Defy Gravity

Developer: Fish Factory Games
Released: Jul 2011
Hours Played: 2
Similar To: Rochard / VVVVVV / Walk in the Dark
Rating: 1/5 Parsnips



GAMEPLAY
Defy Gravity, a 2D side-scroller set in outer-space, is fine for a session or two over a couple of hours or so of play. Most players will stop at the stage where the developers themselves tell you the game gets a lot tougher. As standard, each level has a starting point and gives you the task of making your way to the exit door. Obstacles include wide spaces to leap over, floating pods that you jump upon (but kill you if they hit you), floating platforms, lasers and the odd hostile spaceship or missiles. Donning a spacesuit with the usual left, right and jump movement, you are equipped with a kind of gravity gun. You fire this into space and when you release the button you create a small glowing energy force that (depending if you did a left-click or right-click) either draws you towards it or repels you away from it.
 

BALANCE & PACE
The controls and the movement are very fluid and it's a smooth flowing game. Most of the time will be spent figuring out which type of gravity orb to fire but there is plenty of leaping to be done as well. Overall, I really enjoyed the way the game pulls you in and I found the level of difficulty to be spot-on. It is also a very forgiving game in that on dying you are placed immediately where you were at just before the time you had your little accident. However, getting to about half-way spells danger and the game warns you that things will start to get very difficult. Hey, they're not lying, this is where most players will end their game as the difficulty spike really does kick in hard. 
 


PRESENTATION & DESIGN
With its subtle, atmospheric soundtrack and smooth gameplay, not to mention its simple but effective USP, Defy Gravity does a great job in gripping the player. Level design is inventive and there is a definite feelgood factor when completing levels. Unfortunately, it does fall short in other important areas. The menus, for one, do the game no favours and display a total lack of imagination. You get a black screen and a few lines of white text about the game on launch. You then get the option to start a new game or continue and then you get one other menu when escaping the game which asks if you want to use a controller or if you want your runs to be timed (not that your run-times are recorded). There aren't any options in the usual sense (to adjust music, resolution or windowed mode) and you only get one profile.

PROGRESS SYSTEM
As mentioned, Defy Gravity will not win any awards for its menu screens. You get a black screen on launch with a few lines of text followed by a choice to start a new game or continue with the old one. Pressing Escape brings up a screen that gives you the choice to configure the controls, show the level time while playing, or to exit. Clicking the Exit to Main Menu just exits you from the game. There is no more to it than that; no options, no best times, no level-select screen, nothing. Personally, including something like a best-time chart for each level might have given the game an added dimension or livened up the menus a little, but there it is.

CONCLUSION

Lastly, as I mentioned above, clicking the Exit To Main Menu option just exits you from the game leading me to believe that maybe they had intended to do some sort of leaderboard or level-select screen but just didn't get round to it. In fact, the whole package just feels unfinished. I also experienced glitchy behaviour and the occasional crash when starting the game. The game is also a tad plain and perhaps could have been jazzed up with the inclusion of some more dynamic gameplay ideas but, as I say, for the price of half a pint of beer, a two hour blast through its first half is not a bad deal.