By John Walker on January 12th, 2011 at 6:02 pm.
Defy Gravity is not an instruction. It’s the title of a game. I don’t want anyone thinking Rock, Paper, Shotgun has told them to fling themselves out of an upstairs window. But do set fire to your head.
Rather this is a classic-style scrolling platformer, inspired by Metroid, Mega Max X and Braid. It involves firing either gravity wells or anti-gravity wells – orbs that either draw you in or repel you away – in order to negotiate the terrain. More onward.
It very quickly starts introducing clever concepts. Other objects in the world can also be affected by your gravity wells, and as such you can start to manipulate things to your advantage with canny thinking.
It seems to fit a lot more comfortably onto a 360 pad if you have one, and fully supports such controls. Or there’s a keyboard and mouse for you, granddad.
However, there do seem to be some issues of finesse. Firing the wells isn’t particularly accurate, and getting through the narrower, more enemy-ridden tunnels can sometimes be more luck than skill. The presentation is also very primitive. It certainly doesn’t match by design with the decades-old games it mentions as inspirations.
But it’s a fresh idea, and certainly a challenge. And it’s only £3.30 to get the full game. The demo is here. And there’s a trailer below:
12/01/2011 at 18:21 Cooper says:
Setting fire to one’s hair and head is a lot more difficult than cartoons and movies would have us believe.
Also: Micheal Jackson’s Hair on Fire
12/01/2011 at 18:21 squareking says:
Looks pretty great.
OT: Share buttons?! :(
12/01/2011 at 18:23 Cooper says:
It’s the man. They sold out to him.
12/01/2011 at 18:29 John Walker says:
If you don’t learn to share, we won’t buy you any new toys.
12/01/2011 at 18:34 Sagan says:
Those buttons have been around for a while, except they weren’t quite so pompous before.
12/01/2011 at 20:17 Trans says:
I thought the same thing. It doesn’t look right but I guess I’ll get used to it…
12/01/2011 at 18:29 Dixie Flatline says:
Defying gravity… Recklessly disregarding gravity… Gravity’s not getting a lot of respect lately, is it?
12/01/2011 at 18:51 Serenegoose says:
It’s a bit short on gravitas.
(Very little gravitas indeed, ho ho)
12/01/2011 at 19:42 Big Murray says:
Everything after “AaaaAaAAAAaAhHHhhhHh!!!!!” seems slightly less fun, title-wise.
12/01/2011 at 19:52 meanmuggin says:
Demo’s pretty cool, I was grenade hopping all over it.
12/01/2011 at 20:21 ScubaMonster says:
The backgrounds are way too plain and don’t look very good. I’m not taking about the space backdrop, but the actual area you run around on. It’s basically just one gray rectangle. Needs a bit more detail and variety instead of just being so plain and dull.
12/01/2011 at 20:42 somnolentsurfer says:
That trailer just looks like it’s a game of nothing but double jump. Is that why you’re recommending it to us, Mister Walker?
12/01/2011 at 21:35 evilradical says:
You understand that the gravity is what is moving the guy. Also its not a double jump really. Its a recharging jump.
12/01/2011 at 21:01 DarkNoghri says:
Man, for a minute there I thought it said inspired by Megaman X, and I was all excited. Then I realized it actually said Mega Max X, and I have no idea what that is. :(
12/01/2011 at 22:10 PFlute says:
I’m usually not one to be negative, but I was really under-impressed by this one. A lot of the sound effects are ripped seemingly straight from Metroid. The presentation is, as noted, sub-par, and honestly doesn’t do a thing to reinforce the game or build a sense of atmosphere. The gameplay/level design was decent.
Really the only exceedingly interesting thing here was the namesake of the game, the gravity mechanic. Next to the bare visual elements and re-appropriated sound effects, it makes the entire thing seem a bit more like an early prototype than a marketable title.
Not that it wasn’t enjoyable. It was! I just don’t feel it lives up to the curiosity of the central mechanic and its price point.
Also I know it’s sort of got a big Metroid thing going on, but was the end-of-demo cleavage necessary?
12/01/2011 at 23:21 nuclear_platypus says:
so you liked the game, but started off with “i’m not negative, here’s a bunch of negative stuff” and then bury that you like it into the story, then put more negative things after that? you, sir, should be a games journalist. and seriously, who the hell doesn’t like cleavage?
anyway, I played the demo and it was pretty fun. I like the music, space backgrounds are pretty cool, but the textures on the foreground are incredibly tedious and need to have color.
13/01/2011 at 01:34 PFlute says:
Well at least my terrible games journalism may have some of the letters capitalized properly.
A good day to you!
13/01/2011 at 03:49 John Walker says:
It doesn’t live up to its £3.30 price?!
12/01/2011 at 23:30 patrick says:
Set fire to my head? Yawn.
13/01/2011 at 03:14 luckystriker says:
Love the headline, John.
16/01/2011 at 08:37 localcoder says:
back in the day I made an Unreal Tournament mod that basically added this gun. You would invariably end up with all of the bots frantically trying to kill each other while orbiting a grav-well up in the sky.