Gravity Power


Title		Gravity Power
Game Type	General Action
Players		1-2
Compatibility	All
Submission	Paul Hickford

Review
This must go down as one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time.  On
the surface it was immensely simple, yet it contained immense depth.  The
mode that was least used was the single player time trial.  Here you would
have to negotiate a course, passing through several checkpoints on the way,
in the games simple yet effective side on view.  All you had to control your
ship was an engine mounted on the bottom.  By rotating your ship you could
fly in any direction.  Given of course that gravity allowed.  This was one
of the great things about the game.  Almost every aspect of the game could
be changed.  You could set the level of gravity, air resistance, fuel or
ammo.  This lead to a game of immense depth.

But the single player mode barely scratched the surface.  In multiplayer
there were a further two modes.  The race, which was just a two player time
trial, and the brilliant battle.  In the two player modes more features came
into play.  Each ship had two weapons, a front cannon and the special
weapon.  It was the variety of these special weapons which lead to the
diversity of tactics used.  There were offensive weapons like missiles and
mines, but the veteran player might use the alternative weapons such as
turbos, air brakes or the legendary cloaking system.

It was this cloaking system that made me modify my monitor.  This weapon,
when activated would make your ship disappear to the other player.  This is
where the screen modifications came in.  With the help of piece of cardboard
and some blue-tack it was possible to make it impossible to see the other
players screen.  As it was impossible to fire or thrust your engine when
cloaked the cat and mouse tactics where complex.  There were some players
who modified there joysticks to allow them to keep cloak on while they
fired, which was normally impossible since they were opposite each other on
the joystick.

As for the arenas in which these battles took place.  Each one was a simple
side on view of a landscape.  The hundred or so levels were each based on
themes.  These varied from the simple Grassland levels to the rather more
obscure alien levels.  And each of these levels was littered with things to
help or hinder the players.  There were magnets which pulled ships to there
doom,  drone guns which would fire pot shots at passing ships and each
player had a base.  Here, landing would slowly replenish your ship, filling
the fuel and ammo and repairing your shields.  And then there was the water.
Most levels would have some water at the bottom.  When the player entered
this, their ship would act normally except for one thing; gravity would act
upwards.  This lead to some interesting battles as two ships, locked in
combat, entered the water and struggled to adjust to the new gravity.

Overall this was a brilliant game.  One which cause you to lose hours of
sleep and several of your friends.




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