Gravity Pods 2
Actionscript guru Keith Peters has released a sequel to Gravity Pods, his unforgiving physics puzzle challenge from last year. This time out, not only will you need superhuman patience to defeat all 50 levels, but also fist-clenchingly perfect timing. If your brain has the intestinal fortitude for it, Gravity Pods 2 will let you make the impossible seem possible.
The object of each stage is to hit the purple exit gate with a projectile fired from a turret. Click on the turret and drag to set your aim loosely, or make fine adjustments with the [>] and [<] keys. Fire with [space]. Your path to the goal will be indirect, to say the least, lined with obstacles that will both help and hinder you. The plain green barriers stop projectiles cold, dark blue circles repel them, red stars attract them, and light blue circles (new to Gravity Pods 2) reflect them from their surface.
After a handful of training levels, the game opens up (to an overwhelming degree) by allowing you to place the gravity pods yourself. Anywhere on the playing field is fair game, even inside of a wall or on top of another pod. After you've placed a pod, you can select it with the mouse and fine-tune its positioning, step by step, with the [arrow] keys. Even a one-pixel change can make a dramatic difference here.
You can choose your starting level freely, and the game will remember which levels you've beaten. But strangely, there is no Menu or Back button, so if you stumble into a difficult puzzle and want to extricate yourself to the main menu, your only option is to reload the entire game.
Analysis: It's safe to say that Gravity Pods 2 isn't for everyone. There's an exacting, cerebral tone to it that could be considered off-putting, and the gameplay is all about trial-and-error. Shoot, move a pod one pixel to the right, shoot, adjust the turret angle by 2 degrees, shoot—it's enough to give you the heebie-jeebies. Thankfully, there are no longer any limitations on your ammunition, so experiment to your heart's content.
The reward here is in overcoming instance after instance of wonderfully cruel level design. By the final stretch, they no longer even resemble levels. They look like jokes.
"Hey," says Keith Peters, "Wouldn't it be funny if you had to shoot between the blades of three different rotating walls through a narrow corridor in the shape of a "U", and you only had a single gravity pod to place? Wouldn't that be hysterical?"
"Yes it would," says you, "I sure am glad you're a kind soul, and you would never actually ask me to do such a loony thing."
Says Keith Peters, "I have some bad news for you. Welcome to level 45."
The new bounce pods are often too small for the kind of precise calculations this game needs; their surfaces reflect projectiles unpredictably, behaving more like crazy little polygons than perfect circles. Also new to Gravity Pods 2 are rotating walls, which are, trust me, the most annoying things ever invented. They sometimes require such split-second timing that you'll wonder if you might have inadvertently insulted the game's mother, and this is what it's going to do to you in lieu of reaching through the screen and breaking your septum.
But this kind of adversity can be rewarding. You have all the time in the world to get the answer right, and when you do, you'll know you've reached perfection. It's like boot camp for your cortex. "This is my vector turret. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I must master it as I master my life. Oorah!"
Walkthrough Guide
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Some of these took me a long time, but I've finally gotten around to compiling working setups for all the levels:
Lv1
Angle: 0
Lv2
Angle: 17.2
Lv3
Angle: 16
Lv4
Angle: -15.5
Lv5
Angle: 27.5
Lv6
Angle: -45
Lv7
Angle: 0
Timimg: Shoot when the gap passes the middle, going upwards.
Lv8
Angle: 0
Timing: Shoot a little bit after the cross is aligned like a "+" sign.
Lv9
Angle: 0
Timing: Shoot when the cross is aligned like a "+" sign.
Lv10
Angle: -128.6
Lv11
Angle: 10
Attractor: (550,155)
Lv12
Angle: 2.9
Attractors: (600,100) and (600,350)
Lv13
Angle: 130
Repeller: (347,435)
Lv14
Angle: 90
Repellers: (665,430) and (30,315)
Lv15
Angle: -5
Bouncer: (570,360)
Lv16
Angle: 0
Bouncers: (665,405) and (541,35)
Lv17
Angle: 90
Attractor: (630,270)
Repeller: (15,430)
Lv18
Angle: 0
Repeller: (185,35)
Bouncer: (570,405)
Lv19
Angle: 0
Attractor: (340,95)
Bouncer: (373,405)
Lv20
Angle: 0
Attractor: (100,360)
Repeller: (685,35)
Bouncer: (604,429)
Lv21
Angle: 180
Attractors: (90,70) and (90,375)
Timing: Shoot when the bar is at the bottom.
Lv22
Angle: 42
Bouncer: (346,330)
Timing: Shoot when the gap on the right is just about to close.
Lv23
Angle: -150
Repeller: (630,386)
Timing: Shoot when the gap is the largest.
Lv24
Angle: -120
Attractor: (90,10)
Repeller: (640,357)
Timing: Shoot when the bars are matched with each other, with the right bar moving upwards.
Lv25
Angle: 57
Attractor: (200,225)
Repeller: (100,30)
Bouncer: (555,280)
Timing: Shoot when the bars are the farthest to the right.
Lv26
Angle: -10
Attractors: (20,230) and (580,165)
Timing: Shoot when the first bar is parallel to the cannon angle.
Lv27
Angle: 0
Repellers: (680,85) and (618,435)
Lv28
Angle: 16.6
Bouncers: (499,174), (480,350) and (17,336)
Timing: Shoot when the cross is aligned like in this picture: http://i39.tinypic.com/3vmzt.jpg
[solution by bpanama]
Lv29
Angle: -4.2
Attractors: (672,24) and (639,394) [The third one isn't needed]
Timing: Shoot when the cross is aligned like an "X".
[solution by Trenin]
Lv30
Angle: 0
Attractor: (350,355) [The other one isn't needed]
Repellers: (645,425) and (100,10)
Bouncers: (677,42) and (29,331)
Timing: Shoot when the rotating bars are aligned like a "-" sign.
Lv31
Angle: -39
Attractors: (440,225) and (605,200)
Lv32
Angle: -27.9
Bouncer: (402,378)
[solution by Alex H.]
Lv33
Angle: -170
Repellers: (540,165), (410,285) and (280,165)
Bouncer: (225,280)
Timing: Shoot when the middle gap is closed.
Lv34
Angle: 0
Attractors: (365,180) and (605,135)
Timing: Shoot when the cross is aligned like a "+" sign.
Lv35
Angle: 0
Repellers: (260,368) and (260,82)
Lv36
Angle: -155
Repellers: (25,305) and (490,0)
Bouncers: (320,165) and (478,185)
Lv37
Angle: -90
Attractor: (70,80)
Repeller: (670,400)
Timing: Shoot when the bars are fully extended.
Lv38
Angle: -12
Attractor: (550,95)
Repeller: (589,51)
Lv39
Angle: -136
Attractor: (41,240)
Bouncer: (699,251)
Lv40
Angle: -83
Attractors: (675,40) and (155,95)
Repellers: (480,0) and (200,-10)
Bouncers: (550,130) and (10,40)
Lv41
Angle: 15
Timing: Shoot when the goal is just below the top of the screen.
Lv42
Angle: -0.5
Attractors: (610,378) and (350,35)
Timing: Shoot when the goal is right above the gap.
Lv43
Angle: 180
Attractor: (200,380)
Repeller: (160,30)
Bouncer: (595,36)
Timing: Shoot when the cross is aligned like an "X" with the goal on its top.
Lv44
Angle: -126
Attractor: (535,80)
Repeller: (600,300)
Bouncer: (178,42)
Timing: Shoot when the goal is about halfway across the screen and is moving downwards.
Lv45
Angle: -9
Repeller: (619,388)
Timing: Shoot when the goal is near the top of its path. As far as I can tell, the crosses will get in the way most of the time. Shooting at this time is the only way that you can make sure the goal is in place for when your shot actually makes it past everything else.
Lv46
Angle: -90
Attractors: (70,70) and (565,380)
Repeller: (350,175)
Bouncer: (136,269)
Timing: Shoot when the passageway on the top is completely closed.
Lv47
Angle: 0
Attractors: (640,70) and (640,370)
Timing: Shoot when the goal is on the "3 o'clock" position on its path.
Lv48
Angle: -90
Repellers: (32,45) and (260,470)
Bouncers: (675,61) and (683,421)
Lv49
Angle: 90
Attractors: (70,400) and (550,140) [The third one isn't needed]
Repellers: (190,455) and (415,10) [The third one isn't needed]
Bouncers: (194,265), (685,441) and (415,190)
Timing: Shoot just after when the cross on the bottom right looks like a "-" sign. This one may take a few attempts because the movements aren't exactly matched with each other.
Lv50
Angle: -81.2
Attractors: (154,64), (619,200) and (645,350)
Repellers: (198,10) and (452,445) [The third one isn't needed]
Bouncers: (189,404), (683,42) and (673,443)
Timing: Shoot when the bar on the top is on the left.
[solution by bpanama]
Thanks goes to bpanama, Trenin, and Alex H. for some of these solutions.
Posted by: Dot
|
January 21, 2009 6:51 PM