I don’t think I would have picked up Gravity Ghost on a whim, just because of my backlog. But after 3 hours solid playthrough during a lazy Sunday I can tell you I’m glad I played it.
The gameplay is as simple as “get star to open door”, but implemented in a two-dimensional gravity orbit swings of Mario Galaxy. As you go along you can collect basic ability upgrades such as air jump, float, dash, and more. While I’m not positive these are required to finish the game, the made some of the annoying puzzles (I can’t claim to be a physics manipulating genius) more manageable. There are 94 levels, each taking about a minute on average for my first playthrough. However, there is an achievement for speedrunning it in under 30 minutes. Gameplay art has sharp edges, poppy/contrasting colors, and was quite pleasant to view.
But the real shining star of the game is the story. It is presented in a paper-puppet art style, with basic hinges, rough edges, and soft colors. It isn’t a normal “get these things! do the stuff! here is filler exposition!”. You only get snippets of the overall story, and you may not understand everyones point of view, but I think this just reflects how the real world works. It also focuses on a non-nuclear family, has an adolescent girl (the story is gender neutral, so why not?), and doesn’t portray characters as purely good or evil (again, like the real world).
The music was sticking in my head as very similar to that of Faster Than Light, a game I’ve played almost 50 hours of and never grown tired of the sound track. Turns out that GG music was composed by Ben Prunty, the same that wrote the FTL music. I can’t say that I’d go out of my way for a relisten of GG’s soundtrack, but it was good.
Notes:
The game is build for both two-hands and one-handed play which is great for people with limited mobility.
I played on a pre-release build which has some bugs that I hope are ironed out before public release next week on January 26th.
Fun fact: They also provided a bonus code which will be posted on my Twitter. Ivy Games has said each copy of the game will include a bonus code to distribute to others.
DISCLAIMER:
A review code was provided to Tasty Whale with no embargo.
