Gravity Rush - First Impressions

As part of my Father's Day I picked up Gravity Rush for the Vita.  I had enjoyed the demo enough and saw that it had some pretty awesome potential.  After dumping in a little over 2 hours last night, in my first play of the game, I'm happy to say that the game is simply wonderful!


The game starts in a typical wokeupandcan'trememberwhoyouareandnowhavestrangepowers type way which is kind of an old hat, but the game really does a good job of sucking you into it's awesome world.  It's a sandbox/open world game that is reminiscent of Crackdown in some aspects like the cell shading and orb/jewel hunting, but it plays in a completely different manner.

You play as a "shifter" named Kat who is given powers to shift gravity by a sparkly looking cat that she names Dusty.  It's funny because around the 2 hour mark while "flying" around the world I realized I wasn't actually flying.  I was falling.  No matter which direction you go in the game while you "fly" you're actually falling because you are going with the gravity parameters you've set.

The game controls very well and the combat is surprisingly fun, fast and very fresh.  You find yourself using face buttons and the touch screen all in rapid succession and I'm still shocked at how well it flows.

The music is truly excellent and keeps the game feeling....I don't know.....more immersive?  I'm having a hard time pinning down what I mean, but the score is one of the best I've heard in some time.

Kat is an extremely likable protagonist and I've come to see the game as a origin story for a new superhero.  Awesome.

There are also comic sections to read that work like a 3D interactive comic that is somewhat animated.  I love these as they are extremely well done and very nice looking.  It just helps solidify the whole comic book hero image in my mind.

I've already become obsessed with collecting every jewel and completing every side mission and challenge.  I very easily see myself dumping hours and hours into this trying to 100% the game.

It's a very good game that I'm thrilled to have in my collection of growing Vita games.  It's the best new IP I've seen since the first Assassin's Creed and it deserves every gamers' attention.

I know that game journalists seem to enjoy nothing more than saying the Vita is already a failure (IGN, Kotaku and Gamesradar), but with games like this I just don't get it.  This game couldn't work on any system, but the Vita.  Maybe if Kat were a plumber stuck in old school game design it would be better received on a handheld.  (Yes, I'm a bitter game blogger!)

While you're waiting for my full review, in a week or so, please watch this launch trailer to see the game in motion: