Vector 36

TL,DR: hardcore skimmer (compare: multicopter) racing SIMULATION, science fiction setting, difficult but rewarding. deep game. ~ after playing this game to the death the last few weeks I think it’s time for me to write a review. I keep it short and focus only on points that make this game special to me: the physics and the controls are great, the handling is nuanced, complex and, yeah, I assume: realistic. though it's all science fiction, it really is a simulation. that makes the game hard and unforgiving at the beginning - the learning curve is really pretty steep. but once you get the hang of the controls and learn how to build a skimmer that's to your liking, racing it becomes just glorious. what does racing actually mean? compared to driving a car, the controls are sluggish and imprecise. once something is brought into motion, the momentum keeps it going to certain degree. unnecessary inputs spiral out of control fast, so you really need a light touch, a fluid way of conductin...

This game is made by a single, ex-nasa engineer, using realistic-ish physics. Racing is all about balancing power between lift and rear thrust for speed/surviving. It's a bit like a rock skimming across a pond, if that rock had jet engines and rockets on it. Played on my Rift with XB1 controller, using a Nvidia 770 and getting good framerates, though i do lower the settings a little bit. There are some annoying bugs in the garage, but it's early access so hopefully they'll be cleaned up, and haven't found any bugs at all while actually racing. Fun game and want to see it developed more!

Remember that race scene from SW Episode I? Well, this is nothing like that. [b]it's way better.[/b] I appreciate the Linux support.

WHAT!!!! this is like driving the Nebuchadnezzar from the Matrix on mars low gravity in first person while racing. Even has customization and repair of accurate part damage while on the fly. This game is a dream come true for VR and great with a HOTAS or Controller.

There is a good game in here but it's covered up in a lack of play testing. Lots of weird UI issues that you just have to figure out, lack of polish. In the garage when you are messing with your skimmer you can't save it mid-build, it has to be complete first. You can't easily move the camera around you have to change states first, move the camera, then go back to messing with the skimmer. If you are trying to adjust the angles on your specific item and the UI for it happens to be over a mounting area on your vehicle it will jump there instead of changing the angle, undoing everything you just did. The physics are great, the vehicles handle in a way that you beileve they should and upgrades and tuning your skimmer has a real effect on performance. Unfortunately there isn't anything besides you messing around and racing the computer to occupy your time. The lack of polish and play testing before being pushed to release means that there will never be an audience to show off to or talk ...

This game is clunky, unintuitive, frustrating, and unfair. It is also one of the best racers I've ever played, and definitely the best in the anti-gravity racing genre. When I say "anti-gravity racing", it's possible that you might think of games like wipeout, redout, pacer, f-zero, ballisticNG and the like. This is a pretty unfair comparison... for those other games. You see, while most of these racing games are just essentially faster, driftier variations of car racers with maybe some pitch control gimmick, Vector 36 goes all the way in the opposite direction, going for a simmy, incredibly complex experience more akin to [i]very[/i] low flying spacecraft. Forget about crazy loop-de-looping flat tracks, you are now ripping ass through the uneven, craggy Martian circuits these hovercraft were designed for. There are no split-second, twitchy turns or shield management, instead you will be maneuvering your incredibly fast low-altitude missile through tracks via momentum, strategy, syste...

The first fifty hours, they were the worst. The second fifty hours, they were the worst too. The third fifty hours I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline. So why play for so many hours if the game's that appalling? Ah hah. Ah hah. Taste the soup... Yes, Vector 36 is actually very good - the first few hours or so are a bit dry figuring out how to build and fly the basic low-powered skimmer and getting enough credits from racing to buy the next one (the Phi 90 - a lot more fun; a bit like an underpowered sports car). Keep plugging away and eventually you get the Quill which has buckets of speed, handles well and doesn't require too much modification (I suggest a larger fuel tank and an extra radiator or two). This machine is fun to fly and wins the races. There is also a faster beast (that looks like a fish, moves like a fish,) but it steers - like - a - cow. This is a different racing game (you're racing at 1000 kph through the canyons of Mars - the...

Steep learning curve. You definitely have to go through the tutorial! Works well with gamepads and Steam Link, but I expect the best experience will be with a HOTAS and VR headset. (I'll try that out and update this review. If the review isn't updated, I'm just being lazy as usual.) Works on linux :) (message me if you want to try a linux<->linux race online)

This is a really unique racing game and likely the first one which uses newton physics. It features races across vast, open landspaces in 5 different speed tiers, kinda like the races in star wars. In most racing games you can only steer left + right. In Vector 36 you can also stear up and down + vertically, which also makes the game really challenging and somewhat hard to learn (at first). All skippers also drift alot if you want to turn, which gives it a great feeling. The lower you fly, the faster you are able to skip across the surface, but it is also more dangerous. This is also a great way to prevent people from just flying around freely. You are able to manage your energy distribution in real time while you are racing. Energy is distributed between stabilizators (lift) and engine power. That means the more energy the engine gets, the more challenging it is to get a stable flight. For example, if you set the engine to 100%, you wont even able to jump above a small hill while s...

Have noticed many people who thumb this game down have around 0.6 hours! That makes sense because for the first 0.6 hours I was strongely considering a refund. A consequence of the steam refund policy is that many people myself included often dont give games a proper chance any more! At first it seemed slow and boring though I now know it is in fact the very opposite. It's fast, tense (if you crash you explode) and curiously satisfying. Once I realized how to actually fly at a pace, I realized that in VR and with a HOTAS this is a fantastic game, with brilliant sim mechanics. I dont think VR is a must but to really get the most out of this game it is best played HOTAS.