"Everything you remember about the past is all in your head, right? Then that's all that matters."
Gravity Rush is a game that speaks an idea out loud that sounds delightful in concept, but in execution its wound up wanting an audience that doesn't firmly grip what it is trying to do. The core idea of soaring through the skies at a push of a button is an exhilarating thought, and sometimes, it works flawlessly, especially when the game is focused solely on platforming sections. The creativity that is abound, especially in the second area of the game, is a delight to behold, truly.
However, when combat begins, the quality is flushed right down into the Gravity Well.
Combat is clunky and a lot of the agency is taken away from the player leaving them with a lot of errors that simply are not their own fault due to an obscenely poor lock on system. The Gravity Kick is both incredibly overpowered and also completely unreliable due to the lock on not working at least 40% of the time during my eight hour playthrough. The basic kick and dodge are not even really worth talking about since most enemies have weak point above the areas where that kick would even be useful.
The side missions are all quite tedious too. Aside from the races and platforming challenges, all the time trials and combat missions overstay their welcome to be anything other than a roadblock to progressing your characters skills further towards their maximum levels.
On a more positive note, the presentation and charming writing were a delight in Gravity Rush. The whimsical orchestral score made Hekseville feel alive and gave the game a real Studio Ghibli-like atmosphere with the Aldnoir theme giving me a real Joe Hisashi vibe.
Gravity Rush is a game not for everyone. As a platformer, it's truly unique and perhaps one of the best first party platformers on PlayStation 4, but as an action game, it fumbles the ball in ways I've not seen since Devil May Cry 2 or The Bouncer.
Gravity Rush is a game that speaks an idea out loud that sounds delightful in concept, but in execution its wound up wanting an audience that doesn't firmly grip what it is trying to do. The core idea of soaring through the skies at a push of a button is an exhilarating thought, and sometimes, it works flawlessly, especially when the game is focused solely on platforming sections. The creativity that is abound, especially in the second area of the game, is a delight to behold, truly.
However, when combat begins, the quality is flushed right down into the Gravity Well.
Combat is clunky and a lot of the agency is taken away from the player leaving them with a lot of errors that simply are not their own fault due to an obscenely poor lock on system. The Gravity Kick is both incredibly overpowered and also completely unreliable due to the lock on not working at least 40% of the time during my eight hour playthrough. The basic kick and dodge are not even really worth talking about since most enemies have weak point above the areas where that kick would even be useful.
The side missions are all quite tedious too. Aside from the races and platforming challenges, all the time trials and combat missions overstay their welcome to be anything other than a roadblock to progressing your characters skills further towards their maximum levels.
On a more positive note, the presentation and charming writing were a delight in Gravity Rush. The whimsical orchestral score made Hekseville feel alive and gave the game a real Studio Ghibli-like atmosphere with the Aldnoir theme giving me a real Joe Hisashi vibe.
Gravity Rush is a game not for everyone. As a platformer, it's truly unique and perhaps one of the best first party platformers on PlayStation 4, but as an action game, it fumbles the ball in ways I've not seen since Devil May Cry 2 or The Bouncer.