Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jump off the side of a building and without ever injuring yourself? If you could, I bet you would do it. Gravity Rush is just that kind of rush and falling off anything with style is one of the best reasons to love you Playstation Vita.
In it, you play as Kat, a young girl who has come to lose part of her memories and sets about trying to uncover her past with your trusty gravity manipulator cat named Dusty by your side. On your journey, you encounter many situations mostly which will have you fighting off monsters known as the Nevi. A mutant that begins to wreck havoc on the city that you are trying to restore order to.
You’ll also run into other foes that will try to prevent you from succeeding. One of these who is shown in the demo is called Raven. She has similar power’s to Kat, but has very different intentions which is why she try’s to prevent Kat from succeeding in her quest. She also has her own trusty companion to help her manipulate gravity.
The gameplay in Gravity Rush is fun and for the most part plays really well. There are a few times when you won’t know if your upside down or sideways and also parts of the game will have you losing your character to the camera controls, but these are few in number and don’t ruin the game’s lasting appeal.
The combat is as fun as it is addictive. There is hand to hand which has you being up close and personal, and swiping the screen to avoid attacks doesn’t take very long to master. Then there is Gravity Kick. Falling towards an enemy at great speed to deal hit points. This is easy at first but the further you progress in the game the harder and smarter enemies become and learn to avoid your attacks. This doesn’t get to annoying, and makes the game more challenging.
The game also has side missions and challenges which give you a great tutorial for experiencing all the moves that you can perform with Kat. Some are very challenging but offer great replayability to the game. 3 DLC packs also bundled with the digital version of the game adding hours of great story content and great lasting appeal.
The game also has a simple fun RPG element to it. By collecting and receiving orbs from completing challenges through out the world of Gravity Rush will allow you to upgrade Kat’s powers and ability’s. Making her stronger and faster. This is key, because a lot of challenges will require you to be at your best if you hope to beat the target times set.
Simply put, Gravity Rush is painstakingly beautiful and the size and scale of the world that they managed to compress in the Vita’s screen is incredible. Although you do get the feel that you cant interact with much of it. There are no buildings that look like you can enter because there aren’t any. All missions are given to you by going up to a npc, watching a very nice comic book like cut scene and once that ends it cuts back to your character and then your off falling through the sky again following your mission marker.
Character design is done very well. All of the characters you keep running into again and again never get old. They give you a great break between them and you never feel pained to complete any of their tasks they give you. The world of Gravity Rush looks and feels unique, which leaves players sad to leave once the game is complete, but the challenges will keep you coming back to the game. The map is also something worth noting. It’s very easy to navigate around the map and selecting destinations with a touch of the screen is a breeze to do.
Gravity Rush‘s story, meanwhile, always feels like it’s got somewhere to go and the character development is consistently great. You never stop caring for Kat and helping her trying to find her memory and doing good deeds is very rewarding. Running into strangers to listen to their story always has good insight into what’s going on and dosn’t feel like a trek to go and meet since falling through the air is a lot of fun.
The only thing it left me wanting more of was the character development with Kat and Dusty. You never feel like he’s a companion and he just blends into the background, even though without him you couldn’t do what you do in the game. Everyone you help only seems to thank Kat for her deeds and Dusty is left out. It would have been great if they made him talk instead of just meowing to indicate a yes once in a while.
Gravity Rush has a good soundtrack. The moment the story has a big shift change the music amps up the suspense of the situation. If you are familiar with Japanese games you won’t find much new in it. It never feels repetitive or boring though out. Using your special attacks looks and sounds great.
The only downside is that it’s very forgettable. It wont be the main topic of a discussion when your telling your friends of the experience you had with the game. Also you won’t notice but if someone is sitting in the room with you they may ask you to use headphones because Kat’s voice is like nails on a chalk board after a while.
Gravity Rush will pull you in with it’s engaging story and fun gameplay. There are very few moments during the 13 hour campaign where it lags or switches you off. Kat is an amazing character and helping her is one of the best and rewarding parts of the game. A sequel would be something I’d look forward to because there’ll never be a moment where I don’t wanna jump back into that world and fall through the sky going to my next destination.