Though the game lacks enough enemy variety that would help it stay interesting for long periods, VALA is a fantastic game to play if you want some mindless fun. Gamers should definitely have this on their radar.
You'll have never played anything quite like Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse. It takes the visual style of Dead Nation, adds in the randomness of a roguelike, and injects a huge amount of humour.
At first, I hated the idea of killing thousands of llamas, and that´s the main theme of Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse. But as a big twin stick shooter fan, I gave it a try and it was totally worth it. When you pass the stupid and embarrassing humour and the lack of a story, you´re just right. Because this game is some addictive shooter action!
Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse is a twin-stick shooter with rogue-like elements. You control movement with your left hand and aim weapons with your right. You have two weapons, fired and reloaded independently (dual wield), and three abilities that require a portion of energy to use: jump smash, which does a circular area of attack; a dash, which damages anything you move through; and a protective shield, which prevents all damage while active. If you’re lucky you’ll also find perks that increase your effectiveness, and single-use special powers, of which you can only carry one of at a time. The control is very responsive and feels right at home. One important point to note is that there’s no healing pick-ups; though you start with plenty of armor to begin with, it will slowly deplete with each llama bash, bite, spit, or explosion. Each level you have to eliminate all llamas before the locked doors will open to let you through to the next are. There’s also multiplayer support, but only local. The main appeal for me, is the single-player campaign, which has you trying to stop the Illamanati’s evil plan across multiple procedurally generated regions of the city. There are three regions, 4 if you include endless mode once completing the game. Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse is a serious twin-stick shooter with a fun sense of humor, a good range of weapons, and an excellent presentation. There’s not a huge range of enemies, however, and in spite of the procedural generation, some levels end up feeling similar as some of the others. The unlockables provide a sense of progression, but this is not sufficiently realized with random weapon drops. I played thru the game on a pre-build of the game on the hardest difficulty and this game was more than satisfying. As a fan of the genre I give it a massive two thumbs up and a must add to your xbox library.
VALA offers up heaps of action-packed twin-stick shooting madness, with a great deal of content to work toward and unlock. However, the lack of interesting locations, repetitive enemy variations, and the tedious random weaponry system, ultimately holds it back. Better gameplay structure and less grinding would have done VALA some justice.
Parfois, il arrive que l’indé habituel du jour ou de la semaine ait oublié d’être laid, de s’être fait étroniser en pixel lard ou bien se révèle coupable d’avoir laissé à la fois… la plateforme et la 2d à la maison !
Et pourtant, pas de plateforme, ni de 2d, encore moins de pixel lard ici puisqu’il s’agit d’un jeu en vue aérienne pas si vilain… mais particulièrement bourrin… et cruel envers ces pauvres animaux (appelez la SPA, appelez les Brigitte !) tout à fait innocents… mais quand même très cons (le capitaine Haddock s’en souvient…).
C’est qu’en fait, cet indé pas sérieux n’a pas oublié d’être con, très, très con : d’où l’extermination massive de lamas en colère ! un massacre sous la forme d’un « rogue-like » comme on dit, ce qui implique de recommencer souvent au niveau où l’on était, même si tous les niveaux se ressemblent ici…
Autant dire que c’est très vite répétitif, très vite idiot et particulièrement ennuyeux : l’humour potache peut faire sourire mais pas bien longtemps. Même les lamas ont arrêté d’y jouer.
SummaryVALA is a frantic top-down shooter where you remotely pilot an endless supply of mechs from your ocean carrier offshore of the apocalypse, fighting through the llama hordes to take down The Llamanati.