izigame.me

I had no expectations coming into this game

I only learned of Gravity Circuit's existence within the recent weeks, and I thought it'd be nice to give something fresh a play through. Unfortunately this game subverted all early optimistic impressions after finishing my first run through, leaving a rather bad taste in my mouth. Most of this games' identity is from borrowed ideas, with the main titles having inspiration taken from being of course the Megaman (mostly Zero) series; while also not adding anything of value to the mix.


What it does right

The combat is the most developed part of the game, being able to string dead enemies into others, and linking into each-other in a fluid manner works well into feeding dopamine to the player. The control of your character in the game feels relatively nice, from wall clinging to grappling around, it's a good mix of speed and control (though the levels utilization of your movement capabilities is much to be desired upon). The backgrounds and tiles are very good looking as well, not one stage looked visually too bland or too busy. Unfortunately that's where my positivity ends, as in my humble opinion, Gravity Circuit doesn't do a lot well; as almost every idea it touches, it trips on itself.


What it does wrong
As I said before, this game borrows a lot from its inspiration, but not in any unique way. The hook for example has very few tricks that get pulled out for platforming (moving platform while hooked, moving conveyor while hooked, hooking from ceiling to ceiling, etc.); and the ones that do get utilized are used again and again and again. There's too little variety and unique uses of it to justify it being as a base kit move; which was much of the same story for Megaman Zero 2 with its chain rod (though at least this one has more than two use case scenarios). Levels too lend themselves up to be either long and drawn out, or not getting to a complete conclusion of the introduced stage gimmick. The worst offenders of the drawn out gimmick were definitely the Cyber space level and the final Ark level, they just drag on and on without having a rhyme or reason for going as long as they did. On the other hand you have levels like the Ray Circuits' level never completed its 3 gimmicks, they just come and go in the level.

And speaking of Ray, the character designs are extremely uninspired. A friend of mine put it best: it's like they took the designs of Kamen Rider and Megaman, and only chose to utilize the worst aspects of both. They all mesh into each-other, each one looking the same as the last one you fought. The worst part is, the music is just as uninspired as the character designs; none of them being memorable in any good or bad way. The times I noticed the music I was unamused by the choice of instrumentation. Unfortunately that's kinda how I felt when playing the entire game, just either playing without reason or annoyed. From going to Bit Circuit and being extremely annoyed by its double standard level design, to not remembering a single thing about Trace Circuit's level, it's an inconsistent mess that leaves me feeling robbed for buying this game.




Should I not buy it?

I do believe there is some level of enjoyment to be had in this game, especially if you have never played the games Gravity Circuit was inspired by. I've been spoiled by the likes of Megaman 8, Megaman X4, Zero 3, and others like it, so I have some surface idea of what I want from a platforming action game; which this game did not deliver. I don't regret my purchase but I do have a strong feeling of disappointment paying $16 for a megaman maker level pack. I do not recommend this game to anyone in the same position I'm in, as you will likely be disappointed the same way I have been.