If you remember Warlords on the Atari 2600, then you know just how awesome a ’fortress pong’ style game can be. Gravitronix takes that kind of idea and updates it to modern standards, and it’s as cool as it sounds. Everyone else may bear some more detail however: Gravitronix is an arena game where you control a paddle within either a quarter-circle area, or a half-circle. Each player’s part of the field is lined with shields, and the center of the stage is full of projectiles you can knock at your opponent. Thus, both of you are simultaneously working at launching things at your opponent’s shield wall while defending your own. Once a significant breach in the wall is made, you can try to slip another projectile through to finish them off, and the last player or team standing wins.
Supporting anywhere from one to eight players (with an option for the AI to fill in empty slots), Gravitronix puts you in control of a paddle that can move within its semi-circle or quarter-circle area. The paddle on its own is useless, but it can emit either a push or capture beam in a small area ahead of itself, and this is what you use to grab or deflect projectiles. There are four basic projectile types: a light and fast ’shard’ that normally does no damage to shields (but can be fired past a breach to win), a ball that offers medium speed and power, a large box that is slow but powerful, and a pyramid that is similar to the ball but can be made to twist its flight path. These items act exactly as described if all you’re doing is using your push beam, but they can behave differently if you use the capture beam.
The capture/hold beam is what really adds depth to Gravitronix. It lets you grab an incoming projectile and do several things from there. You could just turn the paddle about with its new held projectile and deflect things away by steering your item into other items, that’s certainly an option. Or you can charge your push beam while holding the item, and after a moment unleash it with an explosive power; if it hits anything, it will cause an explosion that can damage several shields at once and send any other nearby projectiles flying around. Of course, a smart opponent can watch your charge and launch a projectile at it just before you fire, causing you to blow up your own shields, so this has its risks. The pyramid projectile also gains a mid-flight curve if you charge it, and the normally non-damaging shard becomes a fast-flying explosive if charged as well, so these items can be put to several uses.
Steering the paddle is done with the Wiimote or Nunchuk. Not ’and Nunchuk’, but ’or.’ Up to four players can use a Wii Remote apiece, but any over that will have to play by holding onto a Nunchuk attached to a Wiimote, which means some players will have to stand or sit near one another. Everyone shares a control scheme however; you steer your paddle by twisting your controller from side to side, while one button apiece control your two beams. It’s a very easy system to learn, and the game does offer a basic tutorial in the form of both a quick in-game explanation plus several ’campaign stages’ meant to teach you in a hands-on way.
However, I am going to take the developers to task for one thing: Excessive player safety warnings. If you think Nintendo is bad about telling us not to eat our Wiimotes or throw them at vicious dogs, the folks at Medaverse are worse. After every two stages, this game tells you to take a regular break. Some stages in the campaign last less than a minute and multiplayer matches don’t take that long to do, so you can easily rack up four or five such ’break warnings’ inside of ten minutes. At one point I found myself yelling, "Fine, geez! I’ll go work on some other review if you feel that strongly about it!" Thus, I truly hope they will show more faith in humanity with their future games.
That said, overall this is a solid game. It plays well, it has an easy premise to learn yet also has reasonable depth to pick up over time, and is priced fairly at 500 Points/$5. My favorable review comes with only one caveat: I’m assuming you have people to play with. Much like Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and some versions of Bomberman, this game is not very fun if you’re playing alone. It really is meant to be enjoyed with several others, and it’s on that basis I have such a favorable opinion of Gravitronix. If you regularly have gatherings of friends and family that want to play something on the Wii but you’ve worn out your other multiplayer offerings, give this one a try.
Additional Downloads: Medaverse has provided a few extra things you might like. First, they offer the soundtrack for free download and also have a Youtube channel where you can see the game in action. Some of the footage is against the AI, but it still does a good job of getting the idea across.
