Vector Vendetta - TV Tropes

So many vectors!

Vector Vendetta is a casual Shoot 'em Up game featuring vectors. On the first screen, a trio of triangles circle around randomly, until you shoot them. On each subsequent screen, more vectors appear, and a new type of enemy is added. For instance, there's the Snipe, which stays on the edges of the screen and shoots at you, the Aster, which splits in two when hit, and eventually the BFG. Thankfully, some enemies drop little stars when killed, which invoke a Gradius-like system of powerups that can increase your speed, defense, and firing power, or unleash a powerful one-shot weapon.

Being a 2010 freeware game by Crystal Shard, it can be downloaded for PC: here. Perhaps surprisingly, it is created in Adventure Game Studio, despite not containing any adventure game elements or indeed any sprites.

Tropes present in this game:

• Asteroids Monster: the aptly named Aster splits in half when you shoot it, several times
• Back from the Dead - the Schro will regenerate about five seconds after being killed, unless every other enemy has bee nkilled
• Bullet Hell - Xaos, Chell and Schro are particularly prone to spreading lots of little bullets everywhere, making navigation difficult.
• Chekhov's Skill: The first powerup Warp isn't all that useful in normal levels, but is extremely helpful against the boss monster.
• Demonic Spider - the BFG doesn't have to get close to you, as soon as it spots you it will fire a screen-spanning laser in your direction
• Flying Brick - literally, the Brick flies around and is invulnerable.
• Final Boss - the UAO (Unidentified Ass-kicking Object) is a huge ship with an insta-kill claw and three eye-shaped cannons.
• Immune to Bullets:
  • the Surge will only grow larger when shot, and the way to defeat it is to avoid it while it slowly shrinks.
  • Also, as long as a Prime is around, every other enemy is going to be immune to bullets. You'll have to locate and kill the Prime first.
• Interface Screw: The Strobe occasionally blanks out your screen.
• Invincible Minor Minion - the Brick is indeed invulnerable. It is also harmless unless you accidentally fly into it, but it can get in your way.
• Mook Maker: The UAO creates a bunch of mooks when its eyes are shot.
• Mook Promotion:
  • The Wonk 2.0 is an upgrade of the first Wonk.
  • The Vulture is an upgrade of the first Wonk.
  • Chell is an upgraded Snipe.
• More Dakka - various powerups, particularly the chaingun and spreadfire, give you more bullets per shot or more shots per second.
• No Kill like Overkill - the Nuke weapon will destroy everything on the screen instantly, except the final boss.
• One-Hit Kill: Do not let the UAO grab you with its claw as it gets you killed instantly.
• Shout-Out: the Chell, a teleporting enemy, is a reference to Portal.
• Synthetic Voice Actor: There is a synthetic voice that announces your powerups, in case you're too busy with the enemies to pay attention to your status bar.
• Timed Mission: If you stall for too long, the crosshair of doom will appear and it will chase you until you die.
• Tractor Beam - the Magnus will slowly draw you towards it, which can mess up your maneuvering.
• Turns Red: When one of the UAO's eyes is shot, its other eyes increase their rate of fire.

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