I LOVE GRAVITY CIRCUIT AAAAAA
May 26, 2024
it's kind of astounding how fast Gravity Circuit has risen through my faves!! Like each new playthrough makes my appreciation go up another level... as we speak I'm on my 5th file and going for max ranks ☺️
Mega Man Zero is my favorite series of action platformers and I'd never ever played another game since that scratched its same "itch"... until this one. Somehow it feels to me like a truly perfect amalgam of its inspirations and a new, fresh identity; this is big, because one of my other favorite games is Freedom Planet 2, and much as I sing violently for it I don't actually think it's perfect in areas hah...
Gravity Circuit seems like it risks having a bad case of bloated design but in execution the loop is just so seamless and incredibly refined! You kill enemies, you grab their corpses, you throw them at the next guy. The audiovisual feedback beautifully serves this entire process; I love how enemies bounce and tumble around Smash Bros-style from certain blows, and how intuitively and easily you can understand when an enemy is throwable based on their colors. You're a real speed demon with a run button, a slide, and a grappling hook, and unlike MMZ2 the grappling hook is consistently responsive, reliable, and fun to play with. The act of movement seems like a bit much if you're coming off of simpler platformers but in the end feels intuitive and instills in the player a great sense of mastery, which I also love in a game like this. Before you know it you're swinging along the ceiling, deflecting missiles with well-timed punches before dropping down and tearing through an array of foes. The tight movement and crunchy combat meshes together like no other game I've played... except again, Mega Man Zero lol...
What I was also deeply surprised by was the Burst Technique system; a feature that lets you equip up to four super techniques which can then be performed at the cost of an energy meter. I feel like in a lesser game this would risk coming off as an afterthought which doesn't incentivize the player to use it, but here Burst Techniques are arguably some of the most fun parts of an already really fun game. You unlock more purchasable techs after each boss, but you're not forced to use them; however they can be so useful overall that you'll likely find yourself naturally funneled towards at least a few of them! By the end of the game there's a technique for everything and to enable every "playstyle"; a beam wave, a counter stance, a time freeze, a suplex, a barrier, etc. You have to build up reserve energy to use them, which keeps them from becoming too powerful or spammable, but their utility in helping you navigate dangerous scenarios is easily understood.
But wait, there's more! The real fun comes about once you unlock more of these techniques and increase your maximum energy needed to perform them - in the game is a simple yet surprisingly complex combo system, where techniques and attacks can be chained on an opponent for as long as they aren't forced into invincibility. With the right combination of techniques (and there's a training room that lets you easily practice all this!) you can erase entire healthbars in a seamless, uninterruptable combination of carnage. Practicing different ways to combo my abilities and attacks together made up a surprising amount of my overall playtime (one is shown in the attached gif!); it's just a ton of fun to pull off and shows behind the easily-accessible flashiness of the game's systems there's some great meat for the more dedicated. In general going through the game with a different "setup" adds a lot of value and fun to replays, since the various options between your equippable chips, usable techniques, and your unlockable paintjob (which can give you unique powers and properties, something else very similar to a mechanic from MMZ2!) can completely alter how you handle levels and bosses alike.
All that aside it's just a real aesthetic treat too! I'm not usually a huge fan of that kind of thing but the use of limited colors on the various sprites and elements is executed gorgeously and makes everything feel visually distinct and easy to discern. The designs in this game are awesome; Kai, the main character, has some really clear inspirations at a glance, but they come together into a genuinely distinct and memorable looking appearance. The robots in general have a nice design philosophy that sets them apart from those in other games, what with their obscured mouths, peg-like legs, and simple eyes. Each boss conveys so much personality in their designs and the portrait artwork for the game's various NPCs is extremely charming. Dominic Ninmark of Mega Man X Corrupted fame does the music and boy does he deliver; there's nothing but strong, hummable tunes bolstered by great leitmotifs. I go back to the levels a lot in part to hear the music, which is always a good sign.
And I didn't even delve into the story and writing, which could've easily been treated as an afterthought, but ends up as a surprisingly awesome little tale. It's the definition of "simple yet sweet"; not unlike the Mega Man Zero/ZX games a lot of the writing for this adventure is sprinkled between boss dialogue, the midgame point, the endpoint, and text from various NPCs. The world feels really lived-in and charming thanks to the bits and pieces you can learn about it if you so choose, and without spoiling there's a lot of interesting ideas revealed at the end of the story. While I don't know if it needs a sequel I'd have loved a further exploration of the characters and world of Gravity Circuit through a webcomic or something.
i just URRGGH IT'S GOOD PLAY IT!! PLAY IT PLAY IT BUY IT NOW!!!