Quick Review: Defy Gravity

I’ve noticed that several puzzle platformers love to play around with gravity mechanics. In 3D, yes, but 2D as well. Even Mario did it sometimes, but I should be talking about a Steam game here.

Gravity IN SPAAAAAAAAACE

Defy Gravity, a creation of Paul Fisch, was published by Fish Factory Games and released on March 18th, 2016. You are in control of Kara, a Gravitymancer; it means she owns a gun that can create “Grav-Wells” in which gravity is altered. She can create both blue Grav-Wells, which pull things in, and yellow ones, which push things away; both are done with the mouse, Left button for gravity, Right button for anti-gravity. Kara moves with A and D, and can jump with W or Space. The S button isn’t used to crouch (though that could have been useful in some situations), it instead toggles a shield around Kara that negates the effects of her gravity pockets for her alone. Finally, it’s possible to remove these pockets, by pressing Q for the blue gravity ones and E for the yellow anti-gravity ones. Only one pocket of each type can exist at once, so if you create a blue gravity pocket while another one is around, the older one will disappear.

Lasers everywhere. If the plot didn't claim this was a sort of obstacle
course for Gravitymancers, I'd believe it was built by stressed aliens
who are hiding something valuable behind thousands of traps.

Robots need to obey gravity too!
What better way to keep them away from you?

In each level, there’s a goal to reach. Kara has a single hit point, and there are deadly lasers all over the place, especially on floors and ceilings. To get anywhere, you quickly learn to use the gravity gun – to get pulled upwards by pockets of gravity, or pushed away by anti-gravity. In fact, jumping off the top of a pocket of anti-gravity is a necessary skill to learn. Kara is equipped with a jetpack that allows her to jump in midair; it can also be done over anti-gravity. Note that the gun reloads when our protagonist has her feet on solid ground – floors and floating platforms. However, she is only allowed to use each type of gravity twice while she’s in the air, for a total of four, and some later puzzles involve careful use of the gravity gun’s limited shots to reach the exit. The pockets will also affect some of the obstacles, such as floating robots or shots fired by cannons.

How tough is it? The bottom timer, which can be turned on
and off, says 640 seconds. I've been trying to beat this level
for nearly 11 minutes.

Needless to say, only the best will get to the end. Or the most persistent, considering I died so many times. Thank God there are infinite lives! The game is fairly lenient regarding checkpoints, there’s usually one after each puzzle.

Upon beating the game and completing the last puzzle at the end of the credits, you gain access to a Hard Mode that takes away the anti-gravity gun. All-new levels, then, since some levels in the normal mode would have been impossible without anti-gravity. The Grav-Wells also affect everything this time – Kara, bullets, enemies. I like the thought of offering a tougher challenge, but I find it unfortunate that they removed key features to create that extra challenge.

Lasers on the floor, laserson the ceiling? OH COME ON-
I mean, BRING IT ON! Yeah, that's definitely what I meant.

I like that the overall game plays with these abilities, by featuring platforms that are affected by the Grav-Wells, dragged to or away from them. I also liked that some levels made the shield mandatory to go through the puzzle, as it forces the player to tackle these segments from a different point of view. And let’s not forget the higher platforming skill level required to go through some segments. If you don’t shoot the Grav-Well at the perfect spot, and then do the perfect sequence of actions, you’ll hit that laser.

A single misstep, and you're dead.
I hope you like that kind of difficulty.

Is it a tough game? It’s pretty tough, yes – the addictive type, the one that makes you go “One more, I’m sure I can beat the level this time!” The graphics and the music are fairly basic but they help set the tone; there isn’t a lot of variety to them either, but they get the point across well enough. The game’s big flaw, to me, may be that it’s too similar to many puzzle platform games, and that while it tries to add new concepts, it feels like something that’s been seen before. Not bad, but not different enough. It's okay at best; I don't have much negative to say for it, but I don't recommend it as there's better out there.

Still, if you wish to try it, Defy Gravity is available for 1$ on Steam.