I received my Color Clash games in the mail yesterday (Saturday June 3). Here is my review of the new game

 

Box:

I have to say that box for Color Clash now wins the top honors for being the best ever box produced for Vectrex game by the home brew club. The box has every thing you could want in a reproduction box and more. The box printing is superb. No issues with fingerprints or water spotting from casual use. Much better than the current Vectorzoa boxes. The printing also used a bit of overprint so the gridlines on the box matched up well with the glued edges. No whitespace exposed anywhere on the box. Not even on the tab closures. The car holder for the box shows the care used to produce the finer details of the construction. The cart fits nicely into the box the same way as the original games did. But really folks a Revival logo in the inside where a person might not notice it? This is too much! The layout of the box art is a perfect blend of the old and new. The same gridlines and general features are show on the box. Revival Studios has gone the extra step in using graphics with a modern look and feel. The only things I would improve on the box are: The inclusion of the Revival Studios web site link. It is a modern game after all and the box should have the web link.. Better glue to hold the box together. I think the glue used on the box will soon decompose similar to the way the glue on the Cube Quest box did.

 

Overlay:

The overlay for Color Clash is well done. But more to the point, does the overlay match the purpose of the game and enhance the game itself. With most of the older Vectrex games the overlay's value is dubious at best. With Color Clash the overlay does its job well. The Color Clash overlay print is very saturated with color and brings color to the Vectrex as few overlays before have done. The printing is effective for use with the game play. The overly paper blocking seen on the rear of the overlay does its job to focus the gamer on the area of play (more on this later). One thing I found needing a little change for my playing is the alignment of the power bar (a.k.a.: laser) just above your ship. Since I tend to have the screen below eye level the overlay graphic for the power bar didn't align until I brought the Vectrex up closer to eye level. The change in Vectrex position was worth it since the power bar on the Vectrex screen then Illuminated the bar. Very cool detail. There is an offset adjustment for the laser in the Color Clash Game options. none of the options are clearly spelled out but the "laser offset" is what is need to make the "laser" bar move to the desired position. I found that I had to use the maximum positive setting. Best of all the overlay is actually needed to help steady the graphics presentation to the gamer. Without the overlay the screen refresh detracts from the graphics of the game. With the overlay the graphics are more enjoyable and the screen refresh is much less noticeable. A very important point since the Vectrex does not take kindly to raster game presentation.

 

Manual:

The manual is certainly the most colorful Vectrex manual to date. The directions are concise and tell the player what is needed to get into the game quickly. The direction have what looks to be the graphic design of one of the box ideas. I am glad we get to see this on the manual as I would have like to see two versions of the box art. But alas, the box had to come in at budget. The manual is a very nice part of the overall package.

 

Cart:

What can you say about the cart? It is the standard Sean Kelly Reproduction Vectrex cart shell with a nicely done cart label. The label is every bit as nice as a the box.. A nice Vectrex cart presentation in anyone's book. Once again I would like to see the web link for Revival Studios on the cart label.

 

Color Clash Gameplay:

As stated on the box, Color Clash is a game anyone can pickup and play. The manual is not really required to be able to sit and enjoy. the game. If you are even the least bit attracted to a Tetris style of game then Color Clash is for you. No this game is not a direct Tetris clone. Instead you task is to match the shape of the falling object with the shape show on your "ship" at the time you fire your laser. I appreciate the opening screen which demonstrates the shapes the player is required to match during the game. As stated the overlay add to the gameplay. The various color bars on the overlay help the played align to the falling objects. Even my six year old daughter likes overlay and commented how "cool" it was. When I started to play the game she hung around and was soon getting into the action herself. While the Vectrex is certainly not a color machine, the Color Clash play and the overlay make for an enjoyable game. As with other games the more you advance into the Color Clash the harder the game becomes. The degree of increased difficulty is smooth advance through the levels I played. Sorry I can't tell you about the higher levels. I have only managed to make a paltry 2870 score so far. In time I may be able to relay how the much higher levels feel. There are some negative points to the game. First off is the problems with collision detection. I have noticed many times where my laser shot did not destroy the object and even went completely through a gem. There is also a problem with gem selection of the laser. At first I thought the problem was my own error but after I had the controls down I noticed when I let a laser shot off and switched columns at the same time, the laser shot would impact the gem as if it was for the column I had moved to. To put it better, I shoot at a circle gem and move quickly to the next column that has a block gem. The hit on the circle gem registers as if I had choose to shoot a block laser at the circle gem. The problem does not seem to be related to any particular shape as it happened at various points in the game. There is also another little annoyance with the autofire feature for your laser. I found that the laser/gun fired double shots on occasion and would have traded extreme rapid fire for a more controlled time fire. The bonus rewards in Color Clash made up for the little itchy bugs I encountered above and kept me coming back for more so far. The Color Clash game controls are well laid out and give the player the option of using only the buttons. Nice little touch there! I do wish the game had a pause feature but there are only some many buttons the Vectrex controller. I do not think I would have dedicated anymore game timeslices for a multi-button pause detection feature.

 

Music and Special Effects:

Music at the main screen for Color Clash is typical of Vectrex scores and take nice advantage of the sound capabilities of the Vectrex. The music itself is a catchy little beat that my son liked right of the bat. He even paused to listen when I allowed the entire score to play through. At that point I notice another little bug of about 50mS to 100mS lag while the music restarted from the beginning. Not big deal, just another little thing noticed. I would have liked to have heard more of the same music in the game as well. Similar to Gyruss gameplay, I think the music would have heightened the sense of urgency for Color Clash play. The VecVox support is also apparent with the "Revival Studios", "Start Game", and the other little sound effects presented throughout the game. The VecVox support makes up for the lack of gameplay music somewhat. The cute little VecVox sound effects had my daughter giggling at some points inside the game and is worth the cost of the VecVox module. I liked the little VecVox effects so much that I may try and find some flat speakers to put into the Vectrex at the side of the screen along with an embedded VecVox module. So Revival Studios has provided us a winner here with Color Clash' VecVox support. One little special effect I liked through the game was the effective use of screen fades to different parts of the game. I know this is a small point to bring up but the usage and the timing of the fades I found to be enjoyable without causing too much time waste. "Gold Star" of the usage of this special effect. Of course there is the overall usage of raster presentation of Color Clash. The 3D RotoDemo (Alex Herbert) started the usage of raster graphics for the Vectrex, and Color Clash carries it on quite nicely.

 

Bonus Game:

A simple little Xudoku game was included with the Color Clash package. While nothing spectacular it is a fun little addition to have. I like the way the cursor was done in the bonus game. If you don't know what Xudoku is then have a look out on the web for more information.

 

Overall Color Clash Package:

A person has to ask at the end of the first day is the game worth the price? Is the game worth my time? Color Clash won't win any awards for game design. I doubt any Vectrex game will be made into an arcade game ever again. Then there is the problem of "finishwork" so to speak, when it comes to smoothly integrating the game components together. The music is there but does not flow into the game at all. The little special effects are there at many points but seem to be missing at others. I would have like more use of the VecVox at the Main screen before the gameplay. The game itself seems to have some obvious bugs that could have been ironed out before release. And the breaks in various parts like the restart of the music seem to be abnormal. But I have to say that barring shipping problems experience with Color Clash (ref: r.g.v) the overall package for the game is satisfying. As satisfying as Vectorzoa' recent Star Sling game is, but in a different way.

 

If you have not purchased Color Clash yet then do yourself a favor and order the game.

 

Review by Chris Romero (www.vectrex.com)