Created, developed and published by X-Out of Dark Castle Software, Gravitron 2 is a classically styled arcade shoot’em up where gravity and inertia are both your best friend and greatest foe.

For reasons which the developer could not explain, adware was detected within the original Gravitron. The source code was reportedly lost in a hard drive crash, so it was not available for the problem to be pinpointed and possibly fixed. As a result, X-Out ceased distribution of the game but later made it available again due to demand with the caveat that adware had been detected. These adware detections were, in all likelihood, false-positives. My own scans showed no infected files (using SpyBot S&D and ClamWin) and I have played it on a number of my own computers with no issues. I don’t hold anything against the developer or his games; as far as I’m concerned, the original Gravitron is safe.

Gravitron 2 gameplay is said to be inspired by retro games of yore such as Thrust and Oids, and rightly so. Manning a small lander equipped with thrusters, activated energy shields and a laser cannon, each stage starts just after your ship breaks atmo’, at which point you’ll immediately begin plummeting to the ground below. By engaging your thrusters and spinning your ship around you’ll be tasked with taking out turrets, dodging laser beams, descending into pits, navigating caverns and even rescuing the occasional scientist, all while on your mission to destroy the reactor(s) in each stage. If you’re going for a high score, you’ll want to do this as quickly as possible; a bonus score begins ticking down from the moment the level starts. Once all reactors are destroyed, you’ll only have so much time to haul ass back into space and on to your next objective. You’ll also have to keep an eye on your health and fuel gauges; you can refill each of these by rescuing scientists and hovering or landing next to fuel depots sprinkled throughout each level.

Achievement Unlocked!

Since I think that I’ve given adequate warning of the possibility (and improbability) of adware existing in the original Gravitron, I’ll point you to it. As I said, I’ve scanned it myself and no flags were raised. It’s free from the developer’s web page. Gravitron 2 is a clear evolution from this game, though, and should definitely be looked at despite its predecessor being free.

A free demo for Gravitron 2 is available from the developer’s website. Though the full game may be available elsewhere, I’m going to suggest you purchase it through Steam for the benefit of achievements as well as automatic updates for whatever free expansions X-Out may release in the future. It will cost you only $4.99.

[Update 11/21/08]: I just read a post on the Steam forums from X-Out. He says that there will be a map pack released just before Christmas, and the level editor will be released shortly after.

This is a list of all of the cheap games we’ve featured in the blog. Every game is under $10 — many are even free! Here they are in order of price (low to high):

You’ll forgive me if I refer to Geometry Wars more than a few times. It’s just the most convenient point of reference that I have on hand. Anyway, in Everyday Shooter, like in Geometry Wars you will be navigating your way through a 2D board while avoiding shapes of all colors, shapes and sizes that are swarming around and toward you. Unlike in Geometry Wars, however, your objective is not to destroy as many enemies as possible, as quickly as possible. Rather, you’ll be attempting to set off a chain of explosions that will take out as many enemies as you can. By creating chains you will cause your fallen enemies to “drop” you points that you’ll then have to pick up manually. Bigger chains will net you larger point rewards, so take your time on setting them off.

Every time you destroy an enemy a note, a riff is played. This gives you the feeling that you’re contributing to the overall song. If you’ve ever played Rez on PS2 or Xbox Live Arcade (another Q Entertainment game!) you’re familiar with this concept. You even distort the music in fancy ways when you die; it sounds good! Each level you play presents a different method of setting off chain explosions, so most of the time you’ll be forced to mow through enemies that stand between you and your catalyst. So don’t let me dissuade you from shooting everything in sight; this can be equally if not more rewarding, and you’ll still earn a bunch of points by accident.

Perhaps my absolute favorite aspect of Everyday Shooter (besides the music, of course) is that it’s a Shmup that actually rewards you for the points you earn. With your first 200 points you’ll earn an extra life. After that, you’ll have to double your points for each additional life. Point rewards are more abundant as the level progresses as well as from level to level, though, so you never have too much of a wait between carrots. Points don’t stop being useful once you’re outside of a game, though. Everyday Shooter also has a rather sizable unlocks menu in which you can spend accrued points to increase the amount of lives you start with, or even extra levels. There are also some fun looking unlocks that I don’t understand yet; I have been unlocking extra lives as much as possible because each time you hit Game Over, you have to start from the first level again. This is my only small quibble with the game, but you quickly get over it because the earlier levels can be passed with increasing ease as you familiarize yourself with them. No big.

Everyday Shooter is, I believe, available exclusively on Steam for $9.99. I haven’t seen it anywhere else, but I’ll update this post if I do. There is also no demo available yet, but I hope that this write-up was enough to convince you that this game deserves to have money thrown at it.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was released originally as a mini-game within Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox. Chances are good that you’ve played at least one iteration of GeoWars. However, you may not have known that it is available on the PC, and for less money than anywhere else.

The premise is simple: shoot the shapes. Also, try not to slip into epileptic seizures. You play by moving an androgynous spaceship-like entity around a grid, all the while attempting to avoid as well as destroy any shapes that come flying at you. Collide with a shape and you die. As time goes on, you rack up points and the game becomes increasingly hectic. Extremely hectic. I find the game to be very difficult, but that doesn’t keep me from coming back to it from time to time. It also won’t keep me from recommending it to you. Even if you suck at it, you’ll have fun with it. It’s worth every penny.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved can be purchased on Steam for $3.99. Alternatively, it can be purchased on Xbox Live Arcade for 400 Microsoft Points ($5), or played through Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox 360, which I would imagine could be found for fairly cheap by now.