Day 150, Game 150 - Inversion

Inversion is a game I've had on my radar for a couple months now, but never got around to trying it out. It came to me via a recommendation from a wonderful reader (whom I completely forgot who it was at this point, which I apologize for, sincerely), who said that while it isn't the best game, it's a fun one to play nonetheless. 

I'm always down for a fun gaming experience, regardless of how "good" the game is or what the critics scored it as when it was released. Fun is fun, regardless of the review score attached to it. 

The game is a third-person shooter, but it was billed as having "a twist" to it that hadn't been seen in any shooter like it before. The twist, of course, is the gravity physics within the game, as you are given the ability to control gravity both directions. This means you can eliminate gravity in front of you, raising up objects in your path, which gives you the opportunity to "lasso" them and essentially take control of the floating object and fling it as a projectile weapon. You can also add gravity to a situation, pulling down things to crash in front of you. 

The idea of using these game play mechanics in battle as well as to solve problems is interesting and an intriguing concept, but it's just not executed very well. It's hard to fully control what you are tying to pull off, and it's never exactly clear what you can use the gravity tools on or when you should consider doing so. You do get actual weapons as well, which look and feel like guns from the Gears of War series. 

Actually, that was this game reminds me of a lot, is Gears of War. It relies heavily on cover-based combat, ducking and diving behind barriers and walls. The enemies even slightly remind me of ones you might find in GoW. It's honestly like they took the entire concept of GoW, tried to make it as similar as possible due to it's overall success, and then threw in the gravity mechanic to mix it up a bit and make it its own game. Unfortunately, it just never feels as fun as it should be. It's great in concept, but the execution isn't perfect. It's still fun for what it does, though, overall. 

Granted, I also feel like this game is built 100% to be played with a buddy, not the semi-crappy AI partner. 

But hey, when you don't like playing games with other people, online or otherwise, sometimes you have to settle for mediocre single player experiences. I have grown used to that over the years, and I try not to hold that against any game that really does try to encourage social gaming experiences. 

Looking at the scores this game got, they were all pretty average, at least from the professional reviewers stance. The general public seemed to like it a lot more, oddly enough, probably because most people have no problem just enjoying games instead of always being critical and cynical. But that always has been the difference between writing about games for a profession and playing them for fun. 

Oh, and by the way - if whoever recommended this game to me is reading this now, please let me know. I want to at least give you credit for inspiring this blog post. 

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