Gravity is pretty great. It helps keep everything in its place and as a force of nature is incredibly reliable. As the old saying goes, “What goes up, must come down”.
So, imagine how the little astronaut feels in Crazy Gravity after crash landing on a strange planet. Not only does he need to figure out how to get home, he needs to relearn how gravity works on this new planet. And as the name suggests, gravity works a little bit crazier here. That’s where you come in though, as you look to help him navigate through the 30 levels and find his way home.
A side-scrolling platformer in the style of the 2D classics, Crazy Gravity quickly sets its stall out in terms of what it is all about. Each level has a dotted line that intersects through it. Above that line, and gravity works as normal. Dip below that line and the gravitational pull is reversed. You will need to traverse both above and below the line to reach the end portals and move onto the next level.
Not only is the gravity affected depending on which side of the line you are on, but so are the directional inputs. These are also reversed when you are below the line, meaning pressing left will move you right and vice versa. Not sure exactly how gravity has affected these, but this new version of gravity must be adhered to. It is this change in directional input that can make Crazy Gravity a tricky beast at times.
Each level also has a lightning bolt to hunt down. These can require a little bit of additional work to find them but as the levels are condensed enough as it is, they’re easy to spot. Getting them can be a whole different story though. In later levels your platforming skills will be put to the test as you navigate tight spaces and even smaller platforms to land on.
There aren’t any enemies roaming the platforms, but they are full of environmental hazards. And they aren’t very forgiving, requiring some precision jumping to avoid your death. Crazy Gravity does handle pretty well, but in sections where you are quickly flipping gravity you can easily forget that directions change too and get yourself in a bit of a flap. Or at least, I did.
Momentum is absolutely key in Crazy Gravity too. Jumping from a higher point away from the line of gravity will give you more momentum when you switch gravity on the other side. For some levels this is not a problem but others require you to reach the highest point on one side to get enough speed for the other side. Some of these jumps require every ounce of momentum too; if you aren’t hitting the apex of your double jump potential then you simply won’t get the height you need.
The levels that do require momentum are surprisingly well designed. There is still your fair share of fiddly levels but some are cleverly put together and require you to think a little bit about the best course of action. For all the moments you enjoy however, there will be far more where expletives are thrown out.
But, Crazy Gravity is another Ratalaika Games special, and you know what that means – another ridiculously easy 1000G. In Crazy Gravity, you only need to complete the first 12 levels and collect six lightning bolts for every achievement. Now, I’m all for an easy 1000G every now and again, but at least require Gamerscore hunters to finish the game first.
Crazy Gravity on Xbox has a neat feature in flipping gravity around, but even with this, it doesn’t necessarily rewrite the 2D platformer book. It is fun for the hour or so it will take you to complete the levels, and whilst some are more interesting than others, you won’t be rushing back to play them again. For achievement hunters, Crazy Gravity is simply another game that won’t be on your storage for very long.
Obey the laws of Crazy Gravity on Xbox
