Gravity Circuit contains the best parts of the SNES-era of 2D action platforming without the artificial difficulty spikes and frustrations. Its combat is fluid, easy to pick up, and exciting to master. Its pacing ramps up with the player. Its music is a nostalgia bomb of high-energy and synthetic charm. Yes, it's a short play, but it contains enough content to satisfy most players and get them hooked into using Kai's hookshot over, over, and over again. If this doesn't sound like a love letter to retro platforming, I don't know what will.
Thinking back to the SNES era of platforming, I immediately recognize fast-paced traversal, ranged combat, and incredibly satisfying soundtrack making games like Mega Man X memorable. Sure, some levels were difficult by today’s standards, but fans like me looked past the frustrating bits because of how fast, furious, and fluid the games turned out to be, set to an upbeat and synthetic soundtrack. What does it mean if a title captures all of the best aspects of the Mega Man X series without any of the frills and frustrations of platforming’s past?
It means that the title has successfully written a love letter to its greatest inspiration, and Gravity Circuit has done exactly that. I’ve spent the past few weeks with Gravity Circuit for the PC, and it’s boggled my mind how much I’ve missed the SNES-era of platforming I grew up with. Be it wall jumping, obstacle dodging, and boss hunting, Gravity Circuit presented me with a nostalgia bomb of epic proportions…and a pretty significant learning curve.
Gravity Circuit is an agile, action-packed 2D platformer where the player is Kai (aka the Gravity Circuit) and on a mission to save a futuristic robot world from evil robots. Upon completing the first level, Kai is taken to a hub where he can select from eight available missions. At the end of each mission is a boss fight with a Circuit. Pretty simple, right?
Gravity Circuit‘s combat surprised me the most. Coming from years of playing the Mega Man series (and other platformers), I was used to keeping my distance and sniping enemies with a well-timed charged shot. Kai has no such ability, relying on mostly melee attacks to whittle enemies’ health away until they can be thrown at other enemies. Once I got past that learning curve, it became possible for me to chain combos together with ease and throw enemies (and their projectiles) at other threats to continue my combos further. Fluid is the best way to describe this style of combat, as is deep, and challenging. Directional melee attacks can be easily chained together with Kai’s hookshot. This blend of ranged initiation, melee chains, and grappling in the form of throws is unique yet satisfying.
Completing levels and their respective circuit bosses grant Kai unlockable abilities: Booster Chips and Burst Techniques. The abilities themselves won’t truly “unlock” until you visit an NPC in your hideout and unlock them by paying a small fee. Burst Techniques are unlocked from defeating bosses. Some of the techniques are utilitarian, like being able to heal a small chunk of health, while others serve an offensive purpose, like emitting a massive beam that covers the screen. Once unlocked, Burst Techniques can be freely equipped and unequipped, up to four at any time. Booster Chips (passive abilities) can be unlocked for a separate fee that involve you completing the optional objectives of saving citizens. Only three Booster Chips can be equipped at any time, but they greatly modify Kai, like granting him a double jump to giving him magnetism that automatically collects pickups dropped from enemies.
The Booster Chips and Burst Techniques currently available offer players a nice variety of ways to build Kai as they see fit, albeit more restrictive than I had hoped. Seeing 16 Burst Techniques for sale by the NPC made me excited simply because of how the Mega Man franchise often granted Mega Man a single new ability upon defeating a rogue boss or Maverick. Once I learned that only four Burst Techniques could be equipped, I was mildly let down. I was even more disappointed in how these abilities weren’t utilized to their fullest extent in levels themselves.
Outside of my mild disappointment, I have to give credit where it’s due: Burst Techniques can be interwoven into Kai’s moveset and combos, maintaining fluid combat and nimble traversal. The abilities themselves are distinct enough from each other while also being reminiscent of the boss Circuits they came from. Being able to freely swap out Burst Techniques and Booster Chips alleviated my disappointment, too. When I found a specific ability didn’t gel with my playstyle, I swapped it out for something else. It’s refreshing when ability upgrades improve the player’s power without being carbon copies of each other and/or created for the sake of filling a slot. Kai’s upgrades all serve a purpose without being too niche while approachable for players to test out at will.
Each of the eight base levels (and endgame levels) are distinct enough from each other to vary up gameplay by testing players’ dexterity and platforming skills. They’re linear, almost to a fault, with mild branches hidden behind fake walls and seemingly unreachable heights. If you’re stuck, you could use the Double Jump chip, or you can rely on a thoughtful combination of Kai’s hookshot and momentum. Enemy density and particles are not overwhelming, nor are hazards. Yet, each level introduces a new mechanic to be mindful of as you work toward the Circuits at the end.
I am most pleased with how Gravity Circuit avoids the nonsense tropes of instant deaths. Too often in the earlier Mega Man titles (and other platformers) were spike pits and other hazards that would instantly obliterate players regardless of their health. Not here: If you mistime a jump or whiff Kai’s hookshot, you’ll lose a smidge of health and will be teleported back to the platform you most recently touched. No frustrating nonsense. The icing on the proverbial cake is the sheer number of properly placed checkpoints, ensuring that if Kai repeatedly fails a sequence, he’ll respawn closeby with full health. You can use these checkpoints to replenish your health and energy, too!
This approach to level design is a blessing and should not be overlooked. The longer a platforming level is, the greater pressure is put on a player to take it easy and go slow. Throw in a miniboss, and it becomes a larger game of cautiousness and avoiding starting over. Gravity Circuit throws all of that to the side by encouraging players to make mistakes without being punished in the form of mindless replaying. Go ahead, make a mistake — you’ll be teleported a few feet back so you can try again. Once you get the hang of that segment, you can effortlessly return to quickly and deftly making your way through the stage.
I mentioned that Gravity Circuit‘s levels are linear to a near fault, and they are. My biggest critique of the level designs is most of them follow the same type of singular path without providing opportunities for the player to explore. There are small optional objectives in the form of saving citizens and obtaining permanent health/energy upgrades, sure. On the other hand, the new abilities that are unlocked from completing a level serve little explorative purpose. It would have been cool to utilize a fire ability to melt ice and unlock a new area of a previously completed level, for instance. This would have increased level-specific replayability, too, since levels can be currently completed in their entirety, optional objectives in all, in a single swoop.
My critiques might run counter to what instills a lightspeed pace in Gravity Circuit. Exploration can be considered a detriment because of the possible distractions that await players. However, some variance, even in the form of encouraging replayability with new abilities in-hand, can break up what could turn into a monotonous platforming gauntlet. This is not to say that Gravity Circuit is monotonous, heavens no, but it is to say that I would have preferred just a smidgen more variance in level design and a deeper marriage of Gravity Circuit‘s myriad of abilities with its platforming.
Completing the eight base levels will result in a final test of skill that’s of much higher difficulty and worth the climb. In prior Mega Man titles, these would involve longer-form boss rushes comprised of back-to-back boss fights and more. No spoilers for Gravity Circuit, but be prepared for a gauntlet that tests your mastery of prior level elements and bosses. It’s a fitting culmination of level elements and an elevation of prior levels’ designs.
At this point, you’re probably thinking that Gravity Circuit is a modern-day Mega Man clone, especially seeing the similarities with the level designs, the flow of battle, and so forth. Making that claim would grossly overlook how much Gravity Circuit elevates itself toward being a more approachable and fun platformer that can meet multiple players’ needs. It lacks frustratching insta-deaths that artificially spike difficulty for the sake of precision. On top of that, it gives players challenges, albeit optional, in the form of a New Game+ and Circuit Mode for those wanting something akin to completionism and speedrunning.
I completed my first run of Gravity Circuit on normal difficulty within three hours. At that point, I’d rescued 90% of the citizens and unlocked most of the upgrades. I went into New Game+ to see how I would fare with completing everything in the least amount of time and I finished my second playthrough after two hours. I’ve since spent another three hours attempting to beat my current best time trials and use ALL of the Burst Abilities and Boost Upgrades. I’m excited to see Gravity Circuit in the hands of speedrunners, as its current package is a great fit for a run at an upcoming GDQ event.
Gravity Circuit‘s designs and graphics ring true with SNES-specific platformers. Despite its pixelated 16-bit nature, sprites are crisp, level backgrounds are fluidly animated and brightly colored, and projectiles are highlighted for easier dodging. Thanks to this, very little of the world looks stiff while being readable for players to discern friend from foe.
Before concluding this review, I must commend Domesticated Ant Games and Dominic Ninmark for putting together a cohesive, addicting, and energetic soundtrack for Gravity Circuit. It’s one of the best soundtracks I’ve come across in quite a minute. My first time playing Mega Man X for the SNES resulted in the first track’s theme to become stuck in my head. Gravity Circuit‘s soundtrack does that, too, blending synth, some metal, and some electronic inspirations. It’s like Mega Man X meets Hiroyuki Iwatsuki and Haruo Ohashi’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) soundtracks. Over the past week, Kai’s theme (which also plays in the first level) and Ray’s theme have been stuck in my head and perfect gym music. I can’t wait for the full soundtrack to release, as it’s definitely going to enter my gym and work playlists.
If there’s something else I want from Gravity Circuit, it’s that I want more–so much more content. I completed the game for the first time in a little under three hours, but I can’t guarantee that every player will find it worthwhile to replay New Game+ and Circuit Mode. Instead, I’d love to see additional levels, challenges, and opportunities to hone my speedrunning skills and become attached to its universe. Its current gameplay, universe, and challenge offer a fantastic backbone for a retro-inspired platformer, and I sincerely hope that Domesticated Ant Games explores the Gravity Circuit franchise and continues to collaborate with Dominic Ninmark to create more amazing audio experiences in-game.
Gravity Circuit contains the best parts of the SNES-era of 2D action platforming without the artificial difficulty spikes and frustrations. Its combat is fluid, easy to pick up, and exciting to master. Its pacing ramps up with the player. Its music is a nostalgia bomb of high-energy and synthetic charm. Yes, it’s a short play, but it contains enough content to satisfy most players and get them hooked into using Kai’s hookshot over, over, and over again. If this doesn’t sound like a love letter to retro platforming, I don’t know what will.
A code for Gravity Circuit was provided by the publisher for the sole purpose of this DigitalChumps review.
