I haven’t had a whole lot of luck with retail games this year, so I figured it’s about time to make a post I’ve been sitting on for a few months now:
This is an action platformer. However, instead of the usual jump arc, you reverse gravity, similar to VVVVVV. Controls are responsive, game-play is fast-paced, and each level is only one screen long, so just like N++, every hazard is visible from the start, meaning there are no cheap deaths. However, unlike N++, there’s no forward momentum or weird jumping physics you have to get used to: forward is forward, and letting go of forward stops you (though there is a 4-frame delay between letting go of forward and your character stopping, like in Celeste). Unfortunately, there are only 40 levels, and the first three are just five-second tutorials. In fact, my only real complaint is that the game is pretty easy; it takes until level 8 for the game to start getting remotely tricky, and the difficulty doesn’t go up much further from there. If you reach a level that kills you a few times before you win, don’t be surprised if you clear the next few on your first try. I can also start to see why level design isn’t as highly regarded by others as it is with me, because this game doesn’t have much variation with how its hazards are used; the only level that really makes you rethink things is 39, where the guided-projectile spawners are placed in a more open environment rather than a hall, meaning there are far fewer safe areas and you can’t just rush through without thinking.
Even with its flaws, I highly recommend this game. After all, it’s a free Flash game, so you only have your time to lose. I’m sure for most of you, this will just be a 10 minute distraction before you go back to more substantial titles and forget about it, but for me, it’s one of the most polished, well designed games I’ve played all year.
P.S. There’s also a watermark in the lower-left corner of the game at all times. It usually isn’t too big of an issue, but there are times where it can make it hard to see where a platform is.
There’s also a sequel:
It’s basically more of the same. Same controls, same mechanics, same number of levels, same enemies; even the first three stages are tutorials for the same things as in the first game. The biggest change is that, instead of stone pillars that hit the ground every second, there are laser beams that shoot across the room, and they take far longer to disappear, which noticeably slows down the game’s pace. There are also teleporters; falling on one shoots you out of another. However, it isn’t uncommon for there to be four (or even six) teleporters in one level, and there isn’t any indication which one teleports you to which other one until after it happens. Plus, the game has a tendency to have teleporters spawn you right over spikes, so the level design is cheaper than the first game. Aside from this, the game manages to be easier than the first one. There are a couple new hazards, like diagonally-moving spike balls and the dogs that stay still until you get close, but you’re not going to find anything like level 39 in the first game.
Overall, this isn’t bad, but it’s definitely weaker than the first installment. It’s also a free Flash game, so it might still be worth playing, but if the retail version continues in this direction, I’d definitely recommend sticking with the free Flash games. (plus, the retail version zooms in the screen so you can’t see the whole level at once, giving it a blatant disadvantage over the free games)
P.S. There is technically a Gravity Duck 3, but even if you didn’t check the uploader’s username, it’s apparent that it was made by someone else. The game-play is much slower, everything has annoying sound effects attached to it, and when you die, the annoying music stops and you have to click the retry button manually, at which point the game takes far longer to reload the stage than the other two games. However, the worst part is that, when you beat a level and the next one loads, the arrow keys (what you use to move) will highlight the web-link buttons, so you have to click inside the game each time if you don’t want to activate those links accidentally. Despite also being a free Flash game, that (combined with the slower pace and annoying sounds) made me give up, and I wouldn’t recommend it.