I understand game developers' desire to port
their game to as many consoles and devices as possible: more exposure
means more revenue from a design that's already a sunk cost. It makes
economic sense. But all too often, at least when it comes to portables,
it doesn't really make creative sense. Gravity Crash for PSP is a fun enough game, it works as a time-wastery arcade title --
but ultimately it's a game built to be controlled by two analog sticks
that's been reduced to just one analog nub and some buttons.
Despite this major disconnect in control schemes, though, Gravity
Crash manages to transfer the core design conceits of its PS3 daddy onto
the PSP. Basically, the game can best be described as you (you're a
tiny ship) vs. physics and some bad guys. The physics challenge is
really quite well done -- you can either fight gravity or momentum,
depending on what game mode you're playing, and while the gameplay is
unforgiving, the sense of accomplishment at successfully landing your
little ship or successfully navigating a narrow set of obstacles is
high.
Combating enemies, on the other hand, is decidedly less interesting.
Because you don't have the dual sticks you would on a PS3 controller,
Gravity Crash tries to compensate by making your shots in any direction
spray over a wide area. But this is a clumsy solution that makes combat
feel more luck than skill-based. And the whole thing is hamstrung by the
lack of interesting enemies -- mostly enemies serve only to harry you
as you try to negotiate the levels' physical impediments, but they
rarely present an interesting challenge on their own.
And that, really, is the problem with Gravity Crash -- it just
isn't that interesting. Most of the levels in the campaign recycle the
same few mission types: kill a certain number of enemies or collect a
certain amount of a given thing, etc. It gets pretty meh after a while.
You do get a couple of additional game modes, including time trials and
a sort of gloss on Asteroids, where you try to kill a constant stream
of enemies in ever-increasing waves. Additionally, a level editor and
the ability to download other folks' level creations are also present,
but the relatively small pool of Gravity Crash owners limits the value
of these.
However, potential buyers should keep in mind that this game costs
ten bucks. Given the sheer amount of content and the variety of options
-- and given that the gameplay is fun in small bursts -- you have to
admit that Gravity Crash can make a pretty strong bang-for-the-buck
argument. Just be sure you demo this first to find out if you can handle
the controls -- as my mom always says: it ain't cheap if you didn't
want it in the first place.
