Tinertia hands-on: hardcore platformer, no jump button

That's what they say, the creators of Tinertia, they say it's a "Hardcore platformer. No jump button." Indeed it does seem to be, and what we've experienced at GDC 2015 temps us to suggest that it rocks. While we're big fans of the jump button (a classic button, indeed), we're also big fans of moving the gaming universe forward with non-traditional controls. A rocket-launcher as a primary controller in a side-scrolling game is just as good a controller as any – in fact for this sort of arena, it's better.

You'll be playing with a robot called Weldon. He's a small fellow, and prone to bouncing off walls. Your enemy is ARC, a "devious artificial intelligence" that runs the world you're being thrown into.

This game presents a physics-dependent control scheme. To understand where you're going, you're going to have to understand how hard you hit walls, how much you'll bounce, and how fast you'll be going. The direction you're going is important too.

ABOVE: John Romero tests out Tinertia at GDC 2015.

According to the developers at Candescent Games, there is no speed limit. When you start to get going, if you keep blasting, you'll go faster and faster.

Infinite ammo can be yours. This game is difficult, it's strange, and it's available for you to play right this minute. This game is out on Mac, Windows, and Linux through Steam right now – it's also on PlayStation 4.