Gravity Rush Remastered

The gravity-shifting mechanic in Gravity Rush is its greatest strength--it's designed well and feels intuitive, making soaring across the game's sleek anime-style world at a silky sixty frames per second a delight.

Whether or not restricted by its handheld console origins, however, the game's design itself fails to consistently make truly intelligent use of the mechanic, suffering from being somewhat dated and simplistic in style. Mission objectives almost always involve fetch quests, killing a certain amount of enemies, or travelling to a checklist of locations. The mechanics ensure this is enjoyable initially, but it grows mundane as you progress, whilst some odd design choices throughout the storyline actually strip you of or limit your manipulation of gravity as opposed to presenting interesting scenarios that take full advantage of the game's unique feature.

Combat can feel clunky and tedious during the game's most intense moments, particularly when you're on the ground; Kat can only throw one kick from a jump, and similar design quirks mean there are a couple of essentially useless moves and attacks that you'll literally never use throughout the game.

I milked some enjoyment from Gravity Rush in spite of its flaws--they're not particularly game-breaking, but this is a concept deserving of better execution, more depth and more polish.

2.5 stars / Mediocre

Part I: Introduction and Overview

When Gravity Rush was first released on the Playstation Vita in 2012, it was one of the most highly anticipated games on that system. Upon release it was met with positive, but mixed reception, and in an era of grade inflation this relegated it to a niche. Despite some recurring complaints and a number of noticeable flaws, Gravity Rush gained a loyal cult following. Fast-forward to 2016, a time when the Vita is all but discontinued, and with the release of Gravity Rush 2 just a few short months away. Seizing the opportunity, Sony contracted Bluepoint Games (the studio behind the wonderful Team Ico and Metal Gear remasters) to remaster Gravity Rush, porting it to the hugely successful PS4.

Without hesitation I can say that Gravity Rush Remastered is the definitive version of the game, and the one that any new player should seek out (as well as being very much worth it for returning players). Bluepoint exceeds expectations in just about every regard, and delivers an excellent remaster that runs wonderfully in 1080p at 60 frames per second.

Part II: Gameplay, Narrative, Setting & Design

Gameplay

Gameplay in the Remaster is identical to the Vita version of Gravity Rush, although it runs much more smoothly. This is partly due to the ease of input of a dualshock 4 as opposed to the Vita's more cumbersome input controls, but also because the camera has been smoothed out a bit. The Vita version's camera was generally okay (although the small analogue sticks could make it more challenging), but performing gravity slides over rough surfaces was extremely unforgiving, making the camera jolt and shake excessively. This issue, however, has been totally remedied, and the HD version's camera follows Kat smoothly even along the roughest of surfaces. While aesthetically more pleasing, it also has direct gameplay results: timed challenges that previously required hours of practice and frustration are now much easier (assuming you have levelled your powers up sufficiently). The stasis field remains useless, but I also found it easier to fire off projectiles using a dualshock controller.

Narrative

One area that remains untouched in the Remaster is narrative. The large number of plot devices introduced that were set aside or abandoned (leaving an excessive number of unanswered questions) is still a big problem with the game, although this is to be expected. The HD Remaster does include all three DLC packs, however, and so there is at least a bit more story content (although generally unrelated to anything important).

Setting & Design

Hekseville and its denizens all look significantly improved in HD, although some of the design limitations remain. The draw distance remains more or less identical to the Vita (if there is a difference I completely failed to notice it), and so each district in the city takes on a vague look of sameness, even landmarks or monuments that should stand out (this is not helped by the fact that as things are drawn in they go from a monochrome of the sector's skyline). Vendecentre is the worst off as it is so large and its buildings so tall that no matter where one is it feels like Kat is completely surrounded by a puke-green haze (I still dislike the colour palette for that sector). Endestria remains the exception, but that is because of its (relatively) massive variation in terms of vertical elevation, as well as its gigantic tower centrepiece. Likewise, Raven's costume (unlike Kat's much more sedate attire) remains completely inexplicable (how would one even wear that? And why?).

Outside of Hekseville may be where players notice the greatest improvement. The HD facelift does much for the alternate dimension-thingies Kat travels at certain times. The Inferno in particular looks much, much, much better, and it was only while playing the Remaster that I began to take notice of all of the interesting influences that inform Gravity Rush (the Inferno's design and music take influence from Spyro: Year of the Dragon's volcano level, and from the lava tube in Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy).

Part III: Summary & Conclusion

Although some of the flaws of the original Gravity Rush carry over into this HD remaster, it's easy to forgive for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a sequel is just on the horizon, by all accounts a superior title that addresses every narrative loose end (although games should tie up all their own loose ends without requiring a sequel). Secondly, a lot of the gameplay issues have been rectified, and flying around, kicking tentacle monsters in their glowy red orbs, and navigating both the city of Hekseville and every other location.

If you have yet to play Gravity Rush and are curious, or if you have played it before but are interested in a superior version, know that Gravity Rush Remastered is for you. It stands as the definitive version of the game, and the transfer to PS4 was extremely well handled, making the Vita version completely obsolete.