Gravity Rush Remastered | PS4

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Gravity Rush is a game based entirely around one central gameplay mechanic, which every other element simply serves to house and contextualise. It's often said that mechanics make the game, and Gravity Rush Remastered epitomises that phrase.

​by Sam Sant

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​@pass_controller

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Platform(s): PS4 
Developer: Sony Japan Studio, Bluepoint Games
Publisher: Sony Japan Studio
Players: 1

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The beautiful opening whisks you away to the fantastical world of Hekseville, where you awake as the skimpily clad, amnesiac heroine Kat. Accompanied by a mysterious feline companion, you soon discover yourself to be a Gravity Shifter, a superhero of sorts possessing abilities befitting the name.

Kat’s abilities are incredibly liberating and make for limitless, best in class traversal of the open world setting. With complete control over the laws of gravity, the player can switch it off completely to suspend themselves in mid-air, before changing the directional pull to propel themselves to a desired location, walking on walls and ceilings alike upon arrival.

Whilst being a thoughtful and complex process, gravity shifting is incredibly simple to control. It offers an accessible and thrilling sense of flight that at its best makes you feel as though you’re conducting a graceful flying trapeze act.

Gravity shifts also affect objects and people in close proximity, enabling you to make your own (often sadistic) fun. You might trip an elderly couple over, deposit a person on a rooftop without a way down, even escalate to launch NPCs to their inevitable deaths. You can even do this to children and pets. Really. This game is rated 12+.

Having originally launched for the PlayStation Vita in early 2012, Gravity Rush was structured in bite-size chunks for accessibility whilst on the move; it translates surprisingly well to a static console, possessive of that “just one more task” feeling. The digestible missions and challenges come in varied forms - stealth, combat, races, investigations, collection-based - all fairly well-trodden tropes of the open-world genre brought new life in the unique approaches afforded by the central gravity shifting mechanic.​

[Gravity Rush Remastered] is a serious exclusive and a feather in the PS4’s cap - there’s a lot of fun to be had here...

Not every element transitions to console as well, however. Narrative sequences are expressed through still comic book panels, with dialogue and cutscenes a rarity. The dialogue and even some text go untranslated, culminating in the nagging feeling that this was a handheld game through and through, held back by both budget and platform capability.

Monstrous Nevi invade Gravity Rush’s foreign world and can be dispatched in combat with a combination of kicks, evasive manoeuvres, special abilities and stasis-thrown objects, either from the ground or air. You’ll need to aim for glowing weak-spots in true video game fashion, making for fast paced hybrid combat encounters, as you maintain perpetual motion in order to hold the appropriate angle of attack.

Hailing from Japan via Sony’s aptly named Japan Studio, the anime-inspired art style is an acquired taste, whilst the remaster treatment makes for a noticeable improvement over the original and the animation is unquestionably sublime. Also an acquired taste are the anime conventions that come part and parcel, most notably playing a young and overly sexualised female often more concerned with pursuing love interests and being “cute” than the myriad of pressing issues that would realistically take priority. It doesn’t morally bother, it’s just dumb.​

Gravity Rush Remastered isn’t a system seller, but it is a serious exclusive and a feather in the PS4’s cap - there’s a lot of fun to be had here, despite some drawbacks due largely to its handheld origin. With a sequel currently in development for the console and set to fix that problem, Gravity Rush 2 could be one of 2016’s best!

Pros

• Revolutionary mechanics
• Traversal is a real joy
• Fast paced, hybrid combat
• Remaster treatment makes for the definitive version
• Budget price tag means great value for money

Cons

• Untranslated dialogue and text
• Conforms to generic anime tropes
• Held back by its handheld origin

Score 8/10