The PlayStation Network has a surplus of two-stick shooters. Developers take the controller in their hand, shuffle it around, tap the buttons, and eventually decide to make a game that could be put under Asteroids in a family tree. At a recent NYC Press event, two such games were on display. One was PixelJunk Shooter, which continues the PixelJunk series' dominance of the PSN, and the other was Gravity Crash, a game that most people hadn't heard anything about.

It's only kind of a two-stick shooter. Visually, the game looks very Geometry Wars in its presentation. Objects are simple, contour lines, vividly displayed in bright colors. The retro vibe isn't lost at all, giving it all a nice, arcade-y feel. Where the "kind of" comes in to play is in the gameplay, which stretches beyond spinning in circles and shooting blobs. Despite looking a hell of a lot like other games on the Network, the ship controls are much more akin to Lunar Lander, taking a physical approach to the genre. It changes things up quite a bit, providing a much more difficult, albeit rewarding experience. There's also the fact that it isn't an arena shooter like Super Stardust HD. It's broken up into levels, each of which can be explored fully. It's like an adventure game that happens to be a two-stick shooter.

Also interspersed are objectives besides clearing the levels of brightly colored enemies. Little people are stranded on whatever mountainous land Gravity Crash takes place on, waiting for rescue from the protagonist's magical ship. Landing requires precise movements and gravitational acrobatics to touch down without smashing into tiny pieces, just as it does in the old-school Lunar Lander game. Other objects in the world need to be collected while trying to destroy some more, all the while battling the 20th Century's greatest foe: fuel. The gauge is constantly dropping, meaning it isn't alright to fly around like an idiot. 

Odds are PixelJunk Shooter will be a better game. I know that. That said, I'm a bit more excited by Gravity Crash after playing both. I know what I'm getting from a PixelJunk game. This is... different. Very different. And I like it. The physics add oh, so much to the genre, and it's a shock that more games don't bother trying to do something like this. It's due out on the PSN this fall. Be sure to check back with Gamervision.com for a full review (and check back later this week for a hands-on with PixelJunk Shooter, too).