Airscape: The Fall of Gravity Review (PC)

Plenty of puzzle platformers have launched in recent years with quirky ideas or innovative concepts in order to stand out from the rest and catch the attention of the customers in the crowded indie market.

Airscape: The Fall of Gravity from developer Cross-Product is no exception. The new title puts players in the tentacles of a small octopus that's abducted by aliens (don't ask) and has to explore varied environments and stages in order to rescue its other octopus friends, not to mention various sea-dwelling creatures.

Throw in the interesting gravity mechanics, the emphasis on action as well as puzzle-solving, not to mention the focus on exploration, and Airscape is definitely an intriguing experience.

Does it have what it takes to stand out from the other rush of indie titles or should its octopus go back to the depths of the ocean? Let's find out.

Gameplay

Airscape's story is minimalistic at best. After a short prolog that shows just how the main octopus and its friends were abducted by an alien ship, you're quickly thrown into the first stage and have to figure out everything else. As you progress, you get to rescue other sea-dwelling creatures, including all sorts of species of fish, and in special key levels, you get to help other types of fellow octopi.

As such, the main emphasis is on gameplay, and fortunately for platformer fans, the title does pull off a pretty solid showing. The controls are tight on land, allowing the octopus to move to the left or right, as well as sprint or jump. Things get a bit trickier and open-ended when you get inside the various blobs of water that seem to be floating in the sky. Here, you can turn into any direction and use your tentacles to propel yourself forward or backward.

Unfortunately, here the momentum conservation system isn't always consistent, so you'll often find yourself floating just a bit farther than you expected. Once you start encountering deadly lasers, mines, or projectiles, even the tiniest slip-up can result in death.

Navigate platforms in Airscape

There's also the actual gravity system that allows the octopus to jump, in certain situations, from one bit of land to the other, while rotating the whole screen. This is pretty fun and you get used to it quite easily. In order to avoid getting motion sickness, you can even change the speed of the rotation transition to make it faster or slower, and hopefully avoid any grumbling stomachs.

While Airscape is filled with cute octopi as well as vibrant colors or an upbeat soundtrack, the game is still quite hard, and after the first few introductory levels, you'll soon find yourself scratching your head while looking for the fiendishly hidden fish. A small tip would be to examine the level's diagram on the map screen, as it can show you most of the zones that can be explored.

Another downside that makes the title a bit tougher to enjoy is the automatic zoom-in zoom-out, which sometimes doesn’t happen as fast as necessary. As such, you'll find yourself flying into a laser beam or a projectile because you didn't stop in time.

The actual levels are quite varied in terms of design, so there's no opportunity to get tired. There are 18 zones totaling over 60 levels. Some might be a breeze and you'll easily find all the necessary fish, while others are a true pain.

In order to make progression a bit easier, the game only requires a certain number of saved fish to unlock the special boss levels, which prevent you from exploring any further. Completing these, which are even tougher than the regular stages, ensures you get to reach the next major area.

Enemies are pretty varied and combine themselves to deliver fiendishly difficult challenges. You can't attack other things, so you'll just have to jump over obstacles while avoiding projectiles. This can be easier said than done and you'll often find yourself restarting the whole level or respawning at a checkpoint multiple times before finally getting through.

The keyboard controls are pretty good but things are a bit better with a controller.

Tough levels in Airscape

Visuals and sound

Airscape has some great visuals that boast vibrant colors but also sharp cartoonish textures and some great designs in terms of characters and backgrounds. The only minor downside is that, in some levels, especially those that are darker, it gets a bit harder to distinguish projectiles like bullets.

The soundtrack is similarly impressive, managing to make the action on the screen even more intense thanks to the orchestral theme and the pretty good effects.

Play Video

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion