Gravity Rush Remastered is the updated version of the popular Gravity Rush game on PSVita. I don't own a vita so i was excited to get the chance to experience this game first hand. You play as Kat, a girl from a special race known as Shifters with the ability to control and change her own gravitational field. At least i think it's a special race, it's never explained where she came from or how/why she has these powers. I personally like to think she is a prostitute on a really good ecstasy and cocaine high and the game takes place in her dream state. She runs around in her lingerie, which no one seems to question what so ever, and she is immune to all fall damage so i think the theory holds up pretty well. You even meet another Shifter along the way, and she's dressed in even skimpier lingerie than Kat, so it seems all the prostitutes in the city have teamed up to fight crime. But i digress. Kat also will not be confused for a brainiac. Early in the game she falls into a sewer and instead of being disgusted like most normal folks would be, she decides to build a home out of the biggest pipe she can find. But she certainly has a big heart, as she decides straight away to help out the city that she finds herself in without knowing anything about it.
The story is pretty cliched. Kat wakes up with amnesia and finds the city of Hekseville has been split into four parts and has been overrun by Nevi, which are the evil cousins of Link's annoying helper in The Ocarina of Time. the Nevi are apparently being controlled by an evil villain. However, you fully reunite the city and dispose of the evil villain about half way through the game, and the game then spends the rest of the time contriving more reasons for Nevi to still be in the city. A new evil villain is even introduced towards the very end of the game, but there's not enough time for you to get invested on why you should care about him. There are more than a handful of funny dialogue lines, so it's still worth it to not simply skip through all the cutscenes.
The gravity manipulation, which is the core feature of the game, works well most of the time. It's not as disorienting as you might think when you're floating mid air and have the ability to move in 360 degrees. Kat does get hung up on small things like lamp posts too often however. Part of this can certainly be attributed to user error, but I feel as though if i'm flying through the air at close to the speed of sound I should be able to break down a few of the relatively skinny things the city throws up in your way. The gravity field you manipulate can affect pedestrians in your immediate vicinity as well. It's always funny to hear the screams of the mere mortals as you take off to fly around and take a few passers-by with you. Combat consists of boringly kicking enemies, not-so-boringly gravity kicking enemies, and somewhat boring special moves. The gravity kick is where you will spend most of your combat time as it is by far the most effective and fun way to dispatch your enemies. It's somewhat annoying against flying enemies however, as the tracker that it uses can be a fickle mistress, and if the flying enemy you're trying to hit moves a quarter of an inch you will most likely send Kat flying right past it.
Gravity Rush is certainly worth your time to play, either on Vita or PS4. As long as you don't mind the cliched and unfocused story, the gravity manipulation is an interesting gameplay mechanic that, after a little practice, makes for fun times sailing all across the city, and Kat is a likeable character who, while she doesn't fully understand what it is she's doing, understands that she's in a position to help people who need it and will do so whenever necessary.