REVIEW – Innovation. That was the primary keyword of PlayStation Vita itself and one of its crown jewel from 2012: Gravity Rush from Sony Japan. Besides the fascinating anime fantasy world, the smooth cell-shaded graphics and the well-constructed story, the controls of the game were unique: moving the PS Vita around we could totally move the world around the main character, Kat while she was flying and fighting her enemies. The gravity-based platforming title was totally revolutionary at its time, and while it failed at being the much-wanted killer app for the PS Vita, it was one of its best titles. Four years laters Sony decided to make another PlayStation 4 remaster from the original game…

Let’s no longer delve on what could have been, and what happened instead to the PS Vita. Yes, it’s a sad story, Sony’s handheld could have achieved a triumphant victory with much more AAA killer titles. Still, Gravity Rush was one of them, and since it’s still one of the best titles of the Vita, it’s no wonder, that Sony Japan wanted to let it know to PlayStation 4 users. The real question was if it could achieve the same quality as the handheld version.

Gorgeous cell-shaded graphics

When I compared the original presentation of the PlayStation Vita to the new one, I immediately noticed how strikingly good the Remastered version looks. Without directly considering the technical merits of Bluepoint’s work, it becomes apparent that the art style of the original release has aged extremely well. Instead of the typical pixel and framerate-counting, I couldn’t help but be awed by the Art Nouveau cityscapes, the different genres of steam-punkish city-part of Hekseville of European style and the various, more dream-like areas.

The art style of Gravity Rush challenges the laughable pixel-counting that often diminishes other games who find themselves so desperately deprived of the caliber of flair which is seen here. It was already apparent in the PS Vita version, and in the more refined, sharper version of the PlayStation 4, it’s even more striking.

Come, fly in this new world with your DS4 in your hand!

This happy marriage of graphical splendor and the fantastic art style is complemented by the tremendous technical improvements of the PlayStation 4. Kat, the gravity shifter girl, is now flying at 1080p resolution and a buttery-smooth sixty frames per second with an extreme amount of higher quality textures thrown into the bargain.

Looking at this graphical splendor you will quickly forget that this was a four-year-old PlayStation Vita title, and it becomes apparent, that the game was always destined to be on the big screen of an HD television.

The old controls of the PS Vita, which used gyroscope-powered control scheme of the PS Vita original are replaced now by the similar, but better motion control capabilities of the DualShock 4. While you are also to use just the analog inputs of the DS4, I advise you to at least try out the motion control as well.

Kat and her kitty cat

What thankfully remained the same is the charming story of protagonist Kat, her mysterious cat, and her gravity-defying powers as she attempts to not only recover her lost memory but also to understand her destiny and free the separated districts of Hekseville from the strange alien Nevi menace.

The overall simple, yet sometimes surprisingly deep story is told through lots of gorgeously drawn comic book pages. It has aged especially well thanks to the new higher-definition presentation. While Gravity Rush’s story is “only” a superhero’s tale of newfound powers and some simple missions, in the beginning, you will be unavoidably drawn into its tale of destiny and discordant society of this utopistic world of Hekseville.

Fight your way through Hekseville

Hekseville is also an open world, where you can engage in story missions, side-missions, or more or less difficult challenges. You can also just soar through the sky and gather purple diamonds, which allows you to level up your character through different skills related to your gravity defying abilities or combat specialties.

Yes, besides flying everywhere, you need also to fight the Nevi, the strange alien race which is menacing the citizens of Hekseville. You can oppose them either in the air or on the ground although the prior technique will become more natural and more fun in the long term.

Concerning the combat, the original PS Vita version had some issues of being a bit imprecise and sometimes even clumsy. With the PlayStation 4 iteration all this improved considerably, especially in regards to the airborne attacks: finding those weak spots is much easier thanks to the large screen, the 60 FPS and, of course, the better control of the DS4 as well.

A well-deserved, excellent remaster

There were several remastered version lately on the PS4, which honestly felt unnecessary. Such is not the case with Gravity Rush, which takes everything you experienced on the PS Vita to a whole new level. Gravity Rush was the shining diamond of the small handheld device, and it truly deserves to be experienced by the “big brother”.

Yes, there are some minor problems, which originates mainly from the handheld past. As far as the open world goes, Hekseville’s world is a bit small – especially compared to another open world of games of this already crowded market.

There are also some minor controlling issues during the diamond gathering, which are a bit tiresome as well after a while.

Those are just minor annoyances however and trust me: if you never experienced Gravity Rush so far, your world will indeed be turned upside-down by this game!

-BadSector-

Publisher: SCEI, SCEA, SCE Australia, SCEE,

Developer: Bluepoint Games, SCE Japan Studio, SCEI

Genre: Action, adventure

Release date: February 1th, 2016