Play Gravity Force (1989) Online

Gravity Force came out in 1989 as part of the MS-DOS Classic Games collection, a time when simple concepts often made for the most memorable afternoons. I don't recall the developer's name, but it fit right in with other shareware titles that asked for little but offered a surprising amount of challenge. You just loaded it up and were immediately in the action, no lengthy tutorials or complex backstory required.

You pilot a small, triangular ship through a series of single-screen arenas, fighting against other ships and the game's namesake physics. The main objective is to destroy all enemy craft on each screen to progress, but the real challenge is managing your momentum. Your thrusters push you in a direction, but without friction to stop you, you'll keep drifting until you counter-thrust. This makes every shot and every turn a careful calculation; a missed blast sends you careening into a wall or into the line of fire. The pacing is deliberate, almost tense, as you float helplessly after a maneuver, waiting for a chance to correct your course. It feels like a delicate, chaotic dance where one wrong move sends everything spinning out of control.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".