[Preview] Gravity Rush

Of the games about to come out on the PSV, Gravity Daze certainly looks to be theone that makes best use of the system’s abilities the most while retaining theproperties of a traditional game. It has also received interest largely becauseit is not a simple remake or have any console counterparts. While checking outthe PSV recently, we downloaded the demo from the PSN store to give the game aquick look.

With its beautiful cel-shaded graphics and vibrant colors, Gravity Rush doesn’t need the technicalpower of a home console in order to wow. Animations are smooth, often temptingplayers to roam the environments rather than go toward the objectives. Cutscenes are presented in comic panels quite fitting of the art style. As anovelty, or perhaps something that will affect gameplay in the full version, thegyrometer is put to use during cutscenes and will tilt along with the system,giving new angles from which to view the story.

Once players are done gazing at the game’s beauty, they willhave a chance to marvel at the game’s equally mind-blowing gameplay. The game’sfloating mechanic allows protagonist Kat to freely float and aim a spot uponwhich to land. At first, it seems like a mundane feature of the game, butcombined with kicks that bounce players back into the air, it will keep playersaiming at enemies in the air and taking them down one-by-one. It does give therush that the game’s name implies, challenging players to combo as many and asquickly as possible.

The demo concludes with a boss that has several spinninglimbs, all of which have a weak spot that must be kicked from a floating state.As with any traditional boss, repetition only gets the player so far before newstrategies must be implemented. As individual limbs lose their vulnerability,players will have to aim more carefully rather than catapulting Kat mindlessly.Once the limbs are all taken out, players can also rush in and finish the bossoff with basic melee attacks, not unlike those of other action adventure games.

Amongst the heavy hitters that will be coming out at the PSV’slaunch, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyssand Resistance: Burning Skies, it’seasy to overlook a title without any name recognition to it. However, gamersthat have been complaining about the lack of original titles on Sony’sportables should definitely give GravityRush a spin. It could change their perspectives on the Vita’s launch.