Gravity Rush 2 is the sequel to the award winning Gravity Rush for the PS Vita that was released several years ago. Back then, it was the most notable and well appreciated game for the handheld and was later released on the PS4 to get fans prepared for its upcoming sequel. Getting all of the good things from the first game and incorporating new stuff to make the sequel stand out, Gravity Rush 2 will make fans feel that it has everything the first game should have had.
Fans of the first game may have felt that the game was somehow incomplete with how the story ended. With Gravity Rush 2, some of the story gap that was never shown in the first game will be revealed. Since the game is now a console title, opposed to the first title aimed for a portable experience, the scope of the game this time around is massive. With Kat being back in action and using her gravity powers to do daily chores in the new town that she’s at, she’ll be once again battling Nevis to save the day and of course, unveiling new mysteries of the game.
Several months following the events of the first title, Kat and her detective friend Syd find themselves in a new settlement located just above the clouds struggling with the threat of gravity storms that occur very frequently. With mining ores being their source of living, Kat and her friend Syd pay back some debt to Lisa who is currently taking care of them. With Kat powers gone, she must do the mining activities the hard way. Luckily, she eventually finds Dusty and gets her powers back. With her power to control the center of the gravity, she’ll be helping out the settlement, while reconnecting to her past and unveiling a new story that gets more interesting the more you play through it.
The story progression in Gravity Rush 2 is similar to the first game. There are story missions that are divided in over 20 episodes and about 40 side missions that you can do. Unlike other games where side missions tend to get tedious due to its repetitiveness, Gravity Rush 2 offers a lot of varied side quests to make it fun and enjoyable. With its open-world nature, there are just too many things to do in this game. Not to mention there are challenges that you can do, and events to enter generated by other players. In other words, there are lots of things in store for everyone.
When it comes to combat, Kat is now feistier compared to her former self. She still gets her usual combo kicks and abilities but she also some has new ones to make her more powerful. Using the gravity around her, she can throw inanimate objects around her to the pesky Nevis. But in my experience, I prefer doing her iconic Gravity Kick to get the job done. In addition, she’ll also be able to do air combos and homing attacks while floating, making her even deadlier when using the gravity around her as an advantage. As always, the Nevis have the red orb weakness that Kat needs to hit in order to really take them down and with her gravity powers, it makes everything easy as you can initiate combat in any form you want.
As you progress through the over 20 episodes of the game, Kat will eventually unlock two “new styles” aside from her standard mode. She’ll have a “Lunar Style” that makes her lighter, and the “Jupiter Style”, which makes her heavier. When in battle, if you decide to use the Lunar Style, you can make Kat act like a catapult as she charges herself to enemies while the Jupiter Style will make her be like a Comet to strike down to her enemies unleashing devastating damage. These two new additions make the combat even more fun and varied. With so many combos and attacks that Kat can use, you literally have the freedom to use any of them and make Kat the superhero you want her to be.
Controlling the gravity is one of the main powers of Kat and with that, you’ll find yourself flying around in the different locales of the game. It has the same controls as the remastered version of the first game where you press R1 to float and L1 to stop using her powers. If there’s one thing I’m really annoyed at, it would be controlling the camera. There are times that moving the camera is super annoying especially during intense boss battles.
Visually, Gravity Rush 2 looks very pretty and beautiful. The environments that you’ll get to see are very vivid when it comes to the game’s visual fidelity. It still retains the art style of the original game, and it’s not a bad thing at all as it manages to stay true to the original. While it still doesn’t have cutscenes with voice overs, it still has that comic-style narration. As for the bosses, expect to see new and big ones to fight. Fortunately, I love the boss battles in this game as it’s challenging fighting through them while finding weaknesses and performing all sorts of combos from either midair or on the ground. Pretty much everything in the visuals of Gravity Rush 2 is exemplary and despite not having Pro Support yet, the game looks fantastic on a 4K TV screen.
Verdict
As a fan of the original game, I must say that Gravity Rush 2 is a good game overall. While the storyline starts off slow, it builds to a thrilling adventure that ultimately offers closure. In addition to a good story, the characters are quite memorable and likable, making their interactions all the more interesting. With the vast improvements in story narration, combat system, and overall open-world design, Gravity Rush 2 is a worthy sequel and a must for PS4 owners.
[Editor’s Note: Gravity Rush 2 was reviewed on PS4 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
