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.



Also pushing it further away from its contemporaries is the actual goal of the game. While it’s built around attaining high scores, it’s not about dodging enemy attacks in a small arena while destroying them for points. It’s an adventure game, with large areas to explore and navigate in order to complete objectives, all the while fending off enemy attacks and returning fire. These objectives vary from stage to stage, but generally involve trying to destroy a number of marked buildings by traveling around and through caverns. Side missions, like grabbing floating gems and saving stranded workers, help keep things fresh, but it's hard to play for too long without growing bored. Or frustrated. The radar on the bottom right of the screen doesn't display enough to actually be of any use, so gaining any speed usually results in smashing into an unseen wall. This means everything has to be taken slowly, and even then some areas require pixel perfect movements to navigate, with one false move draining the ship's shields and leaving the player one life poorer.

This proves to be an issue rather quickly in Campaign mode, and can lead to a broken controller or hole in the wall. After dying a few times in the Campaign, the game asks if you want to continue. Select yes, and the score is reset - a just punishment for losing. Select no, and all progress is lost.

Wait, what?

It's not so much that it's punishing - that's not really an issue. The fact that it allows the player to continue past the original "Game Over" screen with a reset score is fine. The problem is that the question is worded poorly, and there should be more to explain the repressions. It's worded in such a way that most people will likely select "no," not realizing the stakes, and end up with several hours of play lost. This, when mixed with the repetitive gameplay, might mean game over in more ways than one.



Despite some wonderful level design, which expertly walks the line between frustrating and brilliant, the basic gameplay mechanics remain unchanged from the beginning to the end. It gets repetitive fast, and trudging through the lengthy campaign can become tiring. In the instances where it's mixed up, and different elements (like unlockable doors or force fields) are added in, they seem to be completely random. Some doors have specific switches to open them, while others require players to find different looking objects, and others require buildings to be destroyed. The sudden message of "the door has been opened" or "the water level has been raised" is usually met with a confused look, wondering if there was anything up to that point that had alluded to that happening.

Thankfully, despite these faults, Gravity Crash is still an entertaining title. It's oddly addictive, which feels like it should clash with the repetitive nature, but never does. Beyond the campaign, a wonderful level creator has already spawned some fantastic levels that trump those made by the developers, and the community seems ready to support it for some time to come. Multiplayer, too, should help the replayability, even if the local-only play is a huge detriment to the game ever establishing any sense of a competitive scene. On the whole, there's a huge amount of content in the package, and even though it's not perfect, it's better than a majority of the games in the genre. It takes a step away from its contemporaries, and while it might not necessarily be the right step, it's certainly one worth respecting.