Hiring

It's not often in a game you find yourself playing as a 6-year-old girl. However, in Vesta that is exactly what happens. As the title character of the game, we find ourselves the last human on a distant planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. We are tasked with getting through all the levels and reporting to M.U.M on the upper levels.

 

Concept:

Using our backpack, we can move energy from one container to another, opening doors and powering elevators and walkways. However, because we are only a small girl, we are soon given a helper, Droid. Droid has guns to stun the enemies (after which Vesta can drain their energy with her pack) and has enhanced strength to move boxes to open paths and solve puzzles. This is when the real game starts as you must use Vesta and Droid in unison to figure out how to get to the end of a level. Got an enemy in the way? Shoot them with Droid and drain their energy with Vesta. Encountered a gap in the floor you can't walk across? Have Droid pick up Vesta and throw her to the other side or push a box into it to create a path. Along the way to find M.U.M., you'll come across a number of collectibles. Most of these are pretty easy to find, resting in a safe or a crate, but some of them are more hidden. Luckily a level select (with number of collectibles available and found) will allow you to go back and get any you missed without having to replay the entire game.

Gameplay:

Through the four chapters there are 36 levels Vesta must get through to reach M.U.M. The play is pretty much the same every time. Figure out how to get the energy through the level to open the door at the end and exit it to get to the next level. Usually it's very easy to get either Vesta or Droid to the exit door but the challenge is to get both of them there. And don't forget to look for those collectibles while you're doing it!

 

There are no RPG elements to this game so no worry about having to level up Vesta or Droid, and no unlocking new abilities as the game progresses. After you get Droid, you're set with everything you need to complete the game. Progress is saved when you walk across a switch on the floor. Unfortunately, you cannot save any time you want but these save points are very common. If Vesta or Droid is knocked out, you will restart at the last switch you passed instead of having to start the entire level over.

Presentation:

As you are supposed to be going through an industrial-type complex, it's expected the colours would be dull and muted. However, Vesta livens it up with bright colours splashed everywhere in the levels. As you power up a container, the wires leading away from it glow with the energy. Elevators show red or green depending on whether or not they're powered at the moment. And the enemies are brightly coloured. Well, until you drain their power and they vanish from the screen.

 

The opening story and narrative is presented to the player in the form of comic book panels. These can be read or bypassed at the players whim. After reading them, I was left to wonder how this little girl came to be the last human left on planet OPS. And why it really didn't seem to bother her.

 

One problem I did notice was with some spelling in the game. It doesn't affect gameplay but does give the impression that maybe the game was rushed a bit. For instance, one of the achievements is to 'Find 25 secretos'. And the screen that comes up when a controller disconnects says 'The controller has been desconnected' although the top of the screen properly says 'Disconnected'.  Hopefully these misspellings can be fixed in a future patch.

Final Thoughts:

One of my favourite games is Brothers. And while playing Vesta, I couldn't help but think about the similarities between it and Vesta. While you don't control both characters at the same time as you do in Brothers, the core mechanic of having to use 2 different characters with different abilities to solve puzzles and get to the end of a section is very much the same.

 

Rating: 7/10

 

Written by: Koding

Gamertag: Koding

 

Positives:

+ Levels are short and easily completed in a few minutes.

+ Collectibles can be found in level select.

+ The title character is just the cutest thing!

 

Negatives:

- Can't save progress at any time.

- Some spelling errors.

 

Ethics Statement:

 The reviewer spent approximately 4 hours puzzling around Planet OPS moving boxes, shooting enemies, and solving puzzles. During this time, he earned 13 of the 21 achievements.

 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

 

You can purchase Vesta on the Xbox Store here.

 

Release Date - Friday, January 19, 2018

Price - $14.99

Download size – 1.09 GB