Game: Gravity Duck
Genre: Platformer, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer/Publisher: Woblyware|Ratalaika Games S.L.
Age Rating: 3+ (EU)|E (US)
Price: $4.99 | £4.99 | €4,99
Release Date: 16th August 2019
Thanks to Ratalaika Games for providing a review code!
The Kind of Duck You Were Meant To Be
Are you prepared to be a duck? No, not a Psyduck, or a Golduck, or a rubber duck, or a geoduck (*shudder*), or a… okay okay, you are just a regular old yellow duck! BOOM-BLAM-BA! You are dropped in front of one of those Easter Island head thingys, and AHH! It speaks to you! But it is okay, because you are Duck and have no fear.
Spikes, bats, dogs, battering rams (the animal, not the wooden contraption), laser guns… none of these things evoke fear in the mighty duck that is you.
Easter-Island-Head-Thingy (DISCLAIMER: this is a name I have invented for this character, not the game’s creators) speaks in all-caps!
“HELLO THERE MY LITTLE MINION” it shouts loudly, but fear not, for you are Duck and Duck is not blow-away-able by heavy-shouting-breath winds.
“BRING ME ALL THE GOLDEN EGGS AND I WILL MAKE YOU RICH!” it gesticulates in those intense capital letters.
As Duck, you ponder and ponder and ponder, “Seems legit” you think to yourself. Finally you click A to continue the text and E.I.H.T. (that’s short for Easter-Island-Head-Thingy) shouts,
“NOW YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CONTROL GRAVITY”
And just like that, you become Gravity Duck! Not Darkwing Duck, or Donald Duck, or Daffy Duck, or… Okay, I. Will. Stop!
When I’m Up I Can Get Down
As Gravity Duck you will navigate your way through four different worlds: we got the Forrest, the Underground, the Mountain and the City. Each world consists of 35 individual platforming puzzles you must navigate your cute-duck-butt through.
Hit the A button to swap gravity’s pull; when you’re up you will go down, will go down to that level!
The puzzles in each world start out simple, this is because you can choose any world you want to start with, so logically the puzzles start easy and get harder and harder as you progress through each stage and figure out how to properly control Gravity Duck.
One of the cool aspects of this game is the gravity wells. When you fall down, or up, into one it will switch the way gravity is pulling you. So not only are we platforming our way up and down, but also left and right! Good thing you are cute, and mighty, and gravity DUCK!
Do these feathers make me look fat?
The game is done in a retro style. According to the game overview it consists of “catchy 8-bit music”. This I can confirm, the music is fun and consists of bits.
Consists of bits, consists of bits, consists of bits; say that three times fast!
The visuals are also retro, but I’m going to go ahead and admit my ignorance and state that I’m not sure if it is 8 or 16-bit in terms of colour pallette. Whichever it ACTUALLY is, I enjoyed it very much. Each level has a “vibe”, for example – obviously – you’ve got The Forest dominated by greens and browns, or The Mountain full of gray-ish-blues.
Gravity Duck, in true hero fashion, is an adorable yellow with orange beak and stands out against whatever backdrop you are in! You may not know this about me yet, but soon you will, I LOVE CUTE THINGS! And despite being only comprised of a number of bits whose factors are 1, 2, 4, and 8, this Duck is quite kawaii! (That’s Japanese for cute, which is a word I feel really encompases the FEEL of something being cute more than the English word “cute”).
But whew, I sure do love to digress…
Little Niggles
I only have one, and it’s the length of the game. I powered through this game in one short sitting. This niggle, however, is very likely not a problem for many people who may specifically want a fun little puzzle game that’s short and sweet.
—–
Final Verdict
The cute and retro feel of the game is sure to delight old nostalgia loving gamers like myself (and maybe like YOURself, depending on how you identify), as well as entertain the next generation of nerds. For the price, it’s worth it!
And then, if you are an adult-nerd-parent you can whip out one of those “Back in my day… “ stories and talk about how when you were young we didn’t even have joysticks on our controllers, and had to game while walking uphill to school BOTH ways through a blizzard!