Well, here we are again, time for another review, but first some backstory. I remember playing Gravity Rush (also known as Gravity Daze in Japan) on the PS Vita when it was first released back in 2012. I was working in HMV at the time and hadn't yet committed to getting a PS Vita, I played it a few times on my lunch break and really enjoyed it. I eventually got one, and Gravity Rush was the first game I bought with it. Strangely enough, when Gravity Rush 2 was announced for PlayStation 4 it was one of the things that prompted me to buy one. It might be a bit late, but I finally got around to playing it.
Any fans of red velvet cupcakes in the house? Me, me, me, me! They are soft, sweet, and they look awesome. Unfortunately, with the popularity of red velvet cupcakes everywhere is making them, and some of them taste bad. The sponge is sometimes too dry, or there is so much sugar in them you can taste the granules, or the cream on top just doesn't taste good, and if you are really unlucky all three. So, naturally finding a high-quality red velvet cupcake can be tough. Playing Gravity Rush 2 I found myself asking, did it have the right combination of ingredients, or was this a dry, sugary, mess?
Story
The original game had you playing as Kat, a girl who had lost her memory and has the ability to control gravity, with the help of her cat Dusty. Gravity Rush 2 sees Kat transported to a new world after falling through a gravity rift in Heskville, her hometown. Unsure of her new surroundings, and having lost her gravity-controlling powers that had made her the Gravity Queen, she is forced to work mining gems. She's not the only one forced into slave labor, it seems everyone is, with the exception of the upper echelon. This, of course, is only the start of her journey, and things get pretty interesting fast.
The story answers many questions from the original game, along with asking, and answering some new ones. The sidequests, while at times could be fun, felt a little samey, and were simply a distraction from the main story. The pacing overall in Gravity Rush 2 was pretty good, with exception of a few minor bumps.
Visuals
The art style used in the game is beautiful, from the towns to the character designs they all look so good. The way Kat's long hair moves when she is moving around looks realistic, but also very artistic at the same time. Her cat Dusty has a great design that makes him look like he is part of the night sky. Story panels are used to help narrate what's going, they look really good and is a lot more exciting then it may sound. Without a doubt, my favorite area in the game was Jirga Para Lhao, a set of floating islands that are spread out vertically and horizontally. They feature marketplaces, government buildings, a high-security fort and mansions high above the clouds. The town feels alive, full of different people, all going about their daily lives. Overall a visual spectacle and one of the biggest positives about the game.
Music
The score features an array of instruments, with a particular focus on; piano, strings, brass, flute, and percussion. The opening track features a crescendo of brass and strings that help create an intense yet upbeat sound. Similar to the original score, Gravity Rush 2, has a distinct anime sound, which isn't surprising as the composer comes from an anime background:
Kohei Tanaka has worked on a number of anime series, and movies, along with some video game titles. Some of his works include; Pokemon The Movie, Angelic Layer, Dragonball, One Piece, The Cursed Holy Sword, Gravity Rush, Sakura Wars and Resonance of Fate.
The soundtrack runs for over three hours, has seventy-three tracks and spans four CDs. While I felt it was good, I did not feel it was as good as the original Gravity Rush score. My favorite pieces included:
Requiem
Banga Ambient 1
Suspense
Mining for Ore 1
Storm and Triumph (Full Version)
Forbidden Zone
Frustration
Night Gale
Fort Bismalia
Endestria (Abandoned Version)
A Cue Aun Tu Oi/A Red Apple (Original Version)
Queen of Electromagnetic Force
Despair
Special shout to Kat's version of 'A Cue Aun Tu Oi/A Red Apple', that I found to be really good and quite endearing. Overall a good score, that in time may hold the same place for me as the original.
Gameplay
Onto the red velvety sponge that is the gameplay. Straight off the bat I wanted to talk about the combat, and gravity control, these have both been refined versus the original, and that is certainly not a bad thing. There is an ability called 'stasis field', this basically allows you draw items towards you and then fires them at enemies, which can be really devastating. The gravity kick and standard combat kicks feel smoother and more accurate too. There are different combat styles this time around, including Lunar, and Jupiter. Lunar allows you to jump further, and faster without having to use your gravity gauge. Jupiter lets you kick harder and stronger, along with giving you the ability to create a ball of debris that can be really handy during boss fights. While they are fun to use, switching between them using the touchpad is not, sometimes it fails to recognise the correct style or does nothing, on occasion, this disturbed the flow of combat.
Similar to the original game you can upgrade your abilities, these can be improved further by using talisman you find while mining. If I'm being honest I didn't find them that helpful, you can combine different types together, fuse two of the same together or recycle them, overall it just felt unneeded as the skill tree did all you really needed.
The Nevi are your main enemies, basically purple goo with one or more weak spots that are always easy to see. There are some new additions to the Nevi army, including a few that are really well armored. Now, don't get me wrong a good boss fight can be a lot of fun, but near the end of the game it is wall to wall bosses fights, by the time I finished, I had grown weary of them.
The game has notifications, some of them let you know about new missions, others about new outfits and downloadable content, some regarding online challenges. They never stopped coming, if I got that many notifications on my phone I would turn it off, and put it in a drawer.
Overall though some great gameplay, with only really a few minor issues.
Final Thoughts
After nearly twenty hours how did I feel? Pretty good, with a few minor exceptions it did everything I would want from a sequel, larger world, and story, improved gameplay, and visuals, what more could I ask for? The side missions for me were one of the bigger problems I had as they just felt a little too, meh, for those of them that were good there were really good. Overall it was a great game that wasn't a hard to score, this one gets 4 out of 5
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