Gravity Rush Review [Minor Spoilers]

Number of hours played: ~23 hours

Completion status: Platinum trophy + all DLC packs

Click here for a TL;DR version

If I were to describe Gravity Rush in just a few words, it would be “charming, breathtaking, and absolutely liberating”. Originally in development for the PS3 under the name “Gravité” back in 2008 by Japan Studios, project development would eventually be transferred over to Playstation’s new console in development at the time, the Playstation Vita, just two years later. This would turn out to be a great decision for the project, with Director Keiichiro Toyama expressing his thoughts on how the Vita suited better the “handy and accessible nature” of the game, and its multiple unique functionalities that helped guide the project more towards their desired vision.

Gravity Rush was finally released in February of 2012 as a new IP that was to be part of the launch lineup of the proclaimed Playstation Vita. The Playstation Vita back during its initial reveal was hyped to be the machine that would finally take over the handheld console market, which had been largely dominated by Nintendo at the time with the 3DS. Unfortunately, the Vita was met with extremely poor sales after its release, so poor in fact that most AAA developers had pretty much abandoned it by the time the PS4 came around. During that time, the most popular launch titles that were being talked about by everyone included games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss. However, when asked now what the most memorable games from the Vita are, Gravity Rush would often come up in many people’s responses. What was it that made Gravity Rush stand out from other titles? Why didn’t it garner more attention during the initial launch? And finally, how does the game hold up today?

Welcome to my review of Gravity Rush.

Story (Skip the two paragraphs if you want to avoid any type of spoilers)

But god did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the-” wait wrong story.

The game begins in a rather solemn tone, the camera pans in and slowly zooms into an apple tree standing atop a lonely pillar, before an apple quietly falls off the tree, and tumbles into the abyss below, and into the bustling city of Hekseville. It gently continues rolling on, the city’s folks unaware of its presence, as a gentle and soothing orchestral piece plays in the background. Eventually, it finally comes to a stop beside a mysterious unconscious young girl, this girl is our main protagonist Kat.

Kat wakes up only to find herself in a completely foreign place, she explores her surroundings before stumbling upon a man in need of help, and follows him throughout the back-alley district to the scene of the crime. Meanwhile, a black-starry cat is seen following her unbeknownst to her, as if it has taken a keen interest in Kat. After arriving to the scene of the crime, she sees the man’s son being pulled in by a Gravity Storm, and strange creatures known as Nevi wreaking havoc. It is then that the black cat reveals that it has the ability to manipulate gravity around Kat. Using this new power, Kat manages to save the boy from the Nevi, however during the commotion, the house of the boy and his fathers was lost in the process. In the end, The boy and his father ends up turning hostile towards Kat instead of thanking her, blaming her for the destruction of their house. Kat was left bewildered, and left before trouble escalated any further, wondering if there was something wrong she did. However, this would only be the prelude to Kat’s troubles, as she was about to embark on the most strangest adventures.

But….she did save your boy….are..we just going to forget about all that?

The story of Gravity Rush in the grand scheme of things serves more as colourful flavoring for Kat’s adventures, as the rest of the story would end up carrying on the same tone as the prologue that was just described. Kat would often find herself tangled in situations she wants no business with, as she tries to find out more about herself, the city, and the weird circumstances surrounding the events taking place throughout the game, whilst also battling hordes of Nevi along the way. The story achieves this colourful flavoring by tending to focus more on presenting its story ideas for the player to wonder about, rather than explaining in depth the mechanics of the world and how it works, and I personally loved how it decided to present itself this way. While many people would probably write this off as a sign of a shallow story, and in most cases, they would be correct, I however, believe that the story was instead trying to achieve something else entirely, something that cannot be found in conventional storytelling.

The story throughout the game always attempts to keep the player uncomfortable, and by uncomfortable, I mean the player is always kept in a state of disbelief, that there is more to the world than meets the eye. It achieves this by continuously throwing the player in new situations that they had never encountered before, such as gradually introducing more and more locations, and having side characters that all seem to know more than they let on. This keeps the player in a constant state of discovery, with them continuously finding out new things about the characters and the world as the story slowly unfolds. This effect is further amplified by keeping the plot in a very loose, episodic structure, making it difficult for the player to predict what is going happen next, and is what separates it from other stories that try to do the same thing. A difficult part of keeping players interested in stories like these is how much information is given to the player, as the story of Gravity Rush never actively sets out to try to thoroughly answer its own questions, instead choosing to present them to the player, and letting them piece together the puzzle on their own.

I don’t know Kat, maybe because your totally normal sparkling glitter kitty is right beside you

This, in my opinion, is the story’s greatest strength, and I believe it’s because that due to its episodic structure, the less information that is given to player about the story and world, the more it allows them to let their imaginations form their own interpretation of the game world. If the story were to try to thoroughly answer its mysteries, much of the its novelty will be lost. It is this sense of discovery that keeps players engrossed in the game’s characters, world, and interactions that come in between. Now this of course also comes with the risk of making the story needlessly complicated. Thankfully, the game never manages to cross that line, and keeps its story and world grounded and believable.

This all may sound like I’m grasping for straws, desperately trying to justify how a loose plot with many dangling threads is anything but incompetent storytelling, but I would like to argue that this type of experience was very much intentionally done by the developers. In toco toco’s Game creator special, the game’s director Keiichiro Toyama had this to say:

“What makes the charm of a game, I wouldn’t be able to sum up in a word, but I think it is the fact that there isn’t any set pattern [in the story]. We are free to build a scenario or not. I believe that as long as the player is having a good time, we can do whatever we want. I really appreciate that we have that much freedom”

-Keiichiro Toyama, toco toco Game creator special

Now for all the things the story of Gravity Rush does right, it also has its share of problems. Its main problem is that since the story is so focused on presenting itself in a slow and organic manner, it never manages to fully flesh itself out in its ten-hour adventure before abruptly ending. This resulted in the game ending just when it looked like it was about to get started, with a conflict that sprung out mainly as a result of the game’s need for a proper conclusion.

With all things considered, I know that some people will still find the story inconsequential, and borderline boring, and with good reason, as the story does not give much incentive for the players to care at all what is going on. However, it nonetheless kept me interested throughout the entirety of the game, not in the sense that I got a complete story arc, but more a sense of accompaniment, a sense of me being there adventuring right alongside Kat in her strange and wonderful world.

Characters

Gravity Rush mainly tells the story of Kat and her attempts at fitting in with the city’s folk of Hekseville, and as a result, Kat ends up meeting a wide variety of characters, ranging from bizarre to crude, from gentle to villainous. However, since this is a story that focuses on our main heroine, lets start talking about her first.

…..

“Dusty will remember that”

Kat can be best described as a bright, upbeat, adventurous, and somewhat ditzy girl who is just trying to fit in. She is clearly very different from the people around her, emphasized by her very unique and outlandish character design, meant to make her stick out like a sore thumb compared to her peers. She likes to frequently go outside of her comfort zone, preferring to always be on the move and discover new things. She also has a very big heart, helping people out as much as she can, though she does eventually develop some cautionary instincts towards certain individuals. In a way, she very much represents the player, in that they are thrust into a strange environment, and slowly learns about the world just as Kat is also. It is no surprise then, that it is very hard not to be able to form a connection with her, and I myself was very easily able to relate to her struggles, and thus found her to be quite an endearing character. Kat herself doesn’t have a full character arc, but that doesn’t necessarily make her a static character. There is still a very clear difference between Kat at the beginning of the game, and at the end of the game, it’s just much subtler. Rather, Kat’s character slowly builds throughout the course of the game, without ever much closure. Personally, I was fine with how her character was handled, as there really was no need for her to have any big moments, instead choosing to focus on the little journeys she has in her everyday life.

Um Kat….remember what mom said about staring at old men’s…….argh forget it.

The rest of the character cast are also very likeable, each with their own unique personalities and roles in the story. From Syd’s supportive well-being, to Raven’s snarky attitude, to Gade’s wacky and zany demeanor, each side character helps to round out Kat and in making Hekseville a very interesting place to live in, while also serving as fun people for her to interact with. An interesting thing I found about the characters is that they all speak in a made-up language, mostly likely used as a way to make them appear more eccentric to the player. I found this to be an interesting way to make the characters in the world appear more unique, and adds to the charm of the game overall. The only minor problem I have is that some characters in the story, namely Alias, who appear to have an important role in the story, gets relegated to be served more as sequel-bait rather than having a solid conclusion that the story was alluding to.

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