Between the dynamic shadows, destructible environments, and all the physics-intensive tomfoolery, the game demands a lot out of current-gen consoles. While it mostly keeps it together at an acceptable framerate, the game does everything a half-step slower than the expected pace. To call it "sluggish" would be an exaggeration, but it is a bit more, shall we say, deliberate than some players will enjoy. Thankfully, the combat is laid out with this in mind so you never feel as if the game needs you to be faster than it allows, but one can't help but wonder how much more enjoyable it might have been if things happened at a faster pace.
This plays into some of Inversion's larger issues as well. Even between firefights, pacing can feel labored, mostly because the developers felt like throwing in-engine cutscenes before and after nearly every battle, even the minor ones. Granted, they're all pausable and skippable, but mid-level, I just want to play. I don't need a cutscene informing me that two enemies just appeared and I should take them out. Additionally, despite all the real estate afforded to storytelling, it never comes together to form something cohesive or compelling. The requisite pieces for a decent science fiction story are there, but the writers and voice actors seem to have lacked the combination of time, resources, and savvy necessary to assemble them together.
On top of that, some of the rehashed boss battles in the latter third of the game can run long, and the multiplayer is a total throwaway. Once you adjust to how awkward it moves along and understand the possibilities the gravity gameplay affords, Inversion becomes something memorable, even if it never quite becomes spectacular. And we have no shortage of "spectacular" in this business, while we have a serious deficit of "memorable." But with an average length (six to eight hours) single-player campaign, and no real reason to replay it, Inversion holds on to be only a few notches better than passable.
Inversion is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes. This game can also be found on: Windows PC and PlayStation 3.
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