Simplicity reminiscent of an Orisinal game but with visuals and sound you might expect to find in something more old-school. Backed by an enjoyable physics engine and a simple but well-executed concept and virtually no down-time, Gravity Hook by Adam Saltsman and Danny Baranowsky is a simple, grappling hook arcade game that borders on clinically addictive.
The game's premise is simple yet compelling... Let us analyze its deeper meaning and both its psychological and physiological implications. It begins "In a secret base below the surface" — this is key, as both 'secret' and 'underground base' are concepts scientifically known to cause the release of a bodily hormone capable of inducing childish glee. It continues, as things are apt to do, "a civilian wonders how deep they are..." a statement which captures with an artistic simplicity the ever-present question of our existence.
The gameplay, like the premise is both simple and deep.
You start at the bottom of this secret base, both feet firmly planted on the cold concrete of our existential abyss, looking up. Your goal? To make your way up.
Timing is crucial in this game; to move your way up you must click the mouse button nearby a floating orb, firing your grappling hook, and hold until the time is right. The time is right shortly before (or at the time) a large warning sign appears. Once you let go you will follow an upwards trajectory until gravity exerts its inexorable force and your must again fire your grappling hook at another floating orb.
However, these floating orbs are neither stationary nor safe. They are mines which slowly move towards you as you move towards them, your elastic grapple's lines at once drawing you towards your salvation and doom. However, if you do not have enough forward momentum when attaching yourself to a mine, you may find yourself quickly falling to the very hard concrete floor. These two scenarios end in a game over, and they are inevitable. But you'll enjoy every minute of it.
how do you play!
how many meters do i have to climb ??? *lol* this is driving me maaad
you click one of the black balls, and hold on until youre close, flinging yourself into space.
This is criminally addictive. Hard with a brick wall learning curve, but addictive
Wow, I really want to enjoy this, but the games needs some major tweaking to be fun.
The all-or-nothing nature of the mines, coupled with the absurdly fast acceleration, have made this almost impossible. I only made it over "100m" after about 30 attempts. I have yet to be able to jump more than 5 mines before being slammed into one.
Also, the auto-selector picks mines that are too close, or too far, and I end up either falling off or crashing right into a mine.
I love the look, I like the concept, but the gameplay needs some work still.
i got up to 527 meters.
It is certainly difficult to get very far up, but it is possible.
I've only made it above 600m a few times, but it is possible. It's a combination of luck and twitch-timing, and that just isn't some people's kind of game.
I think the game accomplishes quite well what it set out to do and does it in a solid manner. Perhaps my only suggestion would be to have a mute button in the actual game, and perhaps a pause button (press 'p'?).
Really addictive game, I liked it a lot!
I got to 879 using a trackpad. I think one way to think about it is a mad fling to the top, not so much a carefully planned trip. Use upward momentum to help grab farther anchor points, and you can really build up some speed. Relying on the autolock of the sensor helps rather than trying to aim for specific anchor points. It really is all about timing the release point - the closer you get to the mine, the faster you'll be flung on the other side. Fun game.
A very neatly presented little game. Managed to get to 1413m, and by the time you get that high it seems the mines get fewer and further between so if you don't enough momentum you start suffering. I was hoping for a little nugget of story once I passed 1000m, but alas, no.
Not really my cup of tea. The idea behind it is nice and after some attempts, it's possible to get high if you're good with timing, but the game lacks calm moments. It's one long stretch of essentially doing the same over and over again. It doesn't chance, except for perhaps less mines at lower depths (he's below surface isn't he?). You constantly have to keep moving.
Well, yeah. Still, it has some nice pixel-art. :)
Timing when you click on the next mine controls the pace of the game. If you wait until your momentum runs out you slow (and stop) with a moment to grab the next mine. This way the game doesn't speed up at all and you can slowly crawl your way up.
Just one other point for the reviewer -- falling to the bottom of the shaft isn't necessary for death, just falling to the bottom of the screen will do it.
How do you start. I just get the title screen and I can't go anywhere from that.
Well, in FireFox 3.0.1 on Windows, there is no vertical scrollbar so in order to see, and press the PLAY button, I had to maximize the browser. Not cool.
[Edit: Try using the HTML link in the review instead of clicking the Javascript pop-up. Or, you can always right-click and choose "Open Link in New Tab" on any of the links. -Jay]
I have to say I couldn't disagree more with the stance that the game needs tweaking or that it's based on luck. You actually have quite a lot of control, but you have to think fast in order to maintain it. That's why I think the control scheme is brilliant: it's so simple, yet you can do so many things. For instance... moving sideways across the screen to position yourself better for the next set of mines is very difficult, but possible if you realize you have to do it soon enough. Catching yourself when you've fallen a bit too far is likewise possible. Also if you get stuck going back and forth sideways... have you tried holding on until you flip around the side of the mine and get upward momentum that way?
As far as I'm concerned, the only thing the game needs is a little story... the kind of thing that made Maverick last week really fun. That, and maybe some difficulty scale that is different than just spacing the mines far apart since that takes away from your control. Maybe if they had added stuff you have to dodge but keep the mine density relatively constant after a certain point... that would be really cool.
I immensely enjoyed the game and really love the dynamic. The learning curve worked out well for me, steadily getting better and better until I've somewhat reached the levels of my own coordination abilities at about 1600m now.
My urge to reach the highscore list is still very much alive, and a game with such a beautifully simple retry automatic will have me returning and try again for many times to come.
Also love the charming pixel graphics (lots of great pixel stuff to see in the artist's gallery on the main site too).
I got up to 2518m. It gets really hard after about 1500m, where you have to start pulling mines down from offscreen several times while keeping the mine afloat with onscreen mines before you can actually use the above mine to pull the ball to a higher level. Very fun game, but very frustrating to try to get back up so high all over again.
It appears someone has cheated the high score list. Jerk.
Speaking of high scores, the name of the high score list is rather... unfortunate. "Maximum Hookers"? Really?
Adam, one of the authors, is working on making the High Score system more stable and will be removing the hacked scores shortly. Stand by!
Extremely difficult game + extreme addictiveness = annoying!!
Still fun though... :P
I got 1200 metres on my 2000000th try!!! woohoo
Isn't it funny how you keep trying and trying? So addictive. That's because there's a lot to learn, in terms of timing and controlling the swing. I got 1600! (after days practicing...) But I think there's a lot to improve, I'll be waiting Gravity Hook 2, 3...
ive got up to as high as 3418m, and its usually a mistake that kills you, which is frustrating
i actually got over 1000m quite quickly, much to the chagrin of my brother!
Can you pass 5K? Everytime I get to 5075m or so, the game stuck and crush... i can go much higher like nothing! is it a bug or what?
Here is the link if you like to see this bug:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYCswPUDvRE
Quite enjoyable, I've got to say, and saved onto my favorites just because I can play it repeatedly. It's the kind of thing I return to every so often, always trying to get high as possible. The game is like a drug. Though, it's not quite as fun on a laptop.
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