Gravity Crash started life on the PS3 before later receiving
a PSP port. It’s built up a reputation for being crushingly difficult and
remains one of the toughest tests of a gamer’s metal on Sony’s various
consoles. This new version see’s the game given a Vita native make over. It may
look prettier but it still packs as much of a punch as always.
Heavily inspired by the games Thrust and Solar Jet Man,
Gravity Crash has players trying to weave their way through maze-like levels, dealing
with gravity and completing objectives such as finding gems and destroying
specific targets. You can also land and pick up stranded crew much like in Lunar
Lander. All of this is carried out in levels made out of neon -tinged vector styled
graphics.
The game has three control systems and which one you pick
will greatly change how difficult your experience with it is going got be. The
first option allows you to utilise the dual stick control system often found in
games like this. It also takes away the threat of gravity by holding you in
place when you aren’t pressing a direction. The second scheme is similar and
keeps the ability to move in one direction while shooting in another. However,
it does bring gravity back into play and you will fall towards the earth when
you aren’t pressing a direction button.
By far the most difficult scheme is the classic control
setup. This is the same as in Thrust and requires players to face the way they
are shooting and constantly boost to stop being pulled to earth. It creates a
very tense experience as you have to judge getting through the level in a very different
way. All the while you’re exploring your fuel also decreases just to make it
that bit more challenging.
Needless to say touching anything at all or getting shot destroys
you instantly. You do have a shield which you can activate or set to auto to
help out. You also have the choice of a number of different special weapons.
These have limited usage and recharge via in game pickups. Using them wisely is
often the difference between life and death but as they don’t recharge between
levels you’ll start out reluctant to use them often.
Level design is consistently excellent and often simple seemingly
environments develop into intricate tunnels and caves. Some levels take you
under water and alter the gravity mechanic while others throw random meteor
storms at you. One level has a massive volcano in the middle that continually
throws out rocks and yes, you do have to pick something up from right next to
it.
It’s all very positive except for one quite major issue and
that’s how you progress through the game. The campaign mode gives you three
lives with which to go out and explore the galaxy. The problem is that when you
lose those lives you have to either start again from the very beginning or
simple press continue and carry on.
Continuing resets your score but that’s it and you can
continue as many times as you wish. This means that much of the tension of the game
is removed. It also becomes a bit of a slog because if you want to access the
levels in other modes you need to complete them in the campaign first and you
know you can just keep continuing until everything is finished. A better
approach would have perhaps been to give players a limited number of lives to
complete each individual level which then resets upon entering the next.
This progression structure really killed the game for us
which is a real shame. Everything about the game in terms of design is packed
with quality. The sound, the look, the way the game plays are really something
quite special but the progression through it misses the sweet spot quite
considerably.
It puts us in a difficult position because this should be a
very high scoring game and we absolutely love the concept and ideas at play
here. Anyone who’s a fan of Thrust is also clearly alright in our book.
However, we can’t overlook the issue with progression and as it pretty much
stopped us from playing after a while it means what should be a classic simply
hasn’t quite got there. We can only hope that a patch is put in at a later date
as then there will be nothing stopping this from reaching true greatness.
Overall 7/10
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