Gravity Ghost

Gravity Ghost is a space-physics and gravity game where you run and orbit around planets, similar to a cross between a few flash games I have enjoyed in the past, with a little bit of Journey sprinkled in.  Based out of Arizona, Ivy Games has spent considerable time and effort in creating a fun and relaxing planet-orbiting game, and it shows in the quirky art style, fantastic music, and easy to learn controls.

The game features a very unique art style, which almost appears to be hand-painted art that was scanned in to the game digitally, or animated paper in a stop-motion style.  I thought this was an interesting method for the display as it is quite different than most games you see in these modern times. It definitely separates it from almost every other indie game out there.

The music is written by the composer of FTL: Faster than Light, and is honestly the highlight of the game for me.  It never becomes overbearing or annoying as some pieces truly don’t mix well with their games,  and at times you barely notice it, but this is a good thing.  I sort of find the soundtrack to be a mix between Final Fantasy and 1970's Sci-Fi television shows.   One thing, however, that I would’ve liked to have seen is the dialogue between characters having been voiced, rather than text across the screen. I think that would’ve added to the experience.

As far as the story goes, the build I played seems to have left out why exactly you’re doing this to begin with, as the story was rather lacking, but I am told that this will be more complete in the final release.  Anyway, starting off, I have no idea why I'm doing what I'm doing.  The story starts off with a woman with antlers wishing she could see you better with her telescope, and then it shifts to sort of rabbit girl who definitely sees the main character because she’s been eating her carrots, and says something about “is she here to save us” then the game begins.  I can’t exactly tell what we’re supposed to save those creatures from, though, as they don’t appear to be in any sort of danger.

You are the ghost of a twelve year old girl, and you need to run, jump, and soar off of planets, orbiting around them using their gravity to glide through space in each level in order collect a star, so that you can progress to the next level, as the star opens the door back to the fictional constellation map.  There are also flowers to collect which grow your cape longer, similar to Journey.

The constellations in the stratosphere are Salamander, Deer, Wolf, Rabbit, Owl, Mouse, and Cat. At the end of each of the maps you will face a “guardian” that was in the shape of the constellations, but you’re really just floating around their planet collecting red stars.  These challenges can be quite frustrating at times (I’m looking at you, Deer!), and after you have bested them you are engaged in a dialogue with each creature, and they can be very long-winded, with no way to progress the text faster.

As you progress through the map there are different kinds of planets to jump off of, and they each have their own properties, for example, ice planets are slick and hard to land on but also let you run around the planets faster.  Other planets are “bounce planets” that you bounce off of, “timer planets” that you need to orbit around until they allow you to grab the items inside, and “glass planets” that you have to smash through to obtain their flowers or stars.

One of the more interesting things about the game is the “maze planets”, however, which are planets so large they contain other planets in them.  By running around the circumference of each planet you can free the smaller planets from their maze and return them to the center of the galaxy, known as the Icarus system.  One thing I think that would’ve been really cool, however, would’ve been a little more interaction with those planets you freed, aside from a one-sentence thank you or in the ice planet’s case, a “leave me alone.”

The developers are proud to stand behind the “no killing, no dying, and no way to fail” mantra, and that can be a good thing, however it can take a long, long time to get through some of these levels as at time you can orbit WAY out into space and not make it back to a planet without some serious maneuvering.

There was also no way to save your progress in the build I had, so I had to play through the whole game in one instance, which got extremely repetitive and added to the frustration after a while.  I find this to be one of those games you will could want to come back to finish, but on your own time, not all at once, as it became an endurance trial for me without that small, but very key feature.  The release version of the build will contain 3 very valuable save slots.

Finally, I think this game could benefit from the inclusion of a multiplayer experience.  Wandering out in space for hours with no one to talk to or interact with except for the guardians made for lackluster experience.

As a result of the lacking story and save feature, however, my overall impression of the game went from good to bad over the course of this time.  Having stepped back from the game for a bit, I can honestly say that this just isn’t my cup of tea, but for those out there who loved Journey and don’t mind aimlessly wandering around space, this may be right up your alley.

Gravity Ghost will be available for preorder on PC, Mac, and Linux on August 26 at gravityghost.com. The game will be $14.99 at launch but for a limited time you can preorder it for $9.99. You can also preorder the soundtrack for 40% off.

Michael Patuleia, NoobFeed (@ Suburban_Hell )