Look, protagonists of Vultures – Scavengers of Death, I can’t help but feel like you’re a bit underdressed for the zombie apocalypse. Leopoldo goes in with little more than a vest and a cigarette. As for Amber, skin-tight bodysuits have their place, but their place is not the apocalypse. I’d go the full Mad Max route and start sellotaping saucepans to every available body part. If your enemy’s main technique is to bite you, then wear something that’ll break their teeth. Simple.
Then again, I can’t punch someone hard enough to smash them into a wall, so maybe I’m not suited for the apocalypse. Facetiousness aside though, Vultures is an entertaining foray into the world of zombie apocalypses. It’s not really doing anything new with the setting, but it puts enough twists on the usual formula to keep things fresh. While there are a few issues that keep it from its true potential, it’s great fun for anyone who thinks that the zombie apocalypse needs to slow down a bit.
Occupant Malovolence
Vultures‘ plot involves the city of Salento Valley. A once up-and-coming metropolis, it was brought to its knees by a bio-hazard. The type of bio-hazard that makes people all bitey. In an effort to curb the flow of zombies, a covert ops team – the Vultures – are sent in to investigate. Their operatives are Leopoldo, a gruff fellow with a cigarette, and Amber, a lady with a killer grappling hook. Together they investigate the Eugenysis corporation to try and figure out if there’s a cure. Fairly standard stuff for the genre, but it sets the scene well enough.
The gameplay is what makes it stand out. While it might appear to be Resident Evil on the surface, Vultures is a lot more tactically minded. It’s turn-based, for one. When an enemy spots you, you start a turn with three movement points – self-explanatory – and three action points. AP is primarily used for attacking, using items and reloading. Combat is very much about positioning and using the right skills at the right time. Enemies aren’t too tough, but they can very quickly tear through your health, and won’t stop to let you heal up.
To help with that, each character has their own set of skills. Amber has a grappling hook that can push or pull enemies. Leopoldo can reposition enemies around him, which is significantly more useful than it sounds. Pushing an enemy into a wall will stun them, so a lot of combat was spent getting into the perfect position to stunlock as many enemies as possible. Sounds cheap, but it’s great fun and requires thinking two steps ahead. Combined with environmental damage, Vultures really rewards creative thinking.
Quiet Mound
The byword of Vultures is resource preservation. Health can be recovered somewhat easily, but items are finite. So you need to think creatively to preserve your ammo. Well, some of the time anyway. The difficulty is a bit up and down, thanks to the ease with which you can stun most enemies. It can be a bit easy to blast through at times – especially when you find the stun baton. So I was regularly offloading big batches of ammo. Though the final boss ramps it up immensely, with a three phase fight that ends in multiple waves of enemies. Not quite got through that one yet.
In terms of the ‘Horror’ part of this survival horror, I’d say Vultures is a mixed bag. The gameplay helps it a lot, as you can only see a short way ahead of you. You never know what’s on the other side of a door, and stumbling into a heap of zombies can be harrowing. It creates a constant, uneasy atmosphere. I do think the designs are a bit stock, though. On purpose, perhaps, as a pastiche of survival horror generally. But the plot is played relatively straight, so seeing zombies in straight-jackets with knife arms elicited a bit of eye roll. I did like the little shrimp fellas that could dig into the ground, though.
I have a list of other, smaller, issues. For one, PS1-style graphics are becoming so common in indie horror circles that it almost feels like a detriment. Everything is so muddy and indistinct. Secondly, inventory management is painful. Inventory is understandably limited, but we can’t combine things if the total goes over the max we can carry. So my storage box was filled with ammo that I couldn’t take because it wouldn’t combine. Lastly, Vultures is currently very buggy. Key items will sometimes not spawn, and I keep walking through doors only to spawn on the wrong side of it. Reloads fix it, but it’s an awkward place to be in.
Vultures – Tactical Terror
Still, I found Vultures very difficult to stop playing. I think it’s because every room feels like a mini-puzzle. Zombies will do a lot of damage when they swarm, so you need to isolate and pick them off. Bit tricky when you’re in the middle of an office breakroom. The horror elements feel a bit like they came from the era of House of the Dead at times, but a bit of classic horror can liven things up. I do wish the protagonists got a bit more focus though. Backstory is sprinkled in, but most of the dialogue is just coldly functional.
Still, the meat and potatoes of Vultures is good fun. The difficulty is a bit bananas, but as someone who’s not tremendously tactically minded, I’m kind of glad for that. Everything feels like a desperate struggle. Running out of movement points and knowing that you’re about to take a zombie backhand is enjoyably stressful. My laundry list of minor issues does stop it from truly shining, but Vultures is a fun, classic survival horror.
