Gravity Core Review

Founded by Gary Marples, Suisoft have released their début product. Gravity core, a gravity based shooter similar in style to that of the classics “Thrust” and “Oids”. You play a mining pilot who’s mission it is to protect the Mars Jupiter asteroid belt from an unknown force. You do this by liberating asteroids in order from these oppressors. Each “boss” asteroid is surrounded by five or six smaller asteroids which result in over 50 levels in total. Your main focus to begin with is to rescue stranded miners, but you’ll also be destroying production plants, peculiar gravity generators and collecting intelligence spheres just to name a few. The story seems to play little importance in the game however. The unique selling point is the gravity based movement and the immense difficulty of the gameplay.

Winner of Bytten’s Most hardcore game award, it’s easy to see most people struggling with the steep difficulty curve of this game. Initially it’s very difficult to learn how to successfully manoeuvre your one man ship through the intricate tunnel systems that make up the levels. The controls feel a little unnatural to begin with. I tried using both the keyboard and a wireless controller and found that the controller felt far more suitable, but still difficult. It’s also difficult to stop your ship once you pick up any momentum which results in flying straight into the cavern walls more than a few times which inevitably causes extreme frustration.. You’ll find yourself begging for some miraculous transition into a geometry wars style control system. This feeling will pass. After a couple of solid hours coming to grips with the thrusters and learning braking distances, the fun finally kicks in. You start flying through the tunnels at high speeds, taking part in intense dog fights with the first enemies of the game which – after a couple of weapon upgrades – aren’t difficult. This is short lived. The enemies soon grow to match your ships capabilities and surpass them. The pure number of ships that can be following you at one time is daunting and the A.I being as good as it is makes them difficult to outsmart. To the casual gamer this may seem a little too much, but those looking for a real challenge won’t be disappointed. There are so many things that you need to be thinking about at one time. Whereas most games of this genre focus primarily on the combat aspect, Gravity core is always having your mind split between the combat, the most direct route to your objective and of course making sure you don’t sway into the walls which is always the main concern. It has to be said that really getting to grips with the inertia and finding your way out of the most difficult situations does fill you with a great sense of “I’m awesome.” It’s a good feeling.

The game does lack some variety. The missions can become a bit too familiar and the objectives repetitive. The upgrade system is hit or miss. Some upgrades don’t seem worth bothering with and others are absolutely essential to be able to progress through the game. I found myself upgrading my weapons and shields to the maximum rather than bothering with anything else because the game was so hard without these essentials covered. It didn’t help matters that the upgrade menu was hidden away in the options menu so I only actually found it after I went about altering my controller set up, resulting in spending the first five or so levels unaware that an upgrade menu even existed.

The game lacks sound. Aside from a very short piece of electronic music in the main menu there is no music. The only sounds are that of the gun fire, thrusters and crashes. For a while it’s okay. It does add to the sense of desolation across the asteroids that you’re navigating through, but soon I found myself growing tired of this emotionless lack of soundtrack. It was simply disappointing.

The graphics were clean and simple. Basic layered backgrounds and some pretty stars, but no particular detail in them. The level design itself was also a little bland. The rocky levels didn’t change in their appearance at all. There were some details that were paid attention to . The explosions were very nice, illustrating debris spiralling off into different directions. There’s also a nice little dust cloud that forms when your thrusters get close to the asteroids surface which brought a side smile to my face. The enemy ships and turrets look excellent and had enough differences in their appearance to be able to estimate which they were before they were close enough to shoot you so you could formulate a quick plan of action against them. Everything that played an importance to the game looked good.

The game is long. With over 50 levels you aren’t going to be disappointed with the $11.99 or £6.99 price tag and with a randomly generated campaign you will be able to come back to the game again and again. I wasn’t able to find any multi player internet matches, but the game does offer a multi player experience. I was able to try it across a LAN network and it worked just fine. The co-op play provides more campaigning fun and the PvP can provide entertainment for 10 minutes here and there.

Overall this is a solid game and an excellent début from a small developer. A fine incorporation of shooter with inertia based game play and providing you’re up for a serious challenge then this is worth giving a shot.