Gravity Rush PS Vita Review

In 2012 the Playstation Vita received a brand new IP, with Sony hoping that this would become one of the Vita's showcase games to finally entice sales. This game was showcased as Gravity Rush, a unique cel-shaded action game with many ideas, all possible due to the PS Vita's unique specs. A little over two years later, I've finally gotten to picking up the game through being a Playstation Plus member, as it has been free along with another Vita showcase, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. For those of who you who own a PS Vita without Playstation Plus, you will still be looking at a sales price of $40.00

Gravity Rush is located in the fictional floating town of Hekseville, where in turn you meet our protagonist, Kat, who wakes up in the opening cinematic with no memories whatsoever. Upon waking up, you see a strange cat where, with the aid of your magical cat Dusty (Kat names it), you control Kat and can alter gravity to your will. As far as the story goes, upon waking up in this town, you realize you have no memories but you decide, with these powers, you are able to help citizens and the government and possibly find out who or what you really are. As the story progresses, you find out there are evil creatures called "Nevi" that are invading the town of Hekseville, in which the government is trying to stop; as well as another female, Raven, who like you can bend gravity, possibly knowing who you truly are.

The gameplay is a bit open-world, as there are story missions divided into chapters, with the option of doing many side-missions, to increase your stats or collect crystals. Kat is constantly learning new moves, so that your experience never gets boring when you decide to fight hordes of Nevi. The game map is very user friendly, despite its odd, yet unique controls. Every mission you select will always have a marker to indicate how far you must travel; in addition to your free gravity roaming ways, there are sewer shortcuts to get you across Hekseville, considering the town is massive. As you progress in your play, more areas that were lost to the Nevi, become available thereby creating a whole new world, where you could see different districts and how the city really runs.
To explain the open-world part specifically is that you control Kat and gravity, without the care for any civilians (just dropping them at several hundred feet) where you can freely travel the town to either main-story related missions or sidequest missions, all indicated on a marker you select on your pause screen menu. In terms of the battle and RPG components of the game, it is simple, yet addictive. For the RPG parts, you gain crystals everywhere, be it floating in town or just completing missions, in which turn you use these crystals to upgrade your stats such as Kick, Gravity Control, Gravity Speed, etc. The more you upgrade Kat, the better time you have in the game; because as time progresses more and more enemies spawn and you're gonna need to upgrade.



The battling uses every part and spec the PS Vita has to offer. By pressing R, you send Kat into a Zero-G mode where then you decide which way the flow of gravity should be. Enemies/Nevis usually have a giant red glowing dot on them as their weak spot, so you are going to want to adjust the camera with either the Right Stick or using the Gyroscope the Vita is capable of doing. Personally, I used the right stick most of the time, but later on I got used to the Gyroscope where it became a more accurate option as I practiced! Kat has two moves: kicks on the ground and kicks using gravity. From all of Kat's abilities, the developers try to use the Vita in every aspect, as swiping across your screen consists of Kat dodging, or holding both fingers to your screenlets Kat Gravity Slide (a fun and hectic way to travel). Most of the time you will be floating around or being pissed up from you trying to stop on a dime and then accidentally landing on a building in a horizontal manner; throwing yourself off. This will be a very common occurrence, because all the side missions in the game are broken down into Time Attacks, or fighting hordes. However, you get used to it and that's what makes Gravity Rush fun.


One thing that really bothered me in the game besides it's horrible story, was the character design; Kat is just ugly (along with everyone else) and to tell you the truth every character is pretty forgettable. Heck, the game barely has a consistent flow later on, that you are just playing hoping to get answers that are, eventually, never answered! One feature, which I thought was fantastic was the small "cinematic" comic strip parts, explaining events. The comics looked great and best part allowed for gyroscope and in a sense a stereoscopic view, so you could enjoy the art. The music is fantastic, however it does not fit the motif of the game and most of the time, you enjoy it during your long Zero-G travels of town. Don't get me wrong I love the OST in the game and its symphonic songs, it's just the game seems like a pseudo-steampunk and well, Ni No Kuni like songs don't work.

One thing the game does have is replay-value, if you skipped the sidequests or you wanted to hit them after you completed the game, they are always there waiting for you to complete them. While they may get a bit repetitive and tedious, there are tons of cool things to explore, even hidden Nevi bosses!

Overall
Score: 6.7/10

I probably would have never played this game if it wasn't free and to tell you the truth it definitely isn't worth full retail value. Besides being very disconnected with the characters and their horrible design, Kat is annoying and the story is a mess. I did find the combat to be very unique and fun, although the most fun I had was at the end when I learned the game and mastered most of the abilities to a higher level. Some of the side missions make you want to pull your hair out, like accidentally hitting a side of a building while Gravity Falling, in turn shifting gravity to the left and ruining your score for a 3-star! The game is a big rinse-and-repeat that can't hide how limited it truly is.

-
Don't forget you can subscribe to Youtube Channel: LegendofMikeandBill that is only if you want to watch awesome gaming videos with full walkthroughs, unboxings, and news-updates you can also catch TLMB on Facebook so make sure you like us or on WordPress!

- It'd be cool to find me on Youtube GAMEMEN / SNBGaming64 and waste your time watching guides and couch co-op <3 thanks.

---

---

LOOK WHO CAME:

TroyFullbuster   

Marcel Hoang   1