Gravity Rush Review: Flying Success

Gravity Rush is one of the first exclusive Playstation Vita games that was built from the grounds up and makes use of nearly all Vita’s capabilities it has to offer in a enjoyable fashion. This is a game for the Playstation Vita that should not be overlooked or forgotten.

The game starts out with you, a young woman named Kat, falling from high above to the currently floating city of Hekseville. You begin your little adventure with a magical cat, who’s named Dusty, which is able to give you the power to control gravity. As you start out, you have no idea who you are or where you are from and have limited powers. As the game goes on, more of the story is revealed as well as additional powers are granted or can be upgraded. Since this is an open world game, there is very little limiters on where you can go. Being able to fly from one side of town to another section really makes you feel like you are flying. Don’t expect the story to reveal all by the end. Sadly, the game is left with a lot of open questions about pretty much everything. The game does seem to try to answer some important questions on who Kat is, but then seems to forget about that important plot and essentially end of the game.

The main concept for the gameplay deals with changing the direction of the gravity. This isn’t just up or down, but full range of direction to which you have access to. Because of this, the game makes full use of the right stick for manually adjusting the view as well as full gyro controls when you are in the air. These gyro controls are implemented very smoothly and nicely. A special sliding mechanic is also used within the game, which allows you to use gravity to slide your way through the game. This is done by placing both thumbs on the lower corners of the screen. Pretty much every aspect of the Vita controls are used in an interesting and effective manor with this game.

The camera in the game however, feels like it could use some adjusting. While it does work very well, in some cases it ends up frustrating the heck out of you. When you are in a small closed off area or the camera tries to go through a wall, it will start acting odd by zooming in and out in an annoying fashion. There is another issue dealing with enemies. The majority of enemies have an area on them that glows, which indicates that is where you need to hit them. In some cases it becomes very frustrating trying to destroy these enemies in limited time. The game does seem to compensate for this a little with some auto-homing attacks, so this shouldn’t bother you too much.

Gravity Rush has a cel-shaded look within the game, this greatly really adds to the comic book style of the entire game. A lot of the cut scene dialogs are present in a form of an actual interactive comic book. This even includes the camera switching from each interactive cell whenever you slide your finger to move on. This is a great effect that really adds to the atmosphere of the game, and one that was done well. As a cel-shaded game, this game looks amazing on the Vita’s screen. There are no voice acting here, but what is presented is a pseudo fake language that I believe helps the feeling of a foreign world. Since the game is presented like a comic book, expect action like hero type of music. The sounds and music found not only adds to the game, but really helps to get you interested in continuing on with the story.

In the end, I very much recommend Gravity Rush for anyone who are looking for an unique experience with their Playstation Vita system. The gameplay and story really shouldn’t be missed. There is a certain thrill to being able to change gravity on a whim and free fall at great speeds across the world.

Rating: 9/10