Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES mixes shmup gameplay with terrain destruction

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-07-06 19:54 JST)

Japanese game development group ASTRO PORT has announced Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES for Steam. The game will support English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. While a release date hasn’t been revealed, ASTRO PORT says it will be out soon.

Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES is a comical shmup where players destroy both enemies and terrain to clear stages. The game takes place in a world where humanity has won an intergalactic war against aliens. The year is 2010 and researchers from multiple planets are living in harmony at a research facility on the planet of Avic. But one day, the Terrain Defense Force launches an attack on Avic’s Super Electric Science Institute in an attempt to wipe out all alien life on the planet.

The game’s main characters are 6 girls at the facility who pilot versatile vehicles known as Vulvehicles. These girls must face the Terrain Defense Force and bring peace back to the planet.

Vulvehicles are all-purpose combat machines that range from roughly 5 to 10 meters in size. Not only do they fight on the ground, but they can also fly and destroy terrain.

Each of the 6 heroines has two different Vulvehicles for a total of 12 different Vulvehicles. These include the Mirage with its holo decoy beam, the Fever and its flaming attack, the Kazakura with its bouncing ninja star attacks, and the Mogul which fires powerful drills and can protect against enemy bullets.

Players will choose 3 characters and 3 Vulvehicles from the available 6 characters and 12 Vulvehicles. Vulvehicles can also be swapped on the fly using the “Teleport Change” ability which plays into the strategy needed for clearing stages by making sure you have the right tools for the situation at hand. Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES has 6 areas with 24 stages and 5 difficulty levels.

ASTRO PORT has previously released games such as the side-scrolling action game ROCKETRON and the giant robot shmup Supercharged Robot VULKAISER. ASTRO PORT games all take place in a shared universe called the Astro Saga and Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES is no exception. And according to the group’s blog, character illustrations for the game are being handled by BB/BJ.

Armored Lab Force VULVEHICLES can be found here on Steam.