Inversion

In summary, Inversion is a pretty good shooter that is worth being looked at by any fan of the genre. It is an enjoyable playthrough but not something that screams for a repeat performance.

Everything has been done better elsewhere, but some set pieces are genuinely impressive. [August 2012, p.71]

In the end, Inversion has some great concepts but suffers from its rather linear design, especially in relation to the gravity powers your character has access too.

We have liked Inversion much more than we expected, as it is an enjoyable product with some good moments and ideas and spectacular modest, despite being quite a modest production. It could have been much better, of course, and it has room of improvement in almost every area, but it entertains and the idea of gravity manipulation is good, although it could have been made the most if only the developers had been more ambitious.

Inversion is at its best when played cooperatively, and the gravity mechanics are built around that fact.

As a third-person shooter, Inversion has some fun and long-lasting single-player gunplay (even if it does a huge amount of copycatting off of Gears of War). That's despite an utterly incomprehensible and confusing single-player story filled with too many plot holes along with a very sparse online presence to date.

Everything in this game has been done before, and has been done better. Not having split screen co-op is unforgivable; Inversion seems to be made for playing it with another player next to you. A lot of variation makes the single player experience somewhat decent, but never rises above mediocrity.

An average third person shooter, with some nice ideas which never reach their truly potential. Ugly story and characters.

Inversion feels like a missed chance: Saber nailed the gameplay basics following Gears of War's footsteps, but the gravity-based mechanics needed a more creative and emergent approach. An interesting plot would have helped too.

Inversion is condemned to eternal oblivion due to the defiant lack of marketing and advertising. However it is a solid game, with satisfactory gameplay mechanics, some consistently implemented fresh ideas and interesting storyline which ends with a cliffhanger that will remain unresolved. Worshipers of the Gears of War religion, give Inversion a chance.

It is far from being able to compete with the best games in the genre, but there are magic moments and it shows the potential to evolve into something bigger.

A masterclass in how to make the absolute least of your own unique selling point. [Issue#87, p.82]

Inversion is a tiny bit frustrating. It's a nicely crafted game with some good ideas, which nevertheless seems unwilling to claim an identity of its own. If you liked Gears of War, you'll enjoy playing it, but you might find its sheer familiarity a bit annoying. And if you like third-person shooters that don't require superhuman skills, you'll enjoy it, too. But if you're looking for something futuristic, cutting-edge and distinctive, keep on looking.

It's seeing how players make the most of such limited tools in a constrictive environment that hints at what could have been for Inversion.

That Inversion has been released without publisher Namco Bandai even making a sound about it, says it all. Inversion doesn't do anything particularly well and mostly just copies other games. But the shooting is descent enough and keeps you busy for about six hours at a high pace. It's mediocrity in its purest form.

If only the gameplay was as well realised as the engine that runs it, Inversion would be far more recommendable. Regrettably, as it stands, Saber Interactive has created a mechanically robust game, but one that doesn't do enough with the ideas it can lay claim to as its own.

There's an overall level of polish to Inversion that shows a developer improving its skillset. Though the game never fully stretches its ambitious premise beyond the confines of the cover shooter genre, it's a game with the noblest of intentions: to provide wall-to-wall, or, rather, floor-to-ceiling, entertainment.

Inversion has some nice shooter gameplay but when it comes to controlling gravity, it's little world is suddenly turned upside-down.

But with an average length (6-8 hours) single-player campaign, and no real reason to replay ir, Inversion holds on to be only a few notches better than passable.

It's a good one to two night rental at best.

The gameplay feels all too familiar and I never found myself becoming emotionally attached to the game's characters.

What we're left with is two-thirds of a campaign that competently rips off Gears of War, and some multiplayer modes that aren't bad. That's not enough to justify a rental, much less a $60 purchase.

Your journey quickly settles into an endless slog of interchangeable shootouts, broken up by little more than hold-the-door-for-me-bro tedium and boss battles that range from serviceable arena showdowns to infuriating cover-free patience-drainers.

It's a completely mediocre shooter that's actually weighed down by its distinguishing gimmick.

It is yet another game with potentially interesting mechanics that fail to deliver on their promise, making Inversion's approach to gravity feel more plodding than liberating.

The action takes its inspiration clearly from games like Gears of War, mixes it with a little Rage and adds Army of Two as garnish. The problem: It rarely achieves the quality of the originals. Vector and gravity changes are interesting elements, but are just tapping their potential.

Although is an ambitious game, Inversion is let down by its generic gameplay and boring story.

Inversion is a mediocre title. The gameplay shows some interesting ideas, but at the same time too many similarities with Gears of War. Recommended only to those who are very addicted to shooters.

Inversion isn't terrible, but it's nothing we all haven't seen before in other games.

A fun game for cover shooter fans who don't mind linear progression and a decent amount of cut-scenes.

It's not a terrible game, but it's in those moments in which you glimpse it's unrealised potential that really brings it down.

Inversion promised a lot but is let down by faulty core gameplay mechanics and the most pedestrian of plotlines. [Sept 2012, p.78]

There are some fine moments, especially in the beginning of the game, but most of the time it's just a poor imitation of Gears of War.

There are very few things that Inversion manages to do that others haven't done better before, but there is some entertainment value in the game that makes bits of it a nice experience. Otherwise it's just mundane.

Great looking clone of every modern third-person action shooter you can think of. Unfortunately it is let down by boring sections and bland weapons. Buy it on sale or rent it but don't expect miracles.

I can't see much reason to play this unless you are just a shooter fanatic, and even at that, this one is mediocre.

All that matters is that there's a lot of heart in Inversion, but absolutely nothing going on the brain department. There is desire, with absolutely no thought.

A bad game? Not really: just an underwhelming one. Your pulse may quicken occasionally, but your world is unlikely to turn upside down.

Inversion is yet another derivative third-person shooter with a gimmick. This time around you control gravity in the most limited way possible. Although there are plenty of strong moments, the game is ultimately brought back down to earth with the never ending cinemas, repeating bosses, ugly graphics and frustrating level designs!

It's been about a week since I finished Inversion, and I've already forgotten most of what happened in it. There were two plot twists that were mildly interesting and a couple of cool uses of the gravity powers, but as a whole the game is strangely lifeless. Most of the time, Inversion was boring me, and when it wasn't doing that, it was frustrating me.

Impressive tech undermined by generic level design and a complete disregard for providing something unique.

Uninspired, unambitious and lacking in personality, Inversion is a grey game that we can't recommend.

All brown, all muscle Gears of War-copycat with painfully bad story and generic gameplay.

Inversion is so generic that I'd sooner recommend just about any other of gaming's numerous cover-based shooters ahead of it – especially since its anti-gravity mechanic barely even factors into the grand scheme of things.

Inversion isn't clever in the slightest. It's about as trite as a shooter can get, and its attempts to jazz things up with gravity-based antics come across as a jumbled mess, rather than as the clever invention it so badly wants them to be. Inversion is a third-rate knockoff full of cheap thrills, subpar acting, and a hefty dose of cheese--fun for a B-movie-style evening of masochistic punishment, but like most guilty pleasures, it's probably best to keep this one to yourself.

Regrettably, it amounts to a barely-competent shooter with an off-putting aesthetic, ludicrous plot, gimmicky hook, and a frustrating tendency to repeat its boss-battles more than a JRPG.

It's never satisfying to condemn any game but it's hard not to with Inversion. There are glimmers of nice ideas within, but the water is too muddied to see them clearly. All that's left is a bunch of mechanics that we've all seen before, and better implemented elsewhere.

Combat and storytelling are boring beyond belief, but what's worst about Inversion is that you can sense the far more interesting game it could've been just beneath the surface.

By the time I got near the end of the game I was more ready for it to end than I was looking forward to an intriguing ending.