Coming up with an original title for such a review set was never going to be possible, seeing as how the two games newly added to Sony’s Playstation Store are very similar in terms of how they’re controlled, but it’s how they go about the rest of their business that keeps them apart in terms of identity.
PixelJunk Shooter and Gravity Crash both have the older generation feel about them and as already mentioned go about their business in the same way as the now benchmark title in the genre, Bizarre Creation’s classic Geometry Wars. They have similar objectives too, namely reaching the end of the level after seeing to a small number of tasks, like rescuing personnel or destroying things. The big irony is that although these two games are so alike, it’s the execution of their craft that stands them poles apart. Let me explain.
Q-Games’ PixelJunk Shooter is a very simple idea, with a storyline more shallow than a leisure centre paddling pool (this applies to both of them, to be fair), but then for this type of thing, it doesn’t really matter. The main goal is to get through the numerous levels, rescuing your work colleagues on the way, but instead of just having enemies stopping you, there is the added element of the powers of nature. Volcanic lava pours through every orifice as you go from point A to B, but there is also a plentiful supply of water, either in deposits or flowing freely from gaps in the rock. The great thing about this is that instead of just being a good looking gimmick, there is an actual feeling of gameplay involvement from this. As the lava cools with contact from the H2O, then it hardens into rock that can be shot away to reveal paths through to stranded servicemen or even secret passages for extra points. It’s a novel idea and one which allows the game to keep an identity of it’s own, which in this packed genre, is good to see.
Gravity Crash on the other hand doesn’t seem to go down this road. It does have it’s own individual ingredient, that being a ship which is affected by it’s own momentum. This means that if you’re going full pelt across the screen, you will need to be thinking about a hell of a distance to stop, as it has no way of turning on a sixpence. In hindsight it’s a nice enough idea, but in it’s execution it seems to lack something. In most games like this if you’re moving around and want to change direction, momentum based or not, the boosters are on constantly. This may not sound like much, but in the case of Gravity Crash, it is a fairly big annoyance. If you move the ship any further round than, say, a sixth of the way to adjust your trajectory, the rockets will cut out until you steady yourself, or at least slow down your movements. This can cause you to crash often, as it gives your head an almightily feeling of bad judgement.
The look of each could not be more different. Shooter has a cross between standard 2D graphic shading and the cel stuff we’re more akin to seeing in the DS Zelda games. It works surprisingly well, with the water and lava of special note. It may look standard in screenshots, but watching the liquids flow in each level is something special and shows a nice attention to detail. Gravity Crash has a more arcade feel and looks lovely, with a rich and colourful vector look. The only downside to this is it doesn’t let itself separate from other titles designed in this way, like Geo Wars. It is nicely done though, as I say and it isn’t a complaint, but with ANY new game coming out, there has to be something in the visuals to distinguish yourself from others, much like Borderlands kept itself apart from the other FPS titles out there.
We then move onto the sound. Although again the styles are different in both games, the amount they bring to the table isn’t that much. It’s almost like having an iPod full of elevator music and then heading up to the top floor of Trump Towers in a lift. They don’t really need to be huge epic scores, like a blockbuster movie or overpriced software efforts, but a little toe-thumping piece of melody doesn’t hurt anyone. If I had to say anything it would be that Shooter is a little more unique and keeps away from the bass and techno bleeps. I’ll give you a wild guess which one of the two doesn’t…
Anyway, that’s just the cosmetic side of things. Now we’re getting to the crunch and we need to talk about the gameplay. I’ll start, as I have done throughout, with Q-Games’ title and I have to say it’s a very tight and well flowing thing. The ship moves nicely and you never feel like anything was a fault of anyone or anything but your own stupidity. This may have a helping hand in that you can’t really crash the ship in the first place. The only way it can be destroyed is by overheating, caused by excessive weapon usage or swimming in the hot stuff. Control wise, things are nicely laid out on the pad and are very simplistic. One shoulder button fires your weapons and the other releases a retractable arm to collect both rare gems and those poor souls stuck in a rut and relying on you to get ’em. The bosses are rather well thought out too. Take the first one you come across. The spider in question uses all the terrain and forces you to do the same as it climbs from one wall to the next before trapping you at the bottom of the screen. The one thing I love about this game more than anything else is the way everything comes together so well. It’s not overly-complicated, but there is enough for the hardcore and purists to do their best to find and grab as much as possible and attain that 100% record, and with leaderboards too that could be something very tempting to all. With different element styles thrown in as you progress too, it culminates in a well rounded effort.
Gravity Crash does have some very nice touches too in terms of what it does. A level editor gives you unlimited potential to play and create and I’m all for extending the longevity of something without taking away from what’s already there. The usability of this editor isn’t too bad and I reckon with a little bit of time and patience you could get yourself come nice new content from your own hands. The only trouble is that with the way things work in the Just Add Water production, you may not feel as big an urge to put the time in. The booster thing I talked about earlier is a contributor to my comments here, as alongside the feeling of frustration from the movement, you then have the more serious annoyance of trying to pick up craft-less astronauts. All I’m going to say is that if an arcade game could do this properly over 15 years ago (Choplifter for those not old enough to remember) then why can’t this? I saw me die more times trying to land and get the folks home than anything else, even WITH the landing gear down and what looked like a textbook approach on the cards. The astronaut shooters don’t change direction and look like they shouldn’t be there (I’d even go so far as to say lazy coding) and the variety of scenery on offer can get close to repetitive and therefore boring, which doesn’t keep the player interested for too long.
I feel for the Gravity Crash team, as I think with some more time and some fine tuning here and there, this could have been turned into a nice little shooting game. I used to play an old game on the Amiga, called Gravity Wars, I think (less of the history lessons, Grandpa – Ed) and I spent ages on it. What we HAVE been given in the present just doesn’t feel polished enough to sustain any lengthy appeal and is unforgiving to a fault. Even the multiplayer isn’t online, which from a game that is only available via download, seems a bit weird to me.
PixelJunk Shooter on the other hand is really good fun to get stuck into and can keep you playing for some time. It’s lovely to look at, doesn’t burn your ears just because it can and has a nice, grounded level of gameplay which is effortless to play through. The addition of the gems and even key personnel to locate and save keeps things interesting without being too gimmicky simply further adds to the richness of it all. There is only one clear winner here and it’s this one. In a perfect world, I’d take qualities from both and combine them to form am almightily brilliant game and take the plaudits, there’s only one of these games to get in a lava about…
VideogameUK verdict for Gravity Crash: 6/10
VideogameUK verdict for PixelJunk Shooter: 8/10
