Gravity Lab! Is The Best Physics Puzzler Since Angry Birds
Gravity Lab! ($0.99) by Mobile Snap, LLC is a breath of fresh air in the plus-sized realm of physics puzzlers for iOS.
The game brings new innovations to an overplayed genre. With fantastic 3D graphics, challenging puzzles, and a unique game mechanic, Gravity Lab! is a worthy successor to Angry Birds’ throne on the genre.
Like the aforementioned avian-themed app, Gravity Lab! has you flinging the game’s protagonist at various obstacles. Unlike Angry Birds, however, the app is much more gravity-based, and offers a unique approach to the tried and true slingshot mechanic.
Gravity Lab!’s main character, Steve the Robot, is charged with collecting stars, which are situated creatively among 75 different gravity lab puzzles.
In order to collect them, he’ll need to be shot into various boxes, knocking them over and into the stars. He himself cannot hit the golden points, or he’ll bounce off. This means the player must arrange complex chain reactions with pinball like accuracy to pass each level.
This task is made all the more difficult by several clever additions to the concept. For instance, the boxes themselves come in several different colors, each hue indicating which direction the box will float in once knocked. Likewise, there are also bomb crates, bouncing pads, directional rectangles, and portals to contend with.
In essence, the player will need to leverage the direction the boxes will float in, as well as how they’ll shoot Steve to begin with, to conquer the level and collect all three stars.
All in all, it’s tough work that provides quite the challenge. Gravity Lab’s difficulty is obscured by an absolutely lovely 3D graphics set. It’s strange to be so puzzled by a level that features such cute animations.
Gravity Lab! does its best to keep things interesting, adding new game elements at a comfortably enticing pace. That being said, the gameplay can become repetitive at times, simply because the same objects are often used throughout an entire lab, or set of puzzles.
The developers have largely spiced things up by adding Game Center achievements, as well as three different labs that must be unlocked. The strength of the level design itself also keeps things fresh, as the puzzles can indeed be quite difficult.
Another point in Gravity Lab!’s favor is the sheer number of levels: As mentioned, there are 75 unique gravity-based challenges to be worked through, creating the potential for a very large amount of playtime. The developers have also promised that more levels (as well as more in-game objects) will arrive with future updates.
At the end of the day, it really is hard to find much wrong with Gravity Lab!. The app is one of the most unique and inventive new titles to appear in the App Store, and the price can hardly be argued with -- Gravity Lab! clocks in at $0.99.
