterday...