Gravitators is a twin-stick shooter and shmup that has you fight off alien invasions and defend humanity on Earth and throughout the galaxy. Saving captured human prisoners, blowing up alien fortresses with nuclear weapons and stealing to learn about alien technology in order to be better equipped to take those enemies down.
Controls
There are 4 ship types in the game that have their own different controls but this is depending on your chosen control scheme. Modern controls are for those who prefer the fuss free of controlling each ship in the same manner, Classic controls are for those who want a challenge to have each ship with their own different controls. Using an Xbox controller, left thumbstick for movements, right for the direction you’re facing, Right trigger for shooting, left for shield, X and Y for different bomb types and B for interactions.
Tutorialisation
The game does tutorialisation well. With onscreen examples for the button inputs and what it does, followed by letting you execute them hands on with scenarios. Since there’s 4 ship types, tutorialisation for it is spread out between levels when a different ship type is introduced for the upcoming level. You are free to choose any ship to your liking, all of which is possible to be played in the next mission.
The map is useful for scouting what’s on the level as well as identifying each component laid out on the mission.
Gameplay/Level
Missions are given to you in text based briefing detailing objectives, hints and possible awards you can get from completing certain goals.
Controlling the spaceship feels very intuitive and proper. There is a weight resistance and physics work as intended, which is noticeable when you have items attached to your ship, jetting in a direction and then making a turn will cause the object to swing and tug your ship from its momentum.
The levels start out easy and direct and it scales up to hectic and challenging by mission 6. However the difficulty spike feels proper and levels are fair in a sense that when you mess up it doesn’t feel like the game is against you and you can easily see where you can improve to succeed, “Boss” encounters are an example of this.
What I like is that the main objectives to the mission are doable, however it is the optional objectives that will test your skill, so if you’re a completionist and one who loves to be tested you would be happy with this.
Thoughts
The variety of levels and challenges are one of the highlights of Gravitators as there’s always something new to be conquered. Gravitators executes core gameplay mechanics of a twin-stick shooter and shmup to the highest degree and is a prime example of a developer that understands this and then proceeds to craft them in their own style.
Purchase Gravitators on Steam!
Hailing from a small Island. Huge football fan. Drinks too much tea.
Survival, Roguelikes, Turn-based or Indie games in general are my go to genres but I like to dabble in all kinds of genres. I tend to have a soft spot for Shmups and Hidden Object Games once in a while.
Comment here