An unexpected, yet worthy product to be added to the already sizeable family of Playstation exclusives.
But back to the review, from what I've experienced from the game thus far from my 10-20 hours of accumulated, but addicted game play, you start out as a teenage girl who wakes from a coma of some sort with no memory of her past, and even her name, in an unknown town named Hekseville next to an astral cat who you befriend and take as your pet, who also has the power to allow you to shift gravity to her will by means of transportation, combat, or traversing around (and on) obstacles. Throughout the game, the protagonist earns the name Kat by a newly made friend, Syd, who works in the law enforcement of the town. Kat learns to use her powers for the good of the people and to gain the favor of the townsfolk as she starts out as an outcast for possessing her gift of superpowers. As the game progresses, you encounter friends, allies, rivals, and enemies alike as you upgrade and learn several skills and abilities, complete story missions. and defeat bosses. If you don't feel like getting far so fast, or if you like doing side tasks, the challenges, secrets, and leader boards may (more or less) keep you occupied.
Upon playing Gravity Rush, I've had mixed feelings for this game. Is it a good game, yes it is. It's styled in a manga-styled anime which makes good use of cinematic and comic-styled cut scenes, which makes you feel like you're playing a movie. Kat is also developed to be a realistic girl, what with the many parts of the game where she decorates her home, falls head over heels for guys, trys on different clothing, etc. Instead of her being mysterious and dark like most other games where the powers of their master keep them from seeming like real people, Kat is kept to be one you can relate to in everyday situations. You know, other than floating off the ground.
There are numerous powers and abilities to upgrade, from her combat to her gravity combat, from her shifting speed to her health, and from her usage of her powers to her special attacks. Energy crystals, the game's form of currency, can be earned by completing challenges, missions, or finding the well spread and hidden crystals on rooftops, under platforms, in tunnels, and any other accessible nook and cranny the player can reach. You can change Kat's clothes also. Right now, I have her main costume, and a school girl outfit, with 3 being locked. I'm not sure how to unlock those, but I am aware that there are 3 DLCs available for Gravity Rush already, so my guess is that those locked outfits are from the DLCs (if not, then there'll be well more than 8 sets of clothes to wear).
Speaking of clothing, in the game, Kat is troubled (as plenty of girls are, making her more relative to others) by her appearance, as plenty of NPCs find her "cute" but "not having much of a body" which troubles her, apparent that she's conscious of her looks. I have a hunch that the reason for this is that the developers wanted a new, original character to break through the overly used tactic of players using a busty female to play with, as other games such as Tomb Raider and Metroid, in order to gain appeal and sales. In short, this game keeps you busy while keeping things...a bit different in a refreshing way.
Now, this isn't the BEST game ever. It IS one of the best handheld games I've played, but, again, not the BEST game ever. Why so? Kat's past is undefined, so no one really knows how she came to Hekseville and why she was chosen by her pet, Dusty, to acquire her powers, etc. Also, the combat is somewhat frustrating. Most of Kat's attacks are gravity based, and when they're used for tall and/or flying enemies, half of the time, she sails past the enemies with her charging gravity kicks, in which you'll have to either reposition your camera carefully (sometimes several attempts are needed to succeed), or you use your special attacks, which have a cool down period, making them ideal only for desperate or well purposed times. Speaking of the camera, the game makes use of the Vita's available motion sensors in order to view the surroundings in Gravity Rush. While being clever, it can get annoying, as the slightest movement of the handheld system can make you miss your targets in mid-flight, make turning the camera fussy, or just mess with your perspective of which way you're flying or falling, forcing you to either trust your gut, or stop and see where the heck you're at, and in what position and direction. To make things easier for myself, I turned the motion sensitivity off all the way so that the right analog stick is my means of looking around.
For an open world game, the world isn't much interactive, if found to be somewhat interactive. You can't really talk to just anybody, you can't do things just for the fun of it (ex: GTA IV having arcades, darts, etc), and the world only changes during missions and when you save parts of Hekseville and restore them together as a sort of giant puzzle of missing fragments of a whole.
To sum up the game, it's original, refreshing, capable of addiction, and a pleasure to play, especially with Vita's relatively small line up, despite being released for about a year already, but falls short in certain categories that would make it a VERY good game. This isn't necessarily the game that would have you buy the Vita right away, should you not have one, but if you need a game for your Vita, it would certainly be a good first. I'll enjoy playing through the rest of the game. This game has potential, and it seems that this game could even have a (se/origins pre)quel. With a bit of changes, additions, and further development, this game COULD be one of the greatest (handheld) games of this new and quickly developing generations of games.