Follow Genre: racing
Developer: Cybernetic Walrus
Publisher: Iceberg Interactive
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: PC

Antigraviator – Review

June 15, 2018 - Sabrewylf - No Comments

Site Score

7.0

Good: Amazing visuals and audio.

Bad: Trap system is detrimental to the fun.

User Score

7.3

(3 votes)

Click to vote

Rating: 7.3/10 (3 votes cast)

We seem the be in the midst of the anti-gravity racer’s renaissance. It was only a short while ago that we were graced with the release of Redout, which also tried its best at emulating the likes of Wipeout and F-Zero. Now then comes Antigraviator, a game from Belgian indie studio Cybernetic Walrus, which claims to have no speed limit. Is it worth your time and money?

Story

For obvious reasons, there really isn’t any story to speak of. Rather, the races take place in a sci-fi backdrop in the near future where people enjoy racing in “Gravs”, anti-gravity ships. Several of the maps make reference to actual locations in space, such as the TRAPPIST solar system, but that’s about where it all ends. There is no narrative, just a coherent sci-fi atmosphere in which the races take place.

Graphics

Antigraviator is a pretty game, without a doubt. The ships look crisp and futuristic – as they should – while the skybox and levels are riddled with all sorts of bright colors. Of course, there is an abundance of neon and lasers as well. The desert levels are a bit bland though, because of all the rocks and sand, but not to the point of it getting annoying. In fact it’s often a rather welcome change of pace. In terms of options and optimization the game also succeeds. We tested on a GTX 970, which is already a few years old, but it had absolutely zero problems with running the game at max settings and easily maintained well over 60 fps.

Sound

As big fans of the synthwave genre, Antigraviator’s OST was a big hit with us. The soundtrack is upbeat and heavily features synthesizers, which should easily have you in a nostalgic eighties mood. Comparisons to the OSTs of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and the Hotline: Miami games are easily made, just with a tad less of a dark feeling to it.

As for the sound effects, they are functional. There is nothing that would blow you off your feet, but the boost sounds, the engines whirring, crashes, … It’s all there and it’s very distinct so that’s a good thing. Audiovisually Antigraviator really sets the bar, as anti-gravity racers generally do.

Gameplay

As we have mentioned, Antigraviator is an anti-gravity racing game. This generally means futuristic ships, winding race tracks with multiple levels, loops, and obscure shortcuts, and an insane feeling of speed. Sadly, Antigraviator does not succeed at all of those.

First of all, a big claim the game has made is that the game does not have a speed limit. That may be true, but in reality it doesn’t often play out that way. The reason for this is that Antigraviator features a pick-up and trap system, such as you would expect in casual party kart-racers like Mario Kart. Opponents on your tail can summon orbital laser strikes or a rock avalanche, which you then have to evade. When you crash into these traps, you are brought to a full stop at worst or slowed down to a crawl at best. We cannot help but feel that the game would have been better off without this mechanic in place, as it gets in the way of what is so core of anti-gravity racers…

Naturally, you can avoid the mechanic altogether by only playing races without opponents, but that would mean you’re locking yourself out of playing the campaigns which are a huge part of the gameplay, and by far the best way of upgrading your ship. On that topic, there really isn’t much customization to be had. Rather than unlock entire Gravs, you unlock parts. There are four categories to choose from and each category has three options, bringing the total amount of ship parts to twelve. Out of these twelve, you must choose four, and a lot of them are so expensive that you will be locked out of the option for a very, very long time.

Still, Antigraviator is definitely a fun game and a worthy installment in the small genre of anti-gravity racers. A solid competitor for Redout with a more casual friendly approach and less steep of a learning curve.

Conclusion

Antigraviator sadly doesn’t play quite as beautifully as it looks and sounds… But it’s still pretty good. If you can get over the party mechanic of the traps, or are willing to avoid it entirely, then Antigraviator is a worthwhile game. Especially for fans of anti-gravity racing this purchase should be a no-brainer.