Gaming Trend Review
Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity
- Official Site
- Platform: Wii
- Publisher: Deep Silver
- Developer: Deep Silver
- Release Date: 04/07/09
- Genre: Puzzle
Pros
- Plenty of puzzles
- Sandbox mode and level editor
Cons
- Frustrating controls
- Some gimmicky puzzle solutions
by Alan Au
Issac Newton was on to something when he unlocked the secrets of gravity. He might even have enjoyed the puzzles in Prof. Heinz Wolff’s Gravity for the Wii, although they don’t have quite as much to do with gravity as the title might suggest. Instead, Gravity is a fairly standard physics-based puzzle game. The goal of every level is pretty much the same: place some objects so that they interact with the environment and lead to a button getting pressed. Most of the levels will drop a ball from a dispenser when you give the go-ahead. Early levels simply require you to place blocks to bridge a gap, allowing the ball to roll into the button. Later levels are trickier, requiring you to catapult blocks across the board or deflect a ball in unusual ways. It’s pretty standard stuff, with the usual progression from simple to complex.
Some of the puzzles allow for multiple solutions, although it’s usually pretty obvious which kinds of solutions will work. I mean, there are only so many ways to build a bridge, unless you’re feeling creative and want to try flinging blocks across the level. Of course, other levels must be solved a very specific way with blocks in certain places. These essentially force the player to guess what the developer had in mind, and the solutions sometimes rely on some sort of "clever" trick like balancing a block in just the right place. Those can be somewhat frustrating, especially if you aren’t exactly sure if you’re even on the right path.
Screenshots
It’s also seems like this game is a port of a PC title; the little white arrow-shaped pointer is a dead giveaway. This is no surprise, and the game would work just great with a mouse. Unfortunately precision is not the Wii’s strong suit, and trying to nudge blocks a few pixels to the right or left can be very time consuming. Some of the blocks are also absurdly small. They may be useful when trying to fill very small holes, or fine-tune the height of a ramp or bridge, but moving them around is an exercise in player patience.
The basic concept of the game is fine, and there are plenty of puzzles to keep you entertained. There's also a sandbox mode, and a level editor where players can create their own puzzles. Unfortunately, the game requires a level of precision that just isn't practical with the Wiimote, making parts of the game feel like an exercise in frustration. In the end, this charming little puzzle game just isn't a good fit for the Wii.
