adrian dominguez

The first Gravity Rush was limited both in scope and popularity due to being a Vita exclusive. Players of the original were fortunate enough to fall in love with lead protagonist Kat, who’s cute charism carried the story. Now with Gravity Rush 2 on PS4 will the shackles be released for Kat to see that the sky is not the limit?

 

A Story All About How A Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down

 

Kat acts as the moral compass always pointing towards doing the heroic thing. Whereas the world around her isn't always so black and white. There will be many characters that flip your perception of who’s good or bad. This keeps you engaged in the kinds of drama you are presented. There is political drama, family drama, friendship drama, social class drama interwoven throughout and it’s all expertly written. Like the original Gravity Rush the majority of the narrative is displayed through motion comics and speech bubbles. The effectiveness is helped by Kat’s descriptive expressions and the sparsity of cutscenes makes their appearances all the much more impactful.

 

Take Me Away. A Secret Place

 

The scale has exploded in comparison to its predecessor. Kat now has two new fighting styles, Lunar which will make Kat bouncy and floaty without depleting her gravity meter. And Kat’s Jupiter Style will unleash heavy attacks and change her dodge into a block. Switching between styles is done by flicking up or down on the dualshock 4s touch pad, the best use of the touchpad I’ve used The variety brings a new level of expertise to the combat and navigation. Some mission designs are built around the new styles. Many times parts of your powers will be taken away. This choice worked when I was forced to use a particular gravity style to fight, but anytime the game hinders me from traversing options was a hassle. Getting around the world should always be as easy as possible, if you take a gravity option away you start to see the threads falling apart with loose platform and disorienting camera control in tight places.  

 

You’ll travel to multiple floating cities including Hekseville from the first game. There’s an abundance of gems you can spend hours collecting and with its larger scale comes more challenges and side missions. This presents a double edged sword. There are definite peaks and valleys here. Some side missions are worth your time like staring as a kung fu fighting roof jumping nurse in an action movie, celebrating Thanks Day by helping Cecie find a gift for Lisa. Or putting yourself in competition to mine more ores against a superior Raven. Rewarding you with costumes or decorations for Kat’s home. However they usually turn into scavenger hunts. You’ll feel like you’re playing where’s waldo with the amount of times you’re told to find an NPC who you talked to a minute prior who has moved around the map. The tedium is a shame because the stories can be heartening, but you’ll never know what missions are frustrating fetch quests with little story or something more fleshed out. The stories are more fun and charming than the actual action of playing them. So much so that I quit out of several side missions because I was recognizing the dull pattern they were presenting me.

 

Gravity Rush has two false finishes. The first will have credits run and then keep you baffled for a while over why the game is continuing, fortunately it recovers and lands its second ending. Once all conflicts have been resolved Gravity Rush continues to overstay its welcome with an additional chapter that only serves as an excuse to read one last statement from pertinent characters and roll final credits.

 

Up Up And Away

 

Gravity Rush 2 takes its time to ramp up. I want it to be fast and high energy but instead the tutorials last for too long and will bore anyone, especially players who enjoyed the previous game. Seeing gems above, through and under cities always tickles my urge to stylishly control gravity as I collect them. And the new powers have brought variety to combat while intriguing characters will push you through some flakey mission designs. Any fan of Gravity Rush will find resolution to Kat’s story. And any newcomer will have the pleasure of adding Kat to the growing lexicon of charming video game characters.