Gravitrix – Commodore 64

grav01Never been much of a puzzle game player on the c64 bar a bunch of Tetris clones, cos you know.. Tetris :) but this is definitely one I have enjoyed.

Reading up about this game reveals that this is a game by Nils Hammerich which was originally done over 20 years ago which he was going to release on a CP Verlag disc magazine, but was held back due to music it seems. But now the game has been reworked completely with new graphics and sound and has now been released by Psytronik on disk and RGCD on cart. You can also get the game digitally.
grav02Gravitrix is a game based on gravity (see what they did there).
The essence of the game is to gather all blocks of the same colour together which clears them
to complete the stage. Each block has a certain direction of gravity (shown by an arrow on the block) and when moved, it will fall in that direction until it hits an obstacle.

When you select a block with the cursor you have movement options shown on the top of the screen, so you can move that block in the direction it shows. Also a very useful option if you keep the fire button pressed while you have a block selected, so you can keep performing move actions. Of course it wouldn’t be a puzzle game if it was that simple.
grav03There are numerous obstacles and mechanics you have to deal with and utilise to complete these levels. There are gates that will transport blocks from one point to another, pipes you can use to connect blocks together without them touching, colour arrows which will fire a block in a different direction whilst also changing its colour, non coloured arrows will throw blocks in that direction until it hits an obstacle, force fields plus other mechanics.

Plus not only that, there is a time limit to complete the stages, currently I haven’t failed due to
the time limit but I’m sure it becomes something to be wary of in later levels. There is also the option of pausing the game but with a twist, it blanks out the screen so you cant study it indefinitely. Very cheeky :) plus you also have the option of turning the music on and off during game play.grav04The game also has a password system so you can carry on where you have left off, and thankfully the passwords are not very long, which makes re-inputting them a lot less annoying.  Just make sure to write them down ;)  As for content the game features 120 levels over 6 different world themes, so I doubt you will run out of content for a while.
grav05I had loads of fun playing this game, seems simplistic to start with ’till you get used to the mechanics and controls, gradually adding new mechanics. Would definitely recommend this game, even if you don’t have much of an interest in puzzle games, give it a try :)

A 10 level demo is available for free, but the full download edition is only $2.99
There is also a RGCD cartridge release, and a Psytronik disk release. No tape edition I’m afraid. The game also has PAL and NTSC versions.

Buy on Cart: http://rgcd.bigcartel.com
Buy on Disk: http://binaryzone.org
Download the Demo: gravitrix_demo.d64
Website: http://www.robotriotgames.com/gravitrix/

Review by Retrograde

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