Gravity Rush begins with a girl called Kat waking up in the floating city of Hekseville. Kat has no recollection of how she got to her current location but things quickly heat up after discovering a black cat that gives her the power to control gravity. The backstory of Kat is never really detailed which doesn’t heavily affect your experience throughout Gravity Rush. The story outrageous at times with twists and turns around every corner. Cat is the absolute star of Gravity Rush and oozes personality from the onset. Supporting characters are quite unique and enjoyable and the overall dark tone of Hekseville sets a beautiful scene for the story of Gravity Rush.
The team at Bluepoint games have done an absolutely incredible job with Gravity Rush Remastered. The game originally look great on the Vita’s OLED but was plagued with performance issues that were to be expected considering the open-world natured of the game running on a hand-held. Gravity Rush Remastered now runs at an incredibly smooth 60FPS which makes all the difference in such a fast-paced game. As most of Gravity Rush takes place in a gravity-based state, the increase in frame rate helps combat and navigating around Hekseville a much more enjoyable experience.
Gravity Rush Remastered runs at the native resolution of 1080p but that’s not all that Bluepoint have done in bringing this to your TV screen. The PS4 version now includes higher-resolution textures that have been crafted with much more detail. Improved lighting and sharpening has made the cel-shaded art-style shine even more. A lot of work has gone into the character models which is much appreciated.
The story is still told using a mixture of comic strips as well as cut scenes which have also been slightly improved. Overall, Gravity Rush Remastered is an absolutely incredible port. It doesn’t look quite as good as a native PS4 game but it is night-and-day once going back to the Vita version. The updated presentation alone makes it worth going back to gamers that played through the game on Vita.
Gravity Rush is an open-world action adventure game based around gravity. Gravity is used to get to different areas and is also integral to combat. Nevi are the enemy in Gravity Rush and can mostly be defeated by a glowing pink ball on a part of their body which requires you to hit them from a certain angle.
Among the open world you have the option to continue along the main story or you can take some time out to participate in one of the may challenges. Challenges have you beating a certain amount of enemies in a time limit or making it from one part of the map to another in a certain period of time. Your reward in these challenges are gems which are required to upgrade certain skills. My main gripe with Gravity Rush has always been that the main story-line missions can get a bit repetitive and don’t take full advantage of the gravity mechanic of the game. As we now know, Gravity Rush 2 will release in 2016 and I hope that this mechanic is furthered.
The game originally took advantage of the Vita Gyroscope in order to aim your next landing point whilst in gravity. The PS4 now has the option of using either the DualShock 4’s Gyroscope as well as the addition of using the right analogue stick to perfect aiming. I actually found that a combination of motion controls and traditional controls to be the best mix. This can still be cumbersome in the most intense battle or challenge.
Gravity Rush Remastered features the entire original game + the 3 DLC packs that were released originally for the Vita. There is also a gallery which allows you to check out concept art as well as replay cutscenes. Outside of this, there isn’t a whole lot for returning players.
Gravity Rush impressed me from the moment that I played it on the Vita many years ago. Everything from the story to the gameplay was incredibly unique and a breath of fresh air, but it’s evident that not many people got it experience it. Luckily, Bluepoint Games have done an absolutely amazing job with porting this to the PS4 and it’s a much better overall experience this time around. I strongly believe that Gravity Rush Remastered is one of the best games available on PS4 and an experience that shouldn’t be missed.
