I was never really that great at physics. Sure, I understood about Newton and the apple falling down on his head, but to be honest, I was always more interested in the apple than Newton. (That's probably why I'm working off of an iMac right now.) That's what's great about USA Character Arcade's featured game Gravity Master - it's all about the apple with none of Newton at all. The free flash game is featured on the front page of our very own Character Arcade and is definitely worth checking out.

Gravity and physics based games have come back into popularity after the success of Valve's Portal, and Gravity Master sometimes feels like a simpler version of that very same game. The concept of Gravity Master, much like Portal, is simple - get a ball from Point A to Point B using shapes that you draw with your mouse and the forces of gravity. Unlike Portal, that's really all there is to it. Depending on how quickly and efficiently you accomplish your goal, you get points. Get enough points, get a high score, etc. The really cool part about this game is that it allows players to use their imaginations to accomplish their seemingly simple goals.

The puzzles start as being incredibly simple - move the ball across a platform to a single point by dropping a trapezoidal object that you draw onto the ball to launch it across the platform to your goal. Then, the puzzles get much more complicated with elevated platforms and multiple points to hit before the level finishes. While most of the puzzles in the beginning simply require a precise amount of timing and accuracy, the shape you draw is almost always going to be the trapezoid from the very first level to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

What makes this game so addictive and so compelling is the simplicity of the concept - while many of the first puzzles do seem rather repetitive, they are merely tutorials for what's to come. The puzzles later in the game are complex and interesting and take a lot of creativity to solve. Platforms and objects that somehow can be manipulated in thin air, multiple points to hit with seemingly no way to solve it - this is the heart of Gravity Master and one that is very rewarding when finally solved.

Unfortunately, once all the levels are finished, there's very little replayablity in the 24 levels given since you know how to solve all the puzzles already. You can go back and attempt to get the highest score possible, but even then the challenge is gone. It's unfortunate that the experience is so fleeting after the initial success of completing every level, as the potential for creativity in this game to solve the puzzles is theoretically endless. The graphics are very simple black and white images, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The simplicity of the graphics forces you to concentrate on the puzzles, not the pictures in the background.

The rest of the experience is just something that you'll have to check out for yourself over at USA Character Arcade. Be like Newton and make the apple fall from the tree all the way over to the spinning circle to get as many points as possible.

PROS
• Great concept that gives you freedom of creativity to solve puzzles
• Puzzles get more challenging as time goes by
• Sense of satisfaction when all the levels are completed
• Free

CONS
• No replayablilty. When you're done, you're essentially done.
• Only 24 levels to go through