GamesCom 2010 - Part 5 - Inversion from Namco Bandai and Saber Interactive

Inversion has been in development since 2008 and is set to be shipped in 2011. What does 2.5 years of development time get you? One kick ass looking game, that’s what! While the game is still in pre-alpha right now, the third-person shooter which features power-based gravity control/manipulation looks like it’s going to be truly brilliant.

The game features a hardware-based backpack that gives the player the ability to affect gravity. You gain projectiles that create zero G bubbles and allow for some interesting gameplay. For example, say your enemies are hiding behind cover, toss a Zero G bubble on them and they float into sight. They’ll be momentarily disoriented so you’ll need to make quick work of them before they start shooting. Remember, they could also do this to you as well so be on your guard.

The storyline isn’t all that unique, but has some twists. Normal life is interrupted when the surface is invaded by underground unknown enemies. The main character’s wife dies (of course), and his daughter is missing. So you set out on a search to find her. Later, you continue to fight because you need to. The gravity tech was brought into the world by the invaders and so in the beginning you don’t have any. The invasion also causes gravitational effects that will change the environment over time. Buildings will collapse and areas of the world will have altered gravitational vectors with transfer points between them. So at times you’ll be fighting on walls and perhaps even ceilings.

I had mentioned that for the extremely hard difficulty the camera shouldn’t adjust when the vector does. Then you would always have a standard view while your character was on a wall or the ceiling. Yes, that would be extremely difficult. I doubt they’ll implement it.

The game is set to feature a very strong single player campaign but was built from the ground up with co-op in mind. When you’re on your own the AI will take control of the other character, but there’s also real-time split screen and online jump in/out. So you could start playing and your pal could come join in the fun when they’re ready.