Why Gravity Crash Might Be The Best Game On PSN
We get behind a Dualshock 3 and playtest this awesome retro shooter.Published 28/09/2009 at 7:00 by nofi
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Gravity Crash Patched, PSP Version Shown [12]
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The longer you write for a website, the more it’s possible to outwardly display some kind of bias. This isn’t the sort of bias that occupies the minds of schoolkids (read: console fanboyism) but rather a bias for a genre, a style of aesthetics or in my case, a love of retro-inspired ideas. Last week I met up with the guys at Just Add Water, the team hard at work on the upcoming 2D vector-based retro shooter Gravity Crash for PlayStation 3 and PSP – and came away thinking I’d just played probably the best game on the PSN so far, and those are just two of the games they’re working on with stacks of other titles hastily hidden behind a Blu-tac’d piece of laminate.
So, I can’t talk about their other projects, but I don’t need to – Gravity Crash speaks for itself. The head honcho at their Otley-based offices is Stewart Gilray, a man who seemingly shares my passion for solid gameplay and eye popping wireframe graphics, and with a nice cup of tea and a biscuit out of the way, he passed me the controller. For a frame of reference, Gravity Crash is a viewed-from-the-side old school shoot-em-up with a surprisingly deep mission structure and some devious mechanics. Yes, it’s vector-based but don’t let that put you off for a second, the 1080p 60 frames per second visuals are stunning, packed with character and animate extremely well.
There are two main control schemes, the first – Stewarts preferred – is the ‘classic’ method of rotating your ship with the analog stick and ‘thrusting’ with the X button, with circle manning your guns and triangle mapped to the ship’s special weapon. This felt immediately accessible to me, having spent considerable time with other games of this ilk on the Amiga, but Just Add Water have catered for newer gamers too with a twin-stick mechanic meaning the left stick ‘flies’ and the right stick ’shoots’ – it feels more basic and is clearly aimed at the Geometry Wars crowd, but it’s there if you want it. As much as I want to, I can’t go into Trophy details yet, but let’s just say you’ll certainly need to master both methods anyway.
Gravity Crash comes with five galaxies, with each galaxy containing a set number of planets within, which act as the game’s ‘levels’. Each planet has its own set of rules for completion, be that destroying a certain number of objects or picking up a set amount of collectables, but all levels are ultimately completed by the player reaching the ‘wormhole’ once the conditions are fulfilled. Score and time attack modes will greatly extend the already generous supply of missions, but the game truly came alive when Stewart showed by the astonishingly powerful in-game level editor, from which all the game’s existing areas are built.
Seriously, after spending just 10 minutes with this mode I questioned why Sony weren’t bundling Gravity Crash under the “Play, Create, Share” umbrella as it’s almost at the same level as the similar option in LittleBigPlanet – not only can you swiftly create great looking levels from the various pre-built sections but you can manipulate them, copy and paste and link all kinds of objects and attributes together to create impressively complex AI via a series of strings that act much like LBP’’s wire system. Want a door to open when a nearby switch is shot? Simply drag a blue wire from one to the other. Want the water or lava level to rise when you break through a rock? Easy peasy.
And the best thing of all? Your levels can be uploaded to the web, shared and rated just like those featuring Sackboy. Of course, any game that allows user creation will be subject to ‘artist’s impressions’ of various parts of the human anatomy – a rather crude example of which is already up and running on the game’s test server – but rest assured Gravity Crash features a full grief reporting system and the ability to filter the lists so you only see your friends anyway. I was blown away by the remarkable level editor, and although the developer’s keeping the price tag under wraps just now let’s just say I think it’ll represent excellent value for money if it stays the same as I was told.
I also got a brief demo of the game running on the PSP, and despite a slightly lower frame rate the game was just as impressive on the portable screen – everything that’s there in the PS3 version was present and correct on the PSP and although that version’s running a little behind its big brother I’ve certainly got high hopes for great success for Gravity Crash on both platforms – especially as the PSP version has its own levels to play through making both essential for completists. Seriously, Gravity Crash is going to be great – I’m hoping to get my hands on preview code soon o I can take my time with the game and speak more about it, but even after my brief spell with the game I left Yorkshire feeling extremely bouyant about what could be the best thing on the PSN.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
dejinator | 28/09/2009 07:49
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hmm, I may try this game out after all
TheSabreman | 28/09/2009 07:58
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Totally agree, since I first saw a vid of this game I was interested.
It looks like an great update to Thrust (Spectrum/C64).
I really like vector graphics and hope Just Add Water do more games of this style – Starstrike, Starion, The Sentinel and Dark Star…drool all Spectrum classics ripe for an update !
nofi | 28/09/2009 08:00
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If you have any questions I might be able to answer them. About Gravity Crash, of course, not anything else JAW are working on. =)
Aitrus | 28/09/2009 08:12
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When is it coming? It looks fantastic but I’m a bit worried about the timing of this and PixelJunk Shooter.
nofi | 28/09/2009 08:12
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Before Shooter, as far as I know. It’s a totally different game, though.
Aitrus | 28/09/2009 08:32
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Ok, thx. Having played neither of them I just saw a potential problem with both of them being based on old-school shooters – even if they are completely different in terms of art style.
cc_star | 28/09/2009 08:46
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Very strange Sony,
If they did add this title under their Play.Create.Share umbrella it would probably double sales.
kevatron400 | 28/09/2009 08:56
Don't call him Kevatron400.
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Yeah I agree, I didn’t even know this had any plans to come with a level editor! It’d be good to chuck another title under that umbrella anyway, as so far I know about 2 which could be called that; I really do think they’re the way forward.
nofi | 28/09/2009 09:00
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Seriously, the level editor is awesome in Gravity Crash. I know I’m biased on this (I love level editors) but this is totally up there with the best. It’s so damned fast to do stuff too, but it’s really smart on a number of levels. For example, when zoomed out the level editor brings up grid lines that map to a 1920×1080 display so you can see the scale of what you’re doing. Clever.
Lorcan | 28/09/2009 11:20
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I’m the same. Until I read this I had no idea about the level editor and most importantly, the fact that the editor was used to make the games final levels!
Really wasn’t interested in this before but suddenly it’s right smack bang in the middle of my radar!
Sony should SERIOUSLY consider putting it under the Play.Create.Share banner. I can’t be the only one who loves being able to create my own levels and playing other peoples.
BadBoyBoogie | 28/09/2009 15:58
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Can’t wait to give the level editor a try as well. I wonder if any of the trophies will be tied into designing levels?
Erroneus | 28/09/2009 08:58
Wanted "Trophy Hunter" but was too late.
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Defiantly a buy for me, I’m just hoping it’s not released close to Pixeljunk Shooter, that would be … confusing
hannes_truce | 28/09/2009 09:04
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I really can’t wait for this. sounds awesome
fredrikpedersen | 28/09/2009 09:06
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Oh, I want this game. I actually never heard of it, but this article put it on my radar. Thanks!
MornelitheVT | 28/09/2009 09:11
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Disagree myself. There are allot of great games avail on PSN, but the undisputed King of them all, is Wipeout HD + Fury expansion.
fredrikpedersen | 28/09/2009 09:15
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I really tried to like WipEout HD, but Shatter and Warhawk appeals more to me.
Dafro1989 | 28/09/2009 10:52
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I with MornelitheVT, Wipeout is easily the best thing on PSN. That said, it’s hardly a ‘proper’ PSN Title (Platinum Trophy). I suppose my current favourit is either Super Stardust or Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.
mugsybalone | 28/09/2009 09:15
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This reminds me of Gravity Force on the Amiga. Loved that game, I can see how this could be one of PSNs top games.
nofi | 28/09/2009 09:24
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Yeah, it plays a little like Gravity Force.
sideshow | 28/09/2009 20:43
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Looks a lot like xpilot, which is why I’m real excited for it. Do you know if it has a catch-the-flag mode with the orb from thrust?
Gastos84 | 28/09/2009 09:27
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Really looking forward to this game. I’m still playing SSHD, so if it’s anywhere near as good as that, I will be hooked. The level editor is going to be amazing. Simple enough so everyone can make something playable but experts will create some immense levels.
nickerton | 28/09/2009 15:39
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SSHD is such a treat.
BadBoyBoogie | 28/09/2009 15:56
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I still play SSHD from time to time. I only got around to playing the 2 player mode the other week which was great fun!!
Looking forward to giving Gravity Crash a bash!!
lyndagreen | 28/09/2009 10:08
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nofi – a quick Q: I read that the music is by cold storage? I loved their music on wipeout, did you get to hear it?
lyndagreen | 28/09/2009 10:38
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Since I posted, I did some digging of my own and I found some of the music tracks on the developers website.
nofi | 28/09/2009 10:40
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Yeah, the Cold Storage music is ace.
CoLDSToRAGE | 29/09/2009 09:09
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Thanks Lynda, and thanks for the vote of confidence too Alex! ;O)
Severn2j | 28/09/2009 10:18
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I really like the look of this game, it reminds me a lot of Thrust on C64, does it play anything like that? If so, I can see a lot of frustration and joypad throwing in the not so distant future..
Severn2j | 28/09/2009 10:18
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BTW, do we know if there will be a demo of this?
nofi | 28/09/2009 10:29
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Thrust? Yep, a little, but obviously far more advanced.
Re: demo. I’m not sure I can say, I’ll ask.
bunimomike | 28/09/2009 11:38
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Nofi, my man, awesome sh**! I’ve been following this one closely since the trailer was released. Every few seconds brought a “oh god, really? Awesome” from my lips. The style… the music… the obvious fun to be had with an old skool game. Then I saw 4-player split screen… then I saw the level editor and DAMN that looked good. Even from the trailer. So pleased that you’ve returned with enthusiasm seeping from every pore (that and tea)
Please keep us posted as much as you can.
Tell you what… I can’t see a release date and I’ve just scanned the entire page again. Any news?
*is childishly excited*
nofi | 28/09/2009 11:39
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I’m waiting on confirmation of what I can and can’t say. =)
bunimomike | 28/09/2009 11:52
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No worries, matey. To be fair… if it releases tomorrow or if it releases in a year’s time, I’ll buy it the moment it’s out. That and PixelJunk Shooter. Great days ahoy!
Stewart Gilray | 28/09/2009 12:10
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Thanks for all the nice comments…
We’re not talking about Price or Release Date yet.
bunimomike | 28/09/2009 12:55
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Ooo…. *dusts down the place*… Hey there. Need a beta tester?
Michael | 28/09/2009 13:19
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Bum
Still, that level editor is enough to keep me salivating for ages yet.
Michael | 28/09/2009 13:20
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Demo?
Stewart Gilray | 28/09/2009 16:24
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The demo will release at the same time as the full game.
bunimomike | 28/09/2009 16:49
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A demo at the same time. Good enough for me. Even though I’m close to putting the money aside already I’m guessing the demo will be the full game downloaded but with restrictions (so “unlock” is as simple as can be and doesn’t require a subsequent download).
a inferior race | 28/09/2009 13:22
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Remote Play?
bunimomike | 28/09/2009 14:19
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Sellotape lots of snooker cues to your fingers and stab wildly at the buttons on the controller. Remote Play WIN! *reaches for coat*
Stewart Gilray | 28/09/2009 16:24
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There’s no point doing Remote Play, as we are doing a PSP version as well.
fredrikpedersen | 01/10/2009 00:18
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Will it be the same price?