Gravity Rush 2 Review – A Step Up From Its Predecessor

After nearly five years of absence from the gaming world, SIE Japan Studio and Project Siren’s Gravity Rush is back. And although this sequel, an open-world, third-person action/adventure game may have a very slow pace – at first, which is down to the necessary story moments, and a somewhat similar feel to its predecessor, you’ll be bouncing around the world having so much enough fun, that the positives will definitely outweigh those minor negatives.

Gravity Rush 2 starts out in an inconsistent manner. As soon as you get hold of Kat — the same protagonist from the first game — a blonde with a fun attitude, the game will douse the screen with tutorials often times feeling unhinged and too elementary.

From the original Gravity Rush, Kat had become a master of gravity and looked the part. When we find her in the sequel, Kat is more so a legend that fellow villagers, hearing of her adventures, don’t believe. Kat starts off as an errand-runner doing remedial tasks for others until she reacquires her previous abilities.

"One of the odd parts is the game continuously reminding the player of how the powers work for the first hour-or-so."

One of the odd parts is the game continuously reminding the player of how the powers work for the first hour-or-so. It feels as though it doesn’t trust that the player is competent enough to full grasp the outrageously easy control scheme. To learn each power the game will send you to certain locations to try each them out and you’ll soon realize that the entire setup is interactive and actually very fun.

Returning to her village and other locations, Kat is often tasked with fulfilling pointless but sometimes very fun tasks such as finding loose ducks, a missing person, racing challenges and running from point to point while doing timed mini quests among others things. Gravity Rush 2 thrives as an open-world game with tons of things to do. There are vastly different challenges to fill the large spaces of each lively, little village in every direction. There are combat challenges that return from the original game as well.

Along side these tasks the story is lightly sprinkled out in a comic book style format that you can read along to.  You won’t find much stellar voice acting or cut-scenes. But this form of story telling is interesting to see; comic-style in modern games on a console is unique as it’s not a common route developers often take.

"This is definitely a game you’re going to want to take your time with and enjoy the scenery. The graphics are beautiful and full of detail."

Kat has many abilities that can be leveled up as you play through the game. These abilities differ from moving faster to making combat more intuitive, and many more things that make the adventuring much more fun. The problem with the leveling system is that you may have to do a few unwanted side-quests along the way, and some of them can be tedious and boring. They more or less are just there to earn enough points to get those desired ability upgrades.

This is definitely a game you’re going to want to take your time with and enjoy the scenery. The graphics are beautiful and full of detail. From visiting worlds only possible in video games, and mysteries that only one who controls gravity can discover, Gravity Rush 2 looks pretty amazing at times. It’s not going to be at the level of other huge triple-A games but what is there is quite lovely and an interesting take on a gaming world.

I found the controls are consistent but not as engaging as I’d liked them to be. By pressing R1, Kat begins to float and then aiming with the right stick lets you choose which direction you’d like her to zoom off to in midair with a press of X or R1. Adjusting the direction afterwards gets a little odd. You can stop in mid air and recalculate where Kat heads or tilt the controller with its tilt sensor.

"Just like last year’s The Last Guardian, Gravity Rush 2 provides an experience that is becoming harder to come by these days."

Furthermore, players can attack by pressing the square button; but for some reason it never feels solid. I kept thinking I may have missed the hit or it just didn’t register. But as soon as I got used to the controls it didn’t bother me…as much. The weird feel of attack was also coupled with the walking and running of Kat. I needed the controls to be a bit tighter in this area. Kat runs fast without any sort of build up or starting pace. This leaves her motions to seem loose and sometimes independent of my commands, especially in the layout of the world which is floating and falling off can lead to certain death.

Other attacks such as aerial attacks and brawler stances worked perfect and left little room for improvement. These combat mechanics allow Kat to attack enemies while floating in the air and with a nice lock on feature that doesn’t seem weighed down by attaching itself to one enemy until it dies. This allows Kat to take on the action from enemy to enemy if you choose. In no time at all, enemies will be falling down around you with the help of your powers.

As the game was about to wrap up I found myself still having a lot of fun. Just like last year’s The Last Guardian, Gravity Rush 2 provides an experience that is becoming harder to come by these days. There is a meandering story that is sometimes just not necessary, and a lot of unwanted side quests, but when you get past these minor obstacles Gravity Rush 2 really shines.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.