For whatever reason, there are a lot of two-stick shooters on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Apparently, the concept of downloadable software clicked in a number of developer's heads, ushering in a handful of very similar experiences that involve controlling a ship with the left analog stick and firing with the right, pew-pew-pewing leaderboards. Just Add Water’s Gravity Crash doesn’t really hang with that crowd. Despite looking like it should be sitting at the lunch table with Everyday Shooter and getting Geometry Wars pregnant behind the bleachers, it provides a much different experience to what many have come to expect in the genre, and while it might not necessarily be the right direction, it’s definitely moving in a different one.

It all follows a very loose plot, involving a snarky, dispensable maintenance robot sent around to complete objectives. His story, however, is secondary to the gameplay, serving as little more than an excuse for the developers to put short cutscenes in-between campaign levels. At its core, Gravity Crash is a score-grind, a throw back to the arcade games of the 80’s both in terms of gameplay and style. The visuals are almost overwhelmingly retro, with numbers exploding out of enemies and a neon glow around vector graphics, permeating through to every aspect of the presentation.

As mentioned earlier, it plays much differently than recent releases like Geometry Wars, with the notable inclusion of gravity. Instead of flying around in zero-g, forces are constantly tugging the player's ship downward, as gravity has been known to do. This means it's important to compensate by using the ship’s thrusters, which need to be replenished from time to time by destroying crystals located around the levels. This means the ship controls are more reminiscent to Lunar Lander and Space Taxi than Super Stardust HD, which, alone, throws a wrench in the works when it comes to spinning in circles and firing backwards.