Run For Your Life | Gravi Review

Up for a challenge? Gravi is a combination puzzle/platformer that’s intuitive and yet insanely challenging. In Gravi you control a ball, trying to escape from an alien test facility. Spikes, Flame throwers, and grinders are just some of the obstacles that stand in your way. In total there are 40 stages (4 levels with 10 stages each) to play through so all in all there’s plenty to do. However, be advised that Gravi is extremely challenging and you should be prepared to die a lot.

The tools available to you in Gravi include a gravity beam and a shrink ray, both of which are self-explanatory. However, Gravi isn’t just about the right tool for the job it’s also about angles and timing. For example, you may have to fit through a narrow opening surrounded by spikes. As a result, the gravity beam has to be aimed just right to fit through and avoid the spikes. This is where the challenge comes in.

At the start, Gravi does a nice job of gradually increasing the difficulty by placing different obstacles in your way. However, as the game progresses Gravi’s obstacles become more challenging. In fact, some of the levels are too challenging. Expect to die often. The game does return you to level checkpoints, which balances some of the difficulty and repetitiveness from dying so often. However, unless you’re the type who is either really patient or really likes a challenge chances are you’ll find this game a frustrating at times.

After completion of each level, Gravi gives you get a grade out of four so you can compete against yourself for better scores (if you don’t get frustrated from dying so much). Gravi also has unlockable achievements for things like beating levels without dying, within a certain time frame, or by taking more difficult paths.

All in all Gravi is an interesting game, but extremely challenging. For all it’s fun and challenge it takes some time getting used to the controls. Moving the ball around can be sensitive. As a result, you’ll find yourself dying unnecessarily a number of times which makes the game repetitive. It’s a shame because it’s a fun game with a decent soundtrack, but a slight difficulty adjustment would’ve made Gravi significantly more appealing.

This review is based on a review copy of the PC version of Gravi developed by Hashbang Games