GraviFire – Review
Puzzles with gravity are nothing new; there are plenty of games out there using them. That said, they are almost always entertaining if done right, which is the case for GraviFire. Despite being a small indie game, it perfectly nails the mechanics and length, not overstaying its welcome and providing an entertaining experience.
Story
As expected with most puzzle games, GraviFire’s story is not one of much substance. While out one day in the field, the living green flame controlled by the player is abducted by some aliens. After being put into a special suit which allows it to move boxes and ignore gravity, the little flame is set out to solve puzzle rooms in order to escape.
The story is told through a series of vignettes without any text, which don’t appear again until the end of the game for the conclusion. Despite how irrelevant GraviFire’s story may be, it is nonetheless welcome as a tone setter.
Graphics
GraviFire’s graphics are made with quite a nice pixel art which is somewhat let down by the lack of asset variety. Despite the quality of the sprites, the game reuses the same few during the 50 levels it contains, with no new ones appearing past the halfway mark. With a little more variety in this department, the game could have been so much more pleasant to look at.
Sound
The game’s sound runs into the same issue as its graphics: despite the high quality, there is not much to it. With an overall good soundtrack and SFX, the game repeats the same few over and over. That said, both cases are understandable taking into account the scope of the game. Although, having more than one song would’ve been welcome.
Gameplay
GraviFire belongs to the puzzle genre, based on a simple mechanic and adding a pair later on into the game. Throughout the game players have the ability to push boxes around and shift the gravity in the room based on a few indicators set outside of it. Certain rooms will feature more or less indicators, with 4 being the maximum and 2 the minimum. Upon shifting the gravity to any of the sides, all non-stuck boxes fall in said direction, with the player remaining unaffected and free to move.
While those rooms with limited indicators often tend to be more challenging, they also leave players unable to mess around with the gravity freely. What this entails is that in those rooms players will be unable to organically undo their moves, being instead forced to reset the whole thing, which can get rather annoying, especially in larger rooms.
The mechanics added later on into the game are as well simple, these being the following: lasers, boxes with a set movement range and spikes where boxes get stuck. Out of these mechanics, the lasers arguably get the most time on screen, with plenty of areas featuring them and resetting upon a box or the player touching them. Second to these follow the spikes, with puzzles focused around using fixed boxes as platforms. Last and least come the boxes-on-rails, being featured only in a pair of levels, quite a shame due to their interesting applications. While gradually introduced, it is common for the game to not have all at once in most rooms, at times using only one of them at once.
Most of the puzzles are simple to understand after a few tries, although there are of course outliers. In cases where players may be unable to solve one of said puzzles, the option to skip is available. That said, players are limited to a maximum of 5 skips per playthrough, these also having a 10-minute cooldown between uses. While the addition may be welcome, the limitations seem unnecessary, possibly forcing to restart the whole game upon getting stuck on a 6th level.
Conclusion
GraviFire is a simple and entertaining puzzle game with a decent amount of challenge, without being excessive or underwhelming. While not particularly innovative, the game accomplishes what it sets out to do, being a short and sweet experience of good quality. With about 2 to 4 hours of gameplay, the $3.99/€3.29/£2.89 price tag is more than reasonable, making GraviFire quite recommendable for puzzle game fans of any skill level.
Personal Opinion
“GraviFire reminds me of the mobile games I often play with short and sweet puzzles. Stuff like Duke Dashington, Witcheye, etc. They keep me entertained for an afternoon or commutes; from time to time I reinstall them and beat everything again for the sake of it. Even if they’re not hallmarks in the history of videogames, they are much-appreciated distractions during boring times and more often than not welcome breaks from other things. Would I recommend GraviFire? Sure, why not. I wouldn’t complain if it were even cheaper, but that comes from my inner Scrooge McDuck. The price is pretty fair for the quality offered here.”
GraviFire - Review,
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