Gravity Rush 2 makes you fall in love… and hate

“Gravity Rush,” one of the best titles for the PlayStation Vita, is recognized for both its remarkable heroine and refreshing novelty. It takes a simple concept – the ability to bend gravity to your will – and uses it to transform a game into a super-powered extravaganza unlike any other.

An IP as important as “Gravity Rush” deserves elevation, which is why we now have the PlayStation 4 exclusive “Gravity Rush 2.” A breath of fresh air in an ocean of unoriginal ideas, the game is as exhilarating as it is aesthetically enchanting. It would’ve been the perfect way to welcome the new gaming year – if it didn’t suffer from a few glaring problems.

Falling in love…

“Gravity Rush 2” begins several months after the events of its predecessor. Kat, our young, amnesiac protagonist, has been ripped from Dusty, her cosmic kitty and giver of gravity-shifting powers. Though she does her best to settle into her new life as a miner at the Banga Settlement, she nevertheless dreams of the glory days when she was the Gravity Queen, the superheroic savior of Hekseville.

But fate has other plans for Kat, and she is soon reunited with Dusty. Thus begins a new tale, one that will have Kat visiting new lands, tackling new problems, and reuniting with old friends thought forever lost.

“Gravity Rush 2” is an open-world action-adventure game. Though you first flex your gravity-defying muscles in the tiny Banga colony, you’re soon whisked away to Jirga Para Lhao, a floating metropolis breathtaking in size as well as beauty.

Jirga Para Lhao serves as your personal playground for a huge portion of the game. Composed of several large islands – each a conglomerate of tall buildings, crowded bazaars, and busy thoroughfares – the city is a colorful fusion of modern Asian and Latin American cultures. The atmosphere – which is helped by an upbeat, jazzy soundtrack – is cheerful, full of life.

The city also benefits from an authentic, lived-in feel, thanks to the hundreds of people walking around, talking, eating, and going about their daily business.

Eager to test the limits of the game world, I, as Kat, leapt off the edge of an island. As I plummeted thousands of miles, I expected “Game Over” to flash on the screen to announce my demise. Instead, a huge shape materialized below me – another world ripe for exploration.

Kat’s adventures will take her below and above the clouds, and to realms unimaginable. She’ll meet a bevy of characters, a good majority of them memorable. There’s also a lot of great humor to go around; many moments had me laughing, and loving every preposterous development. This helped endear me to the world and its denizens, and of course to Kat herself. The Gravity Queen is adorable in her childlike optimism, admirable in her selflessness and commitment to justice, and enviable in her faith in humanity and the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

The story progresses through cut scenes presented like a beautifully drawn graphic novel. Unlike other Japanese-made games I’ve recently played, “Gravity Rush 2’s” cinematics are short and punchy. I ended up looking forward to these segments, not only because they were genuinely entertaining, but also because each panel gave me more insight into these characters I’ve learned to love.

When up is down

Kat doesn’t fly, she falls. To speed to a distant location, you pinpoint it in your reticle, then press R1 to have gravity pull her in that direction – whether that’ up, down, or sideways. Changing directions mid-plunge is as easy as finding another spot to accelerate to. Soaring through the skies, between buildings, and under city foundations this way is at times invigorating, at other times relaxing, but always, always pure joy.

Kat possesses a slew of other nifty tricks. By shifting gravity, she can walk on walls or upside down on ceilings. She can levitate people and objects not rooted to the ground, then hurl them at specific targets, such as enemies. She can also perform a Gravity Kick, a powerful dive capable of taking weaker foes out in a single blow.

Eventually, Kat picks up even more skills, thanks to two “Attribute Tunes.” The first, Lunar Style, makes her lighter, giving her quick, floaty steps, and allowing her to jump stupendous heights. It also converts the Gravity Kick into the Wormhole Kick, which is a teleporting assault that has her phasing through enemy attacks. The second, Jupiter Style, makes her heavier. This lets her bulldoze through walls, obliterate multiple enemies with a devastating ground smash, and gather surrounding debris into a giant ball of junk that she can toss at enemies for supreme carnage. All it takes to shift between Styles is a single swipe on the touch pad.

Kat even uses her fists and feet in combat, but stringing together martial arts strikes by mashing a single button isn’t half as fun as wreaking havoc with her powers. You’ll have to mix up your attacks, as defeating “Gravity Rush 2’s” numerous enemies – including human soldiers, giant robots, and disturbing, gelatinous monsters known as Nevi – will require the employment of different strategies.

Skills are enhanced by spending red gems. These are found scattered throughout various locations. It can get addicting collecting these things, so much so that you’ll routinely find yourself straying from an objective just to bag the little suckers.

Additionally, Kat will also find Talismans that she can equip for a diversity of buffs.

As an added treat, you can take photos of gorgeous locations, then share your artistry online for various rewards. Other online features include treasure hunts, and races where you compete with the “ghosts” of other players.

The downward spiral

“Gravity Rush 2” boasts over 60 missions, which have you completing a rich variety of amusing tasks. Kat isn’t above taking on any kind of job; she’ll be a gardener, stunt double, newspaper delivery girl, photographer, and more. In one, an editor asks Kat to find and chase an elusive, disguise-obsessed author around the city; in another, she plays fetch with a dog. Others encourage you to maximize your use of Kat’s gifts, such as one where she delves into the belly of a gargantuan beast. A friend accompanies you in some of the more action-packed sequences, and it’s awesome fighting side-by-side with someone just as super-powered.

But not all missions are created equal, as evidenced by the epic time waster I’ve dubbed the “Search Quest.” On occasion, “Gravity Rush 2” charged me with locating people or places. Due to a dearth of clues about where to find them, such missions had me flying around for interminable stretches of time I would’ve rather spent kicking a Nevi in the orbs.

Then there are the misguided infiltration quests. Few things are more perplexing than stealth in a game with zero stealth mechanics. Not to mention these missions often prohibit you from using your gravity-shifting tools, which is the opposite of empowering. They’re also insta-fail; get spotted once, and you’ll be forced to return to a checkpoint.

Even the controls aren’t perfect. It’s far too easy to accidentally slip off a ledge, which raises problems when the situation requires precision.

The worst offender, however, is the camera, which can go from good to terrible in a blink. Colliding with a wall is enough to make the camera pitch or bank sharply, necessitating its realignment. In its zeal to follow every action, it’ll spin in every direction. It’s especially atrocious in tight spaces, where it becomes nigh-impossible to tell what’s going on due to the frequent and drastic camera angle changes. More than once, I had to stop playing because I was literally experiencing vertigo – and this is from someone who’s usually above such concerns, having battled many an uncooperative camera in my many years of gaming.

Landing on its feet

Up to now, I can’t shake the feeling the camera is a more sinister enemy than the game’s corrupt governments and vicious monsters. I hate how it renders parts of the game almost unplayable. The existence of some questionable mission design doesn’t help, either.

It’s a shame, really, because “Gravity Rush 2” is an otherwise lovely game that provides so many unique and wonderful experiences. Its vibrant, imaginative worlds, extraordinary soundtrack, novel physics-based abilities, varied missions, and loveable characters are unparalleled. I would have easily given it a 9; that I docked an entire point goes to show how obtrusive its problems are. If, one day, Team Gravity can find a way to patch that infuriating camera, then I’ll be glad to award it the score I know it should’ve gotten. — TJD, GMA News

Rating – 8/10

Platform: PlayStation 4