Although originally intended for release on the Playstation 3, Gravity Rush is a game that feels every bit as though it was always destined to become a handheld title.
Taking control of a girl called Kat (who has a mysterious and magical black cat), the game takes you on a journey as you learn to harness a variety of magical powers for the good of the floating city of Hekseville. Kat’s actions are not taken entirely positively at the beginning of the game, as you explore and your powers grow, however, the people of Hekseville begin to take note of the work that you’re doing to piece the city back together again, and your reputation grows as your powers develop.
An extremely enjoyable pick-up-and-play title, Gravity Rush introduces new skills and powers as you progress, making the game more difficult as you go along and therefore keeping you gripped throughout. Whilst the graphics may not push the limits of the Playstation Vita’s capabilities, the game nonetheless has an extremely impressive aesthetic style that’s warm and easy on the eye. With bright and vibrant colours at the forefront of the game’s visual style, Gravity Rush is always a pleasure to look at as well as a delight to play, and whilst admiring some extremely stunning scenery you also get to play a handheld title that’s enjoyable, different, and comes with a good degree of challenge.
When learning new skills and putting Kat’s new powers into action, it really feels as though the game’s platform has been extremely well thought about; Gravity Rush always feels as though it’s designed to make the most of the Playstation Vita’s key features, utilising the touch screen as well as the system’s physical buttons to provide an extremely satisfying overall gaming experience. Sometimes you can play a game and feel as though the publisher wasn’t really thinking about the end user when the controls for the game were thought up, or when a game is released for multiple platforms it can sometimes feel as though the key features and functionalities of the system have been overlooked, with Gravity Rush being a PS Vita exclusive, however, this is a game where the controls always seem to come very naturally and the game therefore runs very smoothly both visually and also in terms of how it actually plays.
Utilising comic book panels in order to help tell the story of the game as you progress, Gravity Rush is a good mix of comic book cool and superb superhero gameplay, a great open world adventure game that has an impressive aesthetic style and a very intriguing key protagonist in Kat. The game has a light-hearted tone which fits well with its superhero style, and if you own a Playstation Vita then Gravity Rush really is a must have title. As you play the game you want to learn more about Kat and never want the game to end, she’s a fun character to play as and is definitely a key part of the game’s charm and success. When you’ve finished with the game you feel that you want to know far more, and as there’s a Gravity Rush sequel currently in development it’ll definitely be interesting to see where the next game takes things.
Gravity Rush offers something a little bit different and this is most definitely one of the key strengths of the title. It’s unique, it’s interesting, and from start to finish the game never once loses its charm. Depending on your gameplay style you’re probably looking at about 10-20 hours to complete the game, as it’s such a beautiful game to look at though, if you’re anything like me you’re going to want to take your time to really stop and admire the aesthetics of the production, so you’re probably looking at the upper end of this scale in all probability. It might not be the longest game in the world, but it IS the kind of game that you’re really going to want to see through to the end, so Gravity Rush should definitely provide you with your money’s worth and leave you with a huge smile on your face upon completion.
If you own a Playstation Vita but haven’t yet played Gravity Rush, now is the time to see about changing that as it’s a game that’ll sure not leave you feeling in the least bit disappointed.
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
