Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Gravity Badgers is a physics based puzzle game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS Vita. Gravity Badgers was created by the Welsh developer and publisher Wales Interactive who is a B.A.F.T.A.Cymru award winner with an array of experience throughout the team, so can Gravity Badgers exude that same level of quality?
The story sees players taking on the role of a heroic Gravity Badger called Captain T. Bayback as he sets off in an exploration through deep space to save his friends, family and the universe from the imminent threat of the deadly evil Honey Badgers also known as the Hellsett as the story gradually unfolds throughout every episode.
There is an epilogue, 5 episodes and a bonus episode comprising of a total of 140 levels. The epilogue is a tutorial spread across 9 levels that teach the basics of how to manoeuvre and the gameplay mechanics, while each of the 5 episodes comprise of 25 levels each and the bonus episode has 5 levels too.
The purpose is to use a jetpack and the gravitational elements that surround the on screen character to reach the end of the level where a wormhole will be located, although along the way players will encounter various objects and obstacles in the way. There are red planets that have the ability to pull the character towards them, with the force of the pull depending upon how large they are, while blue planets do the opposite of the red planets as the blue planets push players away, while laser triggers switch space shields off, which protect objects in space, such as a wormhole resulting in having to pass through the laser trigger before being able to reach the wormhole, alongside warpers which are essentially teleporters as they are used to send someone or something from one area to another by entering through the blue warper and exiting through the purple warper with pipes scattered around that are used to bend the direction and ice cubes act as a rest spot where players can remain until they are confident of launching from the ice cube in the direction of choice.
The level design deviates purely upon the puzzles as the background to each level are similar in their appearance, while the arrangement of the puzzles vary a tremendous amount as does the positioning of the energy cores available to collect on each level, while the boss battle at the final level of every episode sees players having to evade the firing from the enemy boss until all of their energy has been depleted.
The character design for the team consists of badgers in jetpacks with a new playable character unlocked at the end of every episode once the enemy boss has been defeated. The enemy design is mostly the asteroids, planets and various obstacles that stand in the way throughout every level, although the five enemy bosses encountered across the final level of each episode are just as hard to overcome.
The control scheme is easy to master and quite simplistic as it is mostly touch screen based, such as swiping across the touch screen in the opposite direction the player’s character is facing to set the angle and speed of their movement; tapping the touch screen for the character to launch from an ice cube in the chosen direction; tapping the pause icon to the top right of the touch screen or alternatively pressing start to display the pause menu. However, there are two alternative control schemes as players can press and hold X while changing the direction of the left analogue stick or pressing up, down, left or right on the d-pad to line up which direction the character is intended to manoeuvre before releasing X, although the touch screen offers a lot more freedom in the precision of chosen angle and direction.
The graphics are pretty good with vibrant colours and subtle details, such as shooting stars, the rotation of the wormhole, a wave of colour being produced by the planets to show the direction of their forces in regards to pushing or pulling with glimmering stars and shades of colour to show galaxies in outer space, which all works in perfect harmony with the audio design, while the general performance of the game is quite good too.
The presentation of the game is solid with a great touch screen based user interface across various menus such as the main, episode selection, level selection, options and gameplay menus with support for navigation via the left analogue stick, directional pad and face buttons, although it does not include support for navigation via the right analogue stick and rear touch pad. The background of the menu screens revolves around characters flying through the solar system beyond planets and asteroids amongst the stars, whilst the main character hovers.
The audio consists of sound effects and music with the sound effects including the jetpack, travelling through pipes, entering the wormhole and any accidental crashes into obstacles, while the music has a classical outer space vibe to it during gameplay and a rock soundtrack for the menus and boss battles.
The trophy list includes 14 trophies with 11 bronze, 2 silver and 1 gold trophy. The trophy list is certainly divided up into an even mixture of easy and hard trophies with the easiest ones including the Badger of Honour bronze trophy for collecting 3 energy cores in any level which will more than likely be the first trophy gained after the completion of the first tutorial level; the Welcome to the Gravity Badgers bronze trophy for completing all 9 of the tutorial levels; and collecting 75 energy cores which will be naturally earned as you progress through the tutorial and first episode. However, there are much harder trophies, such as defeating all 4 bosses with a perfect score; the Committed to the Fight silver trophy for finishing the game; and the Badger and Commander gold trophy for collecting all of the energy cores. It is estimated that depending upon skill, a good trophy guide to provide some helpful tips and that it would take between 5 to 10 hours to 100% the trophy list.
There are no difficulty levels, although the difficulty curve has a natural progression as gameplay elements are gradually introduced with the appropriate amount of time in between the introduction of another in order for the player to be able to become accustomed to one gameplay element, rather than everything being thrown at the player simultaneously.
The lack of any pass the Vita local multiplayer or online multiplayer is surprising as the pass the Vita multiplayer could have been to attempt to earn the best time across a series of levels chosen by the player, while the online multiplayer could have been to beat the other player in a boss battle. There is also a lack of any online leaderboards, which is another surprise as it could have showcased the best times, the highest amount of collected energy cores and the best scores between a combination of how many energy cores were collected and how quickly the level was completed for each level, episode and throughout the entirety of the game. However, there has to be a certain amount of understanding that this is a budget priced game and that online features would have surely increased the cost of development and therefore the price of the game would have to follow suit.
Despite lacking any local or online multiplayer features and online leaderboards; the replayability of Gravity Badgers is still vast and stems from 140 levels of physics based puzzles, the challenge of attempting to collect all of the energy cores on every level to perfect performance in each level and 5 unlockable characters.
Overall, Gravity Badgers is perfect for quick bursts or longer stints of gameplay with its 140 levels and varying gameplay mechanics. If you are a fan of puzzle or physics based games, then Gravity Badgers is a highly recommendable and challenging, yet enjoyable game, especially for such amazing value at just £3.99.*
Jason Bonnar
Analysis
- Title: Gravity Badgers
- Developer: Wales Interactive
- Publisher: Wales Interactive
- System: PS Vita
- Format: PSN Download
- Cross-Buy: No
- Cross-Play: No
- Players: 1
- Memory Card Space Required: 77MB
- * Correct as going to press 23rd January 2015.