Gravitators, published by EastAsiaSoft, isn’t a typical shooter. Although 2D, each stage is its own area to freely explore complete with twin-stick aiming controls. It reminds me a lot of a Solar Jetman (NES) but with a much more modern approach.
There are variations, but gravity is involved in some way with each stage, hence the name. Some stages take place within a planet’s core so your craft is always falling toward the ground. Others take place in space, so reversing thrust is necessary to navigate corridors. Thankfully, the twin-stick controls always feel gravity-bias but still accurate. A complaint comes from the special abilities of each craft. Instead of being assigned to the shoulder buttons, the super shots are designated to the face buttons so the player will need to take a thumb off the aiming stick to activate the special power. Not the end of the world but an odd design choice.
Each stage is objective based. Instead of simply destroying all enemies, or trying to survive to the exit point, scientists might need to be rescued, enemy strongholds destroyed, and bombs will need to be planted. Navigation also requires some puzzle solving. For example, you might need to find a power generator, attach it to your line, carry it to the other side of the map (which will cause your ship to swag due to the swinging weight), and drop it into a new outlet to activate a switch. Sometimes you need to babysit a bigger ship to protect a nuke or bring supplies back and forth. Uniquely, sometime the player needs to plant a bomb then race back to the entry point before it explodes. Even though you are always shooting and flying with/against gravity, the mission objectives are varied and create entertaining scenarios. The best part, even if you die during the exit runs, that stage still gets marked as complete so players don’t need to retread old steps. The checkpoint system is pretty lenient too although I wish fuel stations were more abundant.
There are also a couple of unlockable ships, complete with their own skillsets. Side objectives makes things more entertaining too, like completing each stage without taking damage, completing on the higher difficult, completing without using a shield, etc. Dedicated players might also find optional ship upgrades and perks, all of which are managed in the pre-launch screen. In other words, there is plenty of optional content for those dedicated players.
Unfortunately, the font is impossibly small to decipher. This is actually a huge detriment because the player will need to read the mission objectives before each stage to understand the parameters. The font is so small, it makes me wonder if this game was tested on actual Xbox hardware. It is such an obvious error and becomes frustrating since the entire experience is no longer streamlined. I had to literally get up and move closer to my TV to read the information on screen, which is especially inconvenient during the middle of a stage.
Even with some imperfections, Gravitators is a fun and respectable shooter-like experience. Honestly, I am shocked this simple, free roaming twin-stick gameplay isn’t used more often. This isn’t a horizontal shooter. It isn’t a vertical shooter. It isn’t fully a twin-stick shooter either since there is much more happening here. If Solar Jetman was made today, it would most likely be released as Gravitators.
SCORE: 8/10
Also Play: Solar Jetman which is currently on NES Switch Online
More Interesting Than: a straightforward vertical shooter
Wait For It: a patch to fix the horribly small font
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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