Gravity Rider Zero

Genre: 2D Stunt Racing

Players: 1

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Review:

Gravity Rider Zero is a 2D Stunt Racing game in a similar vein to the Trials series, where players race motorbikes and other vehicles on 2D tracks, trying to get a good time while balancing their rider in such a way so as not to tip their vehicle or be dislodged by obstacles. This game was released on mobile devices in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

In terms of presentation, I have to admit that I’m quite impressed with how much this game manages to do with only 98MB of space, providing some slick, futuristic 3D visuals, smooth framerates, and high speeds. I will note that I ran into a few glitches (once even had my game crash), but mostly this is a very nice visual presentation that does a lot with very little. However, I can’t help but feel like this game’s designers were perhaps a bit too enamored with this game’s visual presentation… but I’ll get to that a bit later.

While Gravity Rider Zero’s visuals are nice, the sound is another story. This game features a soundtrack composed of electronica themes that do a good job of conveying the futuristic tone the game is aiming for, but feel far too soft and laid-back for a high-speed racing game. However, even worse is the game’s sound. I don’t know why, but for some reason the way these slick, smooth vehicles run makes extremely grating grinding and crunching noises that are not only very out-of-place, but also distracting. I don’t know what exactly went wrong here, but something definitely went wrong.

When it comes to the gameplay, this is mostly standard fare for a game of this type, but Gravity Rider Zero runs into a few issues along the way that make it a far inferior game to the likes of the Trials series.

Firstly, as I mentioned, this game’[s graphics are pretty solid given the tiny file size, and clearly the developers knew it, because they have apparently chosen to highlight this fact, to the detriment of the gameplay. Tracks wind and curve around, even looping into one another, and while this makes the visuals even more interesting, it makes the gameplay frustrating, as the camera keeps shifting around, making it hard to see what’s ahead. And even if you can see it, the windy road you’re driving makes it more difficult to parse.

The other problem here is that this game simply does not control as well as the Trials series – it is far more difficult to shift your weight around in a way that has a major impact on your vehicle’s orientation, and if you do so and want to change it again, you’ll be fighting the inertia of that earlier movement. This makes the gameplay far more unwieldy, and even results in the game often feeling unresponsive to your controls.

It’s a shame that Gravity Rider Zero is so bogged down by its problems, because this could have been a great low-cost alternative to the Trials series that still looks surprisingly good. Unfortunately, the game’s terrible sound, ill-advised course design, and unresponsive controls make it a pretty poor alternative, and one that pales in comparison to the games it’s imitating.

tl;dr – Gravity Rider Zero is a 2D Stunt Racing game in the same vein as the Trials series, with a futuristic look that’s surprisingly slick for its tiny 98MB file size. However, despite this accomplishment, the frustrating track design, poor controls, and terrible sound design wreck the potential this game would have had to be a good low-cost alternative to Trials.

Grade: C-

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