This week I decided that this feature really should live up to its name, and as we’ve recently been creeping ever closer to the £5 limit I’ve scaled back the price (no it’s not because I’m poor, be quiet). This week’s pick is a measly £1.85 on the Steam store – a cost I’d say was very fair for the gameplay on offer in Defy Gravity Extended, an indie title developed by Fish Factory Games, combining elements of platforming and puzzling to make a game reminiscent of a budget Portal.
The main mechanic in Defy Gravity Extended is the use of attract and repel gravity wells, fired from elements in the environment and the player’s gun. What exists on the surface as a simple mechanic soon makes way for seemingly limitless possibilities, being able to manipulate yourself and golden level elements and hazards to traverse the dangerous stages of the game. The difficulty of the levels can certainly leave the player feeling frustrated at times, although you never feel cheated – failure is always as a direct result of player error and not some bug in the game itself. Frequent and convenient placement of checkpoints also allow trial-and-error gameplay and experimentation with the game’s engine, encouraging the player to attempt challenges in unusual ways. The control system is also equally comfortable with both a mouse and keyboard or a controller, which is a rare find in modern 2d PC games.
The sound design also deserves a nod as the soundtrack is surprisingly catchy and varied for the game’s apparent budget. The sound effect for shooting a gravity well certainly smacks a little too much of Portal to be a coincidence, although it feels like more of a nod than a rip-off of the epic puzzle/shooter franchise. The one area that lets Defy Gravity Extended down is the art, where the games’ indie nature is shown the most. Most models look almost amateur in design, although this doesn’t detract from gameplay in any way. The cost of the game does in some way justify the appearance, and when other elements work so well I can easily overlook the somewhat basic visuals.
The game itself consists of 24 levels that become increasingly unforgivable, although completion of these takes about an hour and a half to complete. Alongside these original levels is a ‘quest mode’, expanding the game by another 24 levels and adding extra difficulty. Those among you who hunt Steam achievements and game completion will find around 3 hours of content from the game, which I think is well worth the cost of a short bus journey. Defy Gravity Extended is definitely a low cost blast for fans of platformers and puzzlers alike.
7bitarcade - Archive 