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When the SNES did 3D, it did quite well for its time. There's nothing harder on the eye
today than 16-bit polygons, however, since the contemporary gamer might find controlling
anything of the kind to be slow and bulky, dragging its feet along the screen. And when
the thing that is being portrayed is a giant robot stacked with lasers and missiles, and
no doubt heavy armor capability, it may be too much to handle. Giant robots usually have
the dirty job of shooting down hordes of enemies, and this is exactly what you will be doing
in Vortex, developed by Argonaut Software, published by Electro Brain, and donated by
Chip in Alabama. One of the few titles to be packaged with the Super FX GSU-1 enhancement
chip, one of them being the more prominent Star Fox from Nintendo, there's no doubt that
Vortex is one of the more experimental titles for the Super NES. The chip format would also
improve to help Doom and Yoshi's Island achieve success. Vortex may have been overlooked by
history due to the resounding success of Star Fox, and I know I was constantly making comparisons
between the two. And almost every time, Star Fox won out. First of all, big bulky mechas
that act as walkers should not be out floating in space. There's no way you can accelerate
in zero gravity, much less do a barrel roll. One part of the game I do appreciate, however,
is the desert level. Not only is the walker situation appropriate, but the vast expanse
of the sandy desert and the polygonal textures of all the objects surrounding you make me
think that you are defending Black Rock City and the Burning Man festival from an attacking
alien menace. But I'm sure I'm not the first one to imagine that. I suppose my beef with
this game is with the control scheme, especially with how difficult the game actually is. It
might take you a minute to figure out that pressing forward will make you walk forward
forever until you press back a few times. Kind of like controlling a car shifter. But
I am one to think that, in any shooter game, the controls need to make as much sense as
possible, especially if enemies are swarming around you and punishing you with cannon fire.
You should be able to move quickly and spray them back, then get ready for the next wave.
Vortex controls are clunky in this regard, and can become quickly frustrating. Make no
mistake, however, the greatest asset this game retains is its visual quality. It almost
operates like a really low-fi version of an Xbox or Playstation 2 platformer, stripped
to the bare polygonal detail. Still, I value gameplay over visual quality. If you can't
have fun with the game, it doesn't matter much what the hell it looks like. Unless it
has gorgeous women in it, I guess, of which Vortex has none. So if you're of that caliber,
don't worry much about picking up this game, and stick to Duke Nukem or something.