just me then

Difficulty starts to pick up around the middle of the second solar system. Should be interesting to see how bastard hard it gets later on.

Yeah man, I always loved Thrust, I was always terrible at it but always loved the idea. I really like the neon vector aesthetic too, so this pushes all my buttons.

I always especially like that Thrust clone on the Amiga, but never ever could remember the name, it had splitscreen deathmatch I'd guess you'd call it, with power ups and crazy maps.

Wasn't vector like though, more Amiga'ish... what was it called!?

GRAVITY FORCE!!!

That was IT!!!

Amazing game, also you've got the XPilot too, but thats a bit too geeky/nerdy but I do slap that on at Christmas now and again, for some multi OS network fun at my folks... yes, thats right, a linux, windows, risc os XPilot'athon... you read that right.

Gravity Force 2 was the best package though, XPilot suffers from too many options and ambiguous maps.

Hmm not heard of XPilot, looks good will need to check that out.

Jib. I think you'd love Gravity Crash. My only complaint is that it takes a little while for the level design to get warmed up, but I think that's a totally deliberate design choice to ease players in who aren't familiar with this sub-genre.

One uber-neat feature is the inclusion of water, which effectively reverses the gravity field. This is used to some good effect.

Score wise I'm not really sure how to approach the game. There are time bonuses available, but you basically have to speed run the level to get them (haven't triggered one yet). Whether this is worthwhile compared to rinsing the level for points I'm not sure. Obviously if the time bonuses are huge then that's the way to go, needs further experimentation really.

Sooo yeeeaah, based on the "Trial" that would be the demo then...

It's terribly bland. Terribly. It's got this slightly mis stepped aesthetic or execution that is just a tiny bit off. This seems to be endemic to these Indie'esque Sony produced PSN efforts, something wrong with them.

It feels like they've taken a list of things you should shoot and kinda missed each and every point. Like a tennis game that has goals at each end levitating platforms, and lives and shields, and rockets and who knows what.

It doesn't appear to have any Thrust elements, that whole game was about saving the orb and understanding relationship of the string and the delicacy of it all. Understand the level going in, save the orb with that knowledge going out. Nice n simple.

Too much to do, doesn't seem to have the confidence to go with one idea and stick to it... Does it need boss battles, gem collection, people collection, "artifact" collection, fuel collection. The water is a good idea, and I like the ship morphing, but the slightly over complicated ship design, combined with the neon visuals, neeerrgghh.

Anyways, Mads, you say it gets going level design wise, are you suggesting the demo is mis representative? There doesn't seem to be any threat, or any skillaging that I can see. But I am old and haggard to this genre, so maybe as a gateway drug... might be good?

Yes I would say that the demo is pretty bland and doesn't represent the game well. As for the aesthetic I agree that it is off, but you sorta get used to it after a while, or at least I did.

The demo levels are way too easy, later on things start to shoot at you and then things start to move and shoot at you. There are some mobile bits of scenery too, which adds to the difficulty.

Whoah whoah whoah... move AND shoot... only with the POWER OF CELL!

The boss at the end of the demo was an interesting idea... it just didn't let me actually fight it... and it was just another layer on another layer of ideas that really didn't mesh.

No orb escapes though?

wtf is an orb escape?

The game does get significantly harder and more interesting. I'm into the latter levels now and the last one I played was just intense. Lots of moving platforms and spinny things to navigate through, partical winds that blow and buffet your craft, gravity field distortion machines that totally screw up both your craft and your shots. asteroid fields, sweeping lazers, tanks, larger capital ships. Some very very tricky sections.

In summary it takes a while to get warmed up, but when it gets going it's a good ride. You sort of get into the physics of your craft after a while too, there's a feeling of complete and accurate control that has to be earned.

The level design is top notch too. Many many risk vs reward sections that have been really well thought out. Such a shame that the demo doesn't show any of this off.

Orb escape... I made that name up... you played Thrust?, some good vids here:

Nope not played thrust although mechanically based on those vids it does look a lot better than Gravity Crash.

I think at some point we need to have a thread on Virus...

Thrust is Gravitar + Asteroids Deluxe, and manages to improve on both. Hell of a game.

Have to say Gravity Crash demo didn't do anything for me either. Nicely implemented, mechanics spot on (in a directly lifted from Thrust way), but just very bland. They've taken those interesting control mechs and turned it into a mindless shooter to my eyes. The water is a good idea, mind. To commit to this I'd need it to be more puzzley/dexterity based than shooter based.

The visual design is horrible too, so frustratingly reigned in and benign. It has no bite at all, instantly forgettable. It might be exciting if you'd never seen Geometry Wars, but how long ago was that now?

Level editor is cool, maybe that is where the real game is - screw shooting, give me tethered orbs to collect (fnnr) and tricky terrain to negotiate.

In the demo there was one "artifact" that was hidden away in a really swine location... that I enjoyed micro thrusting along to. A piece in a ship sized hole.

I mean, I get the idea here, its a case of is bigger better? A giant rolling super level, that they've produced here is the wild dreams of a child of the 80s... but in a weird way the technology "back then" really did force concise, classic, controlled, clever game and level design.

In those Thrust vids you can SMELL the concentration, FEEL the stress and man that freaking orb... I don't remember getting past level 3 or 4, or even 2 for that matter.

I may plump the cash down on Mads recommendroid, its like a Thrust adventure game, without the difficulty, and the ability to continue. Maybe it boils down the new game rules where you have to make the game difficult for yourself?

The ability to continue does take the edge off somewhat, but at least continuing resets your score. There are certainly many edge of the seat silent concentration moments as you delicately inch through a narrow opening. Equally there are plenty of total balls out speed moments where you have to throw caution to the wind. The last level I played had a rising lava flow, which means you have to escape to higher ground before you become toast. They also start to do some fiendish placement of gems and crewmen.

Use of the shield becomes such an integral part of the gameplay that it nearly breaks the game totally. Shielding is really where the twitch element is as opposed to the shooting. I don't really see the shooting side of the game as dominating to be honest.

If anything the amount of shield you have, or the recharge rate is too generous. You begin to rely on it to spam yourself out of a tight spot as opposed to using it as a measure of last resort. I've not played it on the autoshield setting, but thinking about it this might be better as at least it doesn't recharge! They should have made the manual shield non-recharging too, which then makes the gem collection side of the game make more sense (yellow gems recharge auto shield iirc).

Hmm so yeah it's unrefined and probably not properly thought out (mechanically), still I'm enjoying it though . Oh and the level editor is a piece of piss to use. Not looked to see if there are any really fiendish user designed levels, but all of the building blocks are there to make some truly horribly difficult levels.

haha! You've sold me on the lava floe / flow idea... sounds like 1080 Avalanche!

I'm gonna play it as a wide spectrum Thrust clone prequel!

There seems to be alot of, I dunno, reverse engineering of core game concepts these days, trying to find new ideas. I mean you can imagine the Thrust guy making a game similar to Gravity Crash but whittling the concept into Thrust instead.

Funny that Gravity Crash seems to ignore the orb idea... thinking about it I can't think of a game that reuses that idea, can you?

Docking itself was a staple of early 80s arcade schmups... Moon Cresta, Astro Blaster, other than Asteroids Deluxe the idea probably comes from that.

Not all that much since huh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_%28video_game%29#Clone_and_related_games

There was a game on the Amiga called E-Motion that took the concept to it's zenith, by giving you a series of levels each featuring spheres tethered together in different ways. You played the game by bumping them around to match colours, with the mechanics following Thrust's tether plus elasticity. Another variation on Asteroids Deluxe really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Motion

Now there is a genuinely great (and bastard hard) game.

Oops, I'm thinking of Space Duel, rather than Asteroids Deluxe, which was it's sequel.

http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Space_Duel

Yeah, co-op was basically impossible.

Been playing Gravity Crash on and off... the whole progression is strange... being able to continue is really sucking the interest out of this one. I have to discipline myself to not continue and start again, thats adding some tension, infinite continues is not.

The level design and so forth isn't really working for me, nor are the slightly average weapon upgrades or "hidden" parts of levels.

Maybe if there was a score chase for each level individually, the accumulation of a massive score is counter to something I can't put my finger on. I think it just hasn't been thought of at all.

PixelJunk Shooter is meant to be a better, more interesting interpretation of the Thrust idea, or maybe the most acceptable face of a broken generation of gamer consumers. Whatever, it wasn't out last year in the PAL PSN shop store thang, I don't know if it has appeared since.

The main problem with PixelJunk Shooter is the name, so far, really really terrible.

PJ shooter is out I believe, based on the video it doesn't look all that, I'm reluctant to shell out for it and there's no demo to sway me.

Out of interest Jib how far are you getting in to Gravity Crash level design is pretty banal until you get to the third solar system. Normally I'd be right with you on the no continue mantra, but with this game it doesn't have the scoring system or the instant appeal (so basically broken as an arcade game). I've enjoyed piling through it using buckets of continues. If you want to play score attack then you can always play single planet mode, but really there's no point. Think of it as another uncharted 2

Right, so more an adventure game in 80s polygon world?

That might work.

I've got to half way through the second system before I had to continue and then got deflated.

More Super Monkey Ball Adventure than Super Monkey Ball... that wasn't as witty as I was hoping.

As for PixelJunk Shooter, yeah, I think it LOOKs interesting, but, umm, like you say without a demo... I might punt on it anyways after I've clocked this one, I don't know the price and it does involve charging the PS3 pad and everything.

Finished this last night after using like a gagillion continues. The last 3 or 4 levels really pump up the difficulty, but I'm not so keen on the scattered maze type layouts of these levels. I missed about 40% of them I think due to not being bothered to explore every warp. They start to introduce silly nonsense like switches that can only be activated using the bounce shot located elsewhere in the level .

Finishing the game unlocks a rather average green vector graphics clone of Robotron, but with analogue twinstick control. Diverting for an extra 5 minutes I suppose.

I've enjoyed Gravity Crash, but maybe that says more about the PS3's games catalogue and PSN offerings than anything else.

I keep forgetting I have a PS3!!!

d'zang.

Thanks for reminding me, but I do feel that without the "FEAR" I'm not really engaged at all on any level.

Bit like having Sega Rally with blue shells, the Thrust mechanic needs immediacy for me to retain my interest.

I'll pop it on tonight, if the ps3 pad doesn't need charging, and see if I Can Be Arsed.

y'see PixelJunk Shooter, looks really interesting in a new wave gravity water physics kinda thing. It even appeard to have orb carrying.

Reminds me of Cataclysm on RISC OS (which might have been a rip off of another game in classic Acorn style). Still, water and puzzles, mixed with Thrust... hmmmm

PJ Shooter has been getting some good reviews. It might be worth a punt I suppose. The demo video didn't seem to include any thrust like mechanics, but I could be wrong. Also it looked more puzzle game than shooter...

Yes, well the name is genuinely putting me off. I mean, if you can't get a name right, it doesn't bode well for the rest of the product... I can't think of any comedy comparisons... but hey.

Also its made by "Q Games" which is suspiciously close to "Q Entertainment", yet Q Games was founded first, by an Argonaut dude or something, so some kind of heritage there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-Games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_Entertainment

I will have to take another look at the gameplay vid on the PS3 HDD and reassess. Nothing in the vid seemed to be hitting my buttons, but it's only a video right!

What I find uber depressing is the lack of any real shooters on PSN. The store is a total joke compared to Live Arcade or Virtual Console.

I downloaded the the Afterburner Climax vid last night. That put a smile on my face . Can't be long now...

Pixel Junk Shooter, purchased. Not Thrust at all.

Think robotron/gravity wars, locoroco styling. You don't die when you hit the edges, there is no gravity.

It is so far incredibly easy and simple.

Blandware.

We'll see what it does, the non-gameplay suits itself to mongaming more than the, incomparable Gravity Wars. There is some idea on heat, only lava can kill and you use trapped water to solidify the lava to then blow up. And you just rescue diver dudes.