Gravitorque DX is an interesting take on puzzle platforming games. The game’s story is a bit of a predictable one, but still good. What I will say about the story is that you’re an astronaut that has been stranded out in space since your ship has been too damaged to continue your journey. That’s really all I will say as far as the story itself is concerned without giving too much away. I was actually surprised at how good the story is. I mean it’s written very well and the animated scenes that help the story along with the dialogue is rather impressive for a Gameboy Color game.
Gravitorque is a game that is advertised as being a different take on platforming and it really holds true to this idea. The game has you going through a set of levels, each with their own themes. Each area consists of a set of levels that have to be completed in order.
Once you select a level, you then have the task of gathering an orange colored emblem. These collectibles don’t do anything to enhance the game, they are just fun to try and collect. Another fun aspect of the game are the star challenges. Star challenges have you completing a stage in the set amount of moves. For instance, one level has you completing it in no more than 8 moves. When you beat the level in eight moves or less, you get the star challenge for that level completed and it’s designated as complete with a green flag on the beaten level. If you just beat the level without completing the star challenge, the flag on the level is blue instead of green.
Just like with the emblem gathering, the star challenges are nothing more than a fun challenge as a means to add a re-playability factor to the game. The game features four distinct areas or worlds during the course of the game each having ten stages each. That means that there are 40 puzzles in all to get through.
The really interesting thing about this game is that instead of jumping to get through each puzzle, you control the gravity in the room you’re in. So you hit a button and this will change the gravity in the room and see the player either being plastered to the wall or sucked up to the ceiling and you move the character back and forth to position the character where you need them so that they can fall and orientate to the next platform.
The way I am explaining this might sound a bit funny or odd, but it’s not really to explain. As hard as it is to explain, the mechanics of the game are solid and is a rather unique take on platforming puzzle games.
Graphically, Gravitorque DX looks pretty good on the Gameboy Color. The character sprite is nice and large, though each stage does feel rather empty. I mean I guess this is expected given it’s a puzzle game. Though the levels in the game are void of much of anything, the animated scenes that help to propel the story are very well animated and look really impressive for a Gameboy Color game.
This brings us to the performance aspect of the game. Well it’s about what I was expecting. I mean this is a puzzle game after all where the puzzle rooms are devoid of much save for the platforms you have to traverse. So with that being said, the game performs extremely well which is to be expected.
Audio is definitely not Gravitorque DX’s strong suit. While the music in the game is well done and kinda catchy to listen to, it will get repetitive really quickly. I bet you’re wondering if it’s catchy, how is it repetitive? Well the answer to that is that the music in the game only has a couple of tracks.
Before you ask, no I am not kidding. You have the music at the map screen, and then you have the stage music. The stages each just have a single track to them. Now granted the music is unique to the animated scenes and is nice, and the music itself is good. But to only have a single track being recycled for each stage is just lazy.
I would have much rather have had the music track in each stage changed up a bit. But then again, this may have been due to the fact that stages aren’t meant to be very long. Well for those of us that are stuck on the harder puzzles, I think there should have been more variety for that reason.
Despite the music being rather limited, it’s still really a nice track. I just wish there were more tracks to accompany the single stage track. I think it would have gone a long way to make this game a bit more memorable in that aspect.
One thing I forgot to mention about this game is that this is actually an updated and upgraded release. The original game was done for the original Gameboy and only featured 30 puzzles. This game is in full color and added an additional 10 puzzles to make the total be 40 puzzles.
I really enjoyed my time with Gravitorque and would really recommend that you check it out. If you’re a fan of puzzle games, this game really is a must have in your collection.
Those interested can purchase the game here
Disclaimer: We were provided with a review copy
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.