The Adventures of Rad Gravity (NES, 1990)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-6.5/5* Challenge-8? Story-6.5
Level Design-5 Frustration-9 Fun-5.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-5.5
*Asteroid belt (move in the opposite direction of your shots) and final boss fight
+
Upgradeable lifebar and armor as well as weapons (the upgraded sword also reaches longer)
Can exit a level from anywhere using your communicator item
Some interesting level gimmicks and tools (upside down gravity, feeding a dog to make it help move a cow which you can stand on and use as a platform, large dino on Sauria; teleporter beacon tool - Exile (1988), limited flight with the energy disk - costs life and you can't attack while using it+can only activate it while standing on the ground and can't fly upwards so it's rather limited in use, upwards air streams)
Grab and throw certain items (SMB2) as well as shoot them to nudge them to the left or right
Unlimited lives
Some decent-good puzzles (Sauria besides getting the life upgrade there, getting underground on Odar with the teleporter beacon and the block sliding puzzles there, getting into robot city through stealth and using the beacon, have to use the crater pillar's fire outbursts on the boss in Volcania)
Item and weapon inventory
Some scripted events of sorts (computer theft, ship damage from asteroid belt; these play like additional levels in-between the others)
Some enemies can hit each other (used to progress in Utopia though it's a bit tedious)
Pretty good variety overall
Can use the disk to skip a minor part on Telos
Some destructible projectiles
Decent dialogue
Pretty nice vocal sample during the ending
+/-
Password save (given after dying)
Partially non-linear structure (galaxy hub map divided into several solar system maps (there's also sometimes more than one level/sub area per planet), linear first two levels on the first planet and getting your computer back - after that you unlock 3 other planets however there's no point in going to Volcania as you'll just get stuck halfway through (also can't beat Vernia (unlocked after Turvia) until after Sauria unless you find the well hidden upgraded crystal bombs there as you can't kill the boss there without crystal bombs), can go to Odar or Volcania and then Utopia or Volcania if you went with the former after getting the teleporter beacon though Volcania is tougher - after these there's just Telos to go to; some backtracking within levels with gained abilities to progress in them)
So-so rate of fire with the gun - only 2 shots on screen
Can't attack upwards with the sword (can get a gun upgrade on Turvia that lets you shoot upwards)
Can't move while crouching
Some fetch quests
Pretty good mid-air control
Can hit some enemies through platforms with the crystal bombs however it doesn't always work even though it looks like it should
Puzzle-style boss in the asteroid belt base however it's both optional and if you screw it up you can't beat the boss (there's also no reward for beating it)
Some breakable walls but they're completely obvious
The translator didn't need to be an item in the inventory
Some unkillable enemies
Pretty unusual music at times (almost like experimental new wave/post-punk at times - occasionally grating though)
-
The Utopia boss (potentially a decent puzzle but you get no clue as to what to do to make the CPU ally go behind the boss (throw a bomb at it) and once you figure it out there's no challenge to the boss at all+it's pretty slow as well)
No checkpoints or save points within levels
Some control/interface issues (no area maps, floaty movement - take a couple of extra steps after letting go of the d-pad and if you jump during this you decelerate much slower (you even keep some momentum after walking into a wall), keep falling down through platforms if you hold down in mid-air, vertical focused jumps (see Contra), can't shoot forward while crouching after upgrading your gun, no in-game description of new gear you pick up)
Trial & error (have to hit some robots blocking your way in just the right way to damage them in robot city (Utopia), getting back up from underground on Odar - have to jump in just the right way, progressing at volcania - have to use the teleporter beacon in a weird way, can't beat the Vernia boss without the crysal bombs found on Sauria, some pits lead to other parts of sub areas while others kill you, getting the life upgrade on Sauria (the key item is off screen) and one of the two on Vernia (drop into a random spot in the sea while riding the submarine platform), have to stand on the flat slime enemies to go into small spaces while crouching - no clue to this and you can't stand on other enemies, the moving bubble platform on Turvia - have to step on it at just the right moment or it pops before reaching high enough and you fall to your death (would've made more sense if it was based on how long you stood on it and you could just keep jumping to not make it pop), can't teleport off Turvia while carrying the gravitational device even though you could do this with your computer earlier, the coordinates to new systems/planets are actually pointless, sometimes hard to tell what you can or can't stand on, some leaps of faith, leap of faith onto an invisible platform on Vernia - die if you fall back at the end of the ballon ride here as well, teleporter maze in the asteroid belt base, if you go all the way to the right while above the screen on the asteroid belt base (or fall down a pit) you get teleported outside of it and have to redo the base, finding the upgraded crystal bombs on vernia - have to skip the balloon ride to go above the screen all the way to the right at one point, some post-death attacks (utopia), some traps and the teleporter maze on Telos, false walls on Telos)
Some unavoidable damage and cheap enemy placements
Sometimes repetitive level design (long corridors)
Some tedious aspects (huge teleporter maze on Telos, various pits that just lead to getting stuck and having to teleport out of a level on Volcania, very frequent enemy respawning in various areas+enemies don't drop health/money/points, backtracking if you fall down from the top path in various rooms, really annoying green ghost enemies and annoying green gargoyle enemies, instant death hazards, pretty slow transitions between planet maps and when entering levels though you can skip the former, some waiting for slow moving platforms, one of the block sliding puzzles on Odar is a bit too finicky, single entry points to each planet leads to some more backtracking, drawn out Telos boss fight and final boss fight - you also face these right after each other)
Some slowdown (can also eat your inputs)
No confirmation that you've gotten your computer back when getting back to the ship with it
The NPC dialogue on Utopia doesn't update after beating the boss there
Bugs:
-Two gravitational devices if you loop around the area it's in by falling into a pit
-The game starts going again for like a tenth of a second between each message box during dialogue scenes
Level Design-5 Frustration-9 Fun-5.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-5.5
*Asteroid belt (move in the opposite direction of your shots) and final boss fight
+
Upgradeable lifebar and armor as well as weapons (the upgraded sword also reaches longer)
Can exit a level from anywhere using your communicator item
Some interesting level gimmicks and tools (upside down gravity, feeding a dog to make it help move a cow which you can stand on and use as a platform, large dino on Sauria; teleporter beacon tool - Exile (1988), limited flight with the energy disk - costs life and you can't attack while using it+can only activate it while standing on the ground and can't fly upwards so it's rather limited in use, upwards air streams)
Grab and throw certain items (SMB2) as well as shoot them to nudge them to the left or right
Unlimited lives
Some decent-good puzzles (Sauria besides getting the life upgrade there, getting underground on Odar with the teleporter beacon and the block sliding puzzles there, getting into robot city through stealth and using the beacon, have to use the crater pillar's fire outbursts on the boss in Volcania)
Item and weapon inventory
Some scripted events of sorts (computer theft, ship damage from asteroid belt; these play like additional levels in-between the others)
Some enemies can hit each other (used to progress in Utopia though it's a bit tedious)
Pretty good variety overall
Can use the disk to skip a minor part on Telos
Some destructible projectiles
Decent dialogue
Pretty nice vocal sample during the ending
+/-
Password save (given after dying)
Partially non-linear structure (galaxy hub map divided into several solar system maps (there's also sometimes more than one level/sub area per planet), linear first two levels on the first planet and getting your computer back - after that you unlock 3 other planets however there's no point in going to Volcania as you'll just get stuck halfway through (also can't beat Vernia (unlocked after Turvia) until after Sauria unless you find the well hidden upgraded crystal bombs there as you can't kill the boss there without crystal bombs), can go to Odar or Volcania and then Utopia or Volcania if you went with the former after getting the teleporter beacon though Volcania is tougher - after these there's just Telos to go to; some backtracking within levels with gained abilities to progress in them)
So-so rate of fire with the gun - only 2 shots on screen
Can't attack upwards with the sword (can get a gun upgrade on Turvia that lets you shoot upwards)
Can't move while crouching
Some fetch quests
Pretty good mid-air control
Can hit some enemies through platforms with the crystal bombs however it doesn't always work even though it looks like it should
Puzzle-style boss in the asteroid belt base however it's both optional and if you screw it up you can't beat the boss (there's also no reward for beating it)
Some breakable walls but they're completely obvious
The translator didn't need to be an item in the inventory
Some unkillable enemies
Pretty unusual music at times (almost like experimental new wave/post-punk at times - occasionally grating though)
-
The Utopia boss (potentially a decent puzzle but you get no clue as to what to do to make the CPU ally go behind the boss (throw a bomb at it) and once you figure it out there's no challenge to the boss at all+it's pretty slow as well)
No checkpoints or save points within levels
Some control/interface issues (no area maps, floaty movement - take a couple of extra steps after letting go of the d-pad and if you jump during this you decelerate much slower (you even keep some momentum after walking into a wall), keep falling down through platforms if you hold down in mid-air, vertical focused jumps (see Contra), can't shoot forward while crouching after upgrading your gun, no in-game description of new gear you pick up)
Trial & error (have to hit some robots blocking your way in just the right way to damage them in robot city (Utopia), getting back up from underground on Odar - have to jump in just the right way, progressing at volcania - have to use the teleporter beacon in a weird way, can't beat the Vernia boss without the crysal bombs found on Sauria, some pits lead to other parts of sub areas while others kill you, getting the life upgrade on Sauria (the key item is off screen) and one of the two on Vernia (drop into a random spot in the sea while riding the submarine platform), have to stand on the flat slime enemies to go into small spaces while crouching - no clue to this and you can't stand on other enemies, the moving bubble platform on Turvia - have to step on it at just the right moment or it pops before reaching high enough and you fall to your death (would've made more sense if it was based on how long you stood on it and you could just keep jumping to not make it pop), can't teleport off Turvia while carrying the gravitational device even though you could do this with your computer earlier, the coordinates to new systems/planets are actually pointless, sometimes hard to tell what you can or can't stand on, some leaps of faith, leap of faith onto an invisible platform on Vernia - die if you fall back at the end of the ballon ride here as well, teleporter maze in the asteroid belt base, if you go all the way to the right while above the screen on the asteroid belt base (or fall down a pit) you get teleported outside of it and have to redo the base, finding the upgraded crystal bombs on vernia - have to skip the balloon ride to go above the screen all the way to the right at one point, some post-death attacks (utopia), some traps and the teleporter maze on Telos, false walls on Telos)
Some unavoidable damage and cheap enemy placements
Sometimes repetitive level design (long corridors)
Some tedious aspects (huge teleporter maze on Telos, various pits that just lead to getting stuck and having to teleport out of a level on Volcania, very frequent enemy respawning in various areas+enemies don't drop health/money/points, backtracking if you fall down from the top path in various rooms, really annoying green ghost enemies and annoying green gargoyle enemies, instant death hazards, pretty slow transitions between planet maps and when entering levels though you can skip the former, some waiting for slow moving platforms, one of the block sliding puzzles on Odar is a bit too finicky, single entry points to each planet leads to some more backtracking, drawn out Telos boss fight and final boss fight - you also face these right after each other)
Some slowdown (can also eat your inputs)
No confirmation that you've gotten your computer back when getting back to the ship with it
The NPC dialogue on Utopia doesn't update after beating the boss there
Bugs:
-Two gravitational devices if you loop around the area it's in by falling into a pit
-The game starts going again for like a tenth of a second between each message box during dialogue scenes