Review: Gravity Rush (PS Vita)
By Wayne Webb
Gravity Rush is a game that will be described as innovative and groundbreaking, because you get to play with the direction of gravity to move about. It’s an intriguing idea and an unusual combat mechanism, but not what I would call innovative, just different.
By Wayne Webb
Gravity Rush is a game that will be described as innovative and groundbreaking, because you get to play with the direction of gravity to move about. It’s an intriguing idea and an unusual combat mechanism, but not what I would call innovative, just different.
It looks and feels very much like a Japanese game ported and translated into English (which of course it is) and it suffers from the usual stylistic differences that these games have. The characters are simplistic and speak translated dialogue that sounds forced or perky, despite battling very dark and evil forces.
The main character suffers from amnesia and quite happily goes along with all manner of silliness that any sane person would have questioned and avoided. But while moving along she seems to do whatever she is told and with a perky and happy attitude that feels more at home in an Anime cartoon than a game.
That Anime aesthetic though does provide a truly lush and rich world scope that Kat (our protagonist is named after a cheeky magic cat that follows her around) flies about completing missions and collecting things, talking to people etc. The amazing design looks like a Miyazaki movie brought to life and adds quite a nice dimension to the story, adding interest and desire to find out what is going on.
The Gravity Change mechanic is different, but is limiting and no more innovative than better games like the Portal series. Being able to direct and change gravity at will for a few seconds at a time makes for a good way of getting around a flat landscape, and for navigating a flying city in the clouds. It makes combat difficult though as the camera often moves as your gravity shifts, putting things you are aiming for out of sight or in your path when that’s not what you want. It is different and takes some getting used to, but you’ll have plenty of time as random fights of low-level monsters abound in almost every space.
Bookending the plot and character pieces are story animations presented in digital comic style. These look and feel great as you can flick your fingers on the screen to move them forward, though with no back option you occasionally miss out of dialogue here and there.
Overall a decent attempt at something new and different, mostly pulled along by story and the cool ability to walk along a wall or ceiling like it’s a floor.
Pros: Innovative use of gravity, well planned out story elements, loads to see and do, great design and digital comic effect.
Cons: Obvious translation issues, a bit too perky, combat difficulty and repetitiveness.
4 Shacks Out Of 5
