Gravity Chase Review on Xbox

Gravity Chase is best described as a anti gravity racing game that tries to follow the trend setter ‘’Wipeout’’. All reviews (unless stated otherwise) are based on the Developer/Publisher providing myself with a review code, which i am grateful for, but does not influence my outcome.

The premise is you play as an unknown driver and you race to build up enough points to unlock the subsequent tracks for you to play on.

The game boasts 360 track racing, 10 unique ships with customizable colours, 16 unique tracks, 1 - 4 player split screen action. Also three different mods, Arcade, Combat and Eliminator and In game currency, that can be used to customize and upgrade your ships.

Gameplay

The gameplay starts at the barebones racing screen with 3 tracks unlocked for you to choose from. Once chosen, you then get to choose which mode and difficulty level, before finally choosing a vehicle of ten different anti-grav crafts (split across three speed classes). 

Now you can ‘’upgrade’’ each of these vehicles stats i.e handling, speed or top speed and this can be done numerous times till it hits its limit. The best way of doing this is by winning races and using said winnings (Points/cash) on unlocks or upgrades. The points themselves are then accumulated, with multiple unlockable tracks hidden under their lock and key. Hitting point milestones and unlocking a varying number of tubular tracks is what Gravity Chase is all about. Cash is also accumulated but is solely used for vehicle upgrades instead.

The majority of the racing is about flying over speed pads, dodging those which slow you down and picking up additional boost pickups. It’s a simple premise, but for the most part, Gravity Chase is just that. Simple. Arcade mode is your standard get to the end before everyone else, however this is some what hindered by the games design. You see, you don’t get a map with other racers positions shown and the game doesn’t have a ‘look behind’ view. In every event, it comes down to nailing the throttle, dodging the red slowdown pads and hoping for the best.

Combat racing mode isn’t that different either. It does allow you some pickup options, which let you fill an ammo meter, if you can pick up the required box. Only then will you’ll be able to make use of that when your crosshairs begin to home in on the other opponents. A simple firing off at them will either see your opponents slowed or taken down, and because of it’s lock on feature there isn’t any skill it targeting. Good for you until it’s you that it happens too.

One of the issues I had with this is that you never really realize you are taking damage aside from an increase in your damage meter which you will barely look at, and additional cries of critical damage being splashed on your screen. And because of this you are often left bemused at why you exploded. Luckily you are often quickly regenerated and back into the action with little to no afterthought. Now there is a shield ability to activate which does minimise the damage, but again most of the time you are often too late to notice your being damaged to activate it in time.

The Eliminator mode at least gives the players abit more elements to play with. With a countdown in place, the game eliminates the racer in last position periodically as it ticks by. But as you can never tell your position in the game this pretty much turns into a hit or miss experience. Control wise, the game is smooth and responsive, though I would say its it can feel a little floaty on the vehicle at the higher speeds, but this is to be expected.  

Speaking of controls, you wont find the layout on any option, this is a small overlay just before you get into the race, so don’t click start too quickly otherwise your miss it. Overall its not a bad experience, it’s just that it brings nothing new and feels a little bare in the racing department. I will say however the option to have 4 player co-op on one screen is a welcome aspect.

Graphics

The games visual style is its good the neon-infused visuals look impressively fluid during gameplay, with barely a hint of slowdown even when speeds go super fast. The tracks all have bright neon colours and flashing lights, while the backgrounds are decent enough to fill in the void of the track being suspended in space with a variety of swaying palm trees or fire-spitting volcanoes.

The design does have a knock on effect, that makes most of the tracks look and feel very similar though, even with the later levels swapping out some visual palettes. The pick-ups similar neon style also gets a bit much sometimes, and can make it difficult to differentiate between your boost pads, power-ups and the opponents light trails. They all just blur into one mass of colour that can be extremely disorienting when trying to navigate the track at higher speeds. As with everything in this game, there is no resolution option for performance or quality, but regardless it does run smoothly.

Sound

The game sounds is where it really shines with most tracks sound like EDM remixes of songs. The main menu music nearly sounds like a remix of a certain song by The Weekend with the odd note removed to ensure no copyright is claimed.  In-game sounds during races feel appropriate and weighty, and the announcers do a nice job to push that futuristic aesthetic. Other than the music there really isn’t anything to talk about, as its minimal as much of the other aspects of the game.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Gravity Chase is a "On Sale".

This game is a bit bare bones for my liking and doesn’t really add anything new to the genre. It’s a simple anti-gravity racer that does just that and not much more.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £9.99 or approx $12, and depending on skill and patience would give you about 5+ hours worth of gameplay. Once you have upgraded all the ships and unlocked all the tracks there isn’t any replay value here other than racing against in house friends.

It’s a solid game that does exactly what it says on the tin. A online multiplayer option would open up a some longevity and I hope the developers add this in the future, however, there is quite a few anti-gravity racers out there. Does this do enough to stand out from the crowd, for me at least no, but its still fun regardless.