Gravity Rush Review
by Joshua Williams
It becomes painfully obvious that people are yet to have experienced Gravity Rush. I say this in response to the floodgate of Vita demise reports prior to Gamescom 2012. With all that the Vita has done right, Gravity Rush stands out as the definitive title still very early in the Vita’s life cycle. If you’ve only played the demo or you’re for some reason still on the fence, read on as to why you should give Gravity Rush a chance.
Let’s Make New Memories
The heroine that’ll eventually be known as Kat starts off with no memory of her true origin or identity. Attempting to help others leads to the discovery of abilities that are related to her feline companion. Those abilities grow and vary as Kat attempts to understand herself and help the people of Hekseville.
What’s wrong in Hekseville? Well, the classic entire areas of town getting sucked into other planes issue. There are the Nevi that come in all shapes and sizes and there’s also the mysterious bird lady with similar yet more powerful abilities (at least early on).
The Only Way to Travel
So Kat doesn’t really fly so much as float, fall and fling herself through the sky. By shifting the orientation of gravity, any surface becomes walk-able and nothing is out of reach. By either using the analog stick or the Vita itself, you’re able to aim where you want Kat to go and use different methods of defying gravity to get there. As you learn new abilities you’ll find yourself utilizing more of the Vita’s functionality but nothing ever gets to the point of feeling gimmicky.
A Touch of Brilliance
The story progresses with a unique comic book style that compliments the games cell-shading. By swiping the screen the storyboards advance and by moving the Vita you get a sense that you’re viewing the story from differing perspectives. After depleting a boss’ health bar you’re prompted to tap the screen at which point you get to watch anime inspired finishing sequences.
As nice as things look it doesn’t take away from the fact text bubbles are dated and some characters have the tendency to ramble on. The ability to slide is pretty cool but it’s also one of the more frustrating maneuvers to master when the game requires it in order to advance. That being said, it’s still refreshing that the game had its areas difficulty. This is a unique experience on the same scale as anything we’ve seen on a console but still tailored for on the go gaming.
A Great Start with Room to Grow
When not progressing the story there are gems to collect and little diversions here and there but there could have been a lot more to do. The whole stasis field/throwing objects is a feature that’s quickly forgotten about unless necessary. With all my gripes about Gravity Rush it’s just not enough to take away from the joy of controlling Kat. Gravity Rush offers a so much diversity in gameplay that you have no choice but to be excited about what developers can do when they put in the time.
Positives
+ Having total control of gravity is a rush
+ Cell shading/comic book/anime style
+ Difficulty and scope on par with console titles
Negatives
– Some abilities can be difficult to master or just tacked on
– Very little variation in side quests
9/10
