Gravity Crash (PS3) Review

A BrutalGamer.com review.

Now wait, did I not just review this game?  Was it not set in some caves with colonists and lava… I’m pretty sure I did?  Oh no wait that’s Sony’s other retro shooter Pixel Junk Shooter.  In all seriousness, although I though these two game were going to play alike, Gravity Crash is much more retro than PJS and just like JetPac/Lunar Lander/Zarathruster etc from the late 80′s.  Where PJS shied away from the gravity induced booster physics of those older games and employed a more direct control, Gravity Crash goes old skool.  Old skool with a new dual stick flavour though if you want to.

Firstly let’s get the anorexic plot out of the way shall we.  You play a lonely droid left to rot until lone day you are activated when the world realises they screwed up and need you to clean up the galaxy.  That’s pretty much it to be honest but what more do you need?  Did you need Geometry Wars to have a plot?  Not thought not.  Gravity Crash is attempting to do for this genre of game what Geometry Wars did for the Robotron dual stick shooter series of games – and it pretty much manages it too.

The game still uses the old style wire frame vectors to generate the landscapes that  you would of associated with the old games like Asteroids and Lunar Lander.  What it does those it take those and make them neon glowing representations of themselves, gradient fills them and then adds a saucy layer of psychedelia to the mix.  What you get is something so totally retro but so pure HD in it’s facsimile that is all looks gorgeous… in a retro way.  It’s hard to fully appreciate this without experiencing the game running first hand – much in the same way Geometry Wars looks a little flat until you play it for 30 seconds and see that it is 100% nuts!  Bags of neon explosions and particles are strew over the screen as you make your way through the multiple levels in the game.

Audio wise the game is firmly gunning for Geometry Wars’ audience with tons of eurohouse and dance inspired electronica pounding out of the speakers.  Although not a real favourite area of music for me the soundtrack fits the game perfectly and amps up the adrenaline rush you get playing the game.  Coincidentally the music was written by recent interviewee Tim Wright and demonstrates yet again what a top class game composer he is.  Spot effects and explosions are all great and everything fits together very well.

As mentioned the game is similar in style to PixelJunk Shooter and the old skool thrust titles mentioned.  You have to navigate the caverns to fulfil a specified criteria be that destroying three generators or two towers, collecting stranded spacemen etc.  Once you fulfil these objective a warp portal opens up for you to make good your escape.  You have the choice of getting the hell outta space-dodge or sticking around to collect the various coloured gem stones, extra spacemen and hidden artifact found on each level.  Collecting these additional items increases your end of level score, but so does finishing in a fast time so it;s a fine balance.

Control is handled in one of two ways.  You can either use the traditional left stick to thrust and move and then fire in the direction you are facing or use the new method, which was my method of choice, which allows you to control with the left stick but use the right stick to shoot in any direction a la Robotron/Geometry Wars.  You also have the facility of a shield that you can either manually deploy and wait for it to recharge or allow it to be deployed automatically.  The automatic deployment means that it is a lot harder for you to actually crash and destroy your craft but the downside is that once the shield energy is depleted it will not recharge.  Your craft has finite energy for it’s shield but it also has finite energy for it’s boosters and lasers.  Luckily strewn around a level are crystal clusters that you have to destroy with your lasers to release small shard of crystal that will rechage your shields and your fuel tanks.

All of these elements help life Gravity Crash out of the pile of mediocre shooter and throw away download titles.  The emphasis on exploration is great but it must be done with some caution not only for safety of self, but for you also never know where your next hit of crystal is coming from.

Longevity is moderate as the single player will take you around 3 or 4 hours to get through.   The main bonus to longevity is the online create and share package.  Yes Gravity Crash is bundled with a fantastic level editor/creator that means you can make your own dastardly fiendish levels and then share them with peeps on the internet.  This means that as long as community support is strong there should be plenty of caverns to explore for many months to come.  The editor is reasonably simple to use and you should be able to knock something up reasonably quickly with only minimal knowledge.  The multiplayer is local but a good laugh non the less allowing you to play in several game modes such as deathmatch.   There is the odd issue with the difficulty just dipping and spiking like mad as you progress not to mention that doing yet another seek and destroy mission in the caverns for the 23rd time can get more than a little repetitive.

Final Thoughts:-

Just Add Water have done a great job of updating the ageing Thrust game play.  If this title had shipped a month earlier, or even a couple of months earlier then it would of gained at least another point.  The main reason it does not?  Pixel Junk Shooter.  If you compare these two games the improvements Q Games have made to the genre are vastly superior to the efforts of Just Add Water’s title.  Don’t take that the wrong way though, this is a great game and Just Add Water have done a super job it’s just a pity these two came out weeks apart.  That said if you liked the look and feel of Geometry Wars and think the traditional Thrust game play is more your bag then pick it right up, you really won’t regret the spend.  Regardless of preferences I can whole heartly say that this is worth the £6/$10 for absolute certain.  The editor will bring longevity and great value for money, the soundtrack is great and the game play simple yet absorbing.

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Gravity Crash (PS3) Review

A BrutalGamer.com review. Now wait, did I not just review this game?  Was it not set in some caves with colonists and lava… I’m pretty sure I did?  Oh no wait that’s Sony’s other retro shooter Pixel Junk Shooter.  In all seriousness, although I though these two game were going…

Posted 21 Dec 2009 | News, PS3, Playstation 3 Reviews, Reviews | 4 Comments