Review: Inversion

Namco Bandai’s Inversion, however,  is worth your dime. But it’s really not worth full retail price.

The game pits a couple of police officers against an invading horde that sweeps across the planet, capturing humans and imprisoning them. The invaders seem to be especially targeting children.

You play as police officer Davis Russell, who is separated from his daughter when the invasion begins. Along with partner Leo Delgado, you must fight your way out of an internment camp to find her.

Inversion is a third-person shooter. The usual array of weapons (machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles) abound, but adding to the mix is the ability to manipulate gravity, allowing you to “invert” situations and opponents.

You control gravity by means of your Gravlink – a backpack that gives you two options. You can generate Low G – making objects or opponents float or you can create High G – making objects and opponents heavier – causing structures to collapse or enemies to explode.

In combat, many enemies also have this ability, forcing you to seek cover to prevent being influenced by the change in gravity.

In addition to direct manipulation, gravity wells exist that, once stepped into, cause you to shift to a different plane (say from a floor to a wall) . Furthering the gravity theme are Zero G zones where everything is free-floating, forcing you to propel yourself from object to object, often during combat.

The focus of the story is your daughter, taken prisoner by the Lucatores – the invading force who is capturing children and transporting them.

You can carry two types of weapons at a time, with a side order of grenades.

Multiplayer offers a few gametypes, including forms of deathmatch and team deathmatch. A survival mode, with four player teams battling waves of attackers, is also available. To be honest, there are not very many people playing this game online.

I had no specific issues with the gameplay of Inversion. The weapons work fine, the cover system is great, with destructible cover adding to the fun. The gravity aspect offers a little twist on conventional strategic gameplay. It is a competently designed, mostly fun experience.

Sure, it’s no Call of Battlefield Warfare 4 or whatever the next blockbuster will be. There is not a massive marketing campaign for it and there will likely not be monster sequel after sequel.

But it did the job as far as offering an engaging experience, telling a story that was basic, but interesting and providing a way to kill some time.

Get it when the price drops, to fill the gap until the heavy hitters are released later this year.

Platform: PlayStation3, Xbox 360

Manufacturer: Namco Bandai

Rating: Mature

Score: 7 chilies

Review Statement: An Xbox 360 retail copy of this game was provided by Namco Bandai for the purpose of this review.