Velocibox review: are you hardcore enough to take on this endless runner?

The formula for an endless runner is simple enough: a character runs through a corridor littered with obstacles in an attempt to grab items. In that sense, Velocibox by Malaysian indie developers Shawn Beck and JT Yean doesn’t really do anything new. You’re still guiding something—though in this case it’s a box rather than a character—through an obstacle course trying to collect enough power ups to advance to the next level. That said, it’s the game’s take on this genre that literally flips it on its head.

What makes Velocibox unique is the fact that the player’s box doesn’t just run along the floor. It can also do so along the walls and ceiling. Moving towards a wall makes the box slide up it, and alongside this is your box’s ability to flip. By pressing a button – up on the keyboard or controller or the left mouse button – the box will jump in the air and then proceed to attach itself to the opposite wall. At the same time, the whole camera flips to keep the box and the wall it’s attached to at the bottom of the screen.

See Velocibox preview: a running game that’s actually tough (Casual Connect Asia 2014)

The effect that this has on the game is profound. While most endless runners tend to have a set path, Velocibox’s design means that you, as the player, have multiple choices as to how to approach an obstacle. Instead of just sliding left or right, you can decide if you want to step off to the side, slide up the adjacent wall, or flip your box onto to the opposite wall.

What makes Velocibox especially good is how it applies the abovementioned concept. While the game’s levels are procedurally generated, they’re done so using set patterns of obstacles. These patterns are designed to make you consider each and every move you make, instead of simply reacting to the next obstacle on screen. Oftentimes, reacting rashly to one obstacle may put you directly in the path of the next.

Added to this is the tricky placement of power ups. More often than not, they are placed in locations that put you in harm’s way. This forces you to think a few steps ahead to see if you can get the power up without crashing.

But crash you will. As you may have already guessed, the game is hard. Velocibox moves at a frantic clip and players have only a second or two to observe a group of obstacles, decide which path to take, and then attempt to take that path. Even if you’ve memorized the pattern, the flipping and sliding means that you’re never going to approach obstacles from an optimal position.

The game’s difficulty is compounded by the fact that the flipping can become quite disorienting. Novice players may find themselves going in the wrong direction after a successive series of flips, just because their brains have lost track of their position relative to the obstacle they wanted to avoid.

Considering how difficult Velocibox is, it’s understandable why the game only has 8 levels. Simply getting past level 1 is an achievement in itself, and progressing beyond that takes some dedication and skill. For the even more hardcore, the game also offers a “Super Velocibox” mode that ups the difficulty.

That said, Velocibox is far from being unbalanced. While the levels may be challenging, none of the obstacle patterns it throws at you are inherently unfair. You are never required to take blind leaps of faith as the safe paths through each obstacle pattern can be easily seen. Instead, it’s up to you to figure the best path out, and develop the dexterity to do so.

Velocibox is one of a rare breed of games. Instead of trying to make itself more accessible, it challenges you from the get go—punishing those who aren’t good enough while rewarding those who master it with a supreme sense of satisfaction.