Gravity Bone (2009)
brendon chung
“Gravity Bone … lays a trap of expectations on how games are played
and pulls the carpet out from under our feet.”
- Mike Lee (Indie Game Developer)
“It's a game that appears to toy with the notions of heroism and villainy”
- Charles Onyett
and pulls the carpet out from under our feet.”
- Mike Lee (Indie Game Developer)
“It's a game that appears to toy with the notions of heroism and villainy”
- Charles Onyett
Gravity Bone Review (skip to 1:14)
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Gravity Bone is a first person adventure game where the main character is a spy. When a player first plays the game, they are subjected to all the features of a regular first person adventure game: a tutorial level which teaches the player how to control the game, a score/reward screen seen at the end of the first level, and new items to collect.
However, it is the familiarity of these devices which enables the ending of the game to be so unexpected and jarring. The game ends prematurely during the second level of the game when the main character gets shot by the antagonist. This statement of gameplay challenges the genre of games altogether. It challenges the notion that you can never ultimately lose a video game (sure, your player may die but you restart and try again). Whilst challenging the stereotype that the bad guys always lose. As indie game developer, Mike Lee puts it, “Gravity Bone … lays a trap of expectations on how games are played and pulls the carpet out from under our feet. It uses our collective knowledge of games against us.” However, despite its short two levels, Gravity Bone tells a better narrative than some games tell in 20 levels. A montage at the end of the game as the main character is dying helps to give the story a “wonderful sentimental feeling” (Smith, 2012). It establishes a pace of simple, episodic missions, and ends before anyone would predict. “Gravity Bone is a 300-page novel that ends on page 60” (Nguyen, 2009). Gravity Bone’s art style and sound design is simple yet coherent. At times, the game is devoid of music to heighten drama and realism, but at other times, music is used to increase the tension of the story. |
Suggested Questions
- Using visual analysis, compare and contrast Gravity Bone with Shadow of the Colossus - What question would you ask the artist if they were here? |
Suggested Activity
- Consider how the game would have been different if it hadn’t ended so soon. Would it still be considered an important game in the ‘video games as art’ debate? Use commentaries to support your view. - Watch ABC’s Good Game Video Review for Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving and form a debate as to whether these titles are truly games or just interactive narrative experiences. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/video/default.htm?src=/tv/goodgame/video/xml/20120918_2030.xml&item=03 - Write a backstory for the protagonist of Gravity Bone and outline the course of events which led to the first mission of the game. |