Gravity Rush. I don't know if anyone else has been anticipating this one as much as I have (guess it depends on whether or not you have a Vita), but it released today, and after the first few hours of play I'll share my thoughts. But first, .
I've had a really good time with this game so far. Very fun, and though the controls aren't the most intuitive in the world, it hasn't taken me very long to get used to them. The game uses a combination of button, touch screen, and tilt controls, and overall these are implemented well and easy to use. I was a little worried about having to swipe the screen to dodge, but once I did it I found this to be very easy. For one, you can swipe anywhere, and you don't have to give more than a quick, short pass of your finger. Even though this means letting off of the other controls for a second, it hasn't caused me any trouble. Your basic attack is mapped to one button, but this can be combined with gravity manipulation to perform different attacks. You can also pick items up in a stasis field around you and hurl them at enemies. This field can also be used to carry objects, or, as in one mission, even people.
Of course, the main event is in gravity manipulation. Esentially you hit R to hover, and when you do you can aim and hit the botton to make whatever you were aiming at the new down. This is only for you, though; gravity remains normal for everyone else. People can get caught in your field and flung around with you a bit, but they never seem to get hurt even if they have a pretty long fall back down. While you're actively manipulating gravity a gauge will decrease, and normal gravity will reset once it is empty (hit L to manually restore normal gravity). The gauge refills quickly, and I haven't had any real delays with regard to waiting around for it to fill back up. This, and all your other stats and powers, is upgraded by finding orbs throughout the world. I'm still early in the game, and I can already fly for a very long time.
Just flying on its own is a great deal of fun. I think a lot of this comes from that it's more than just having a fly button. You can fly, but within a system that has its own limitations. I've already gotten the hang of hovering and altering direction mid-flight, though I'll admit that manually altering my course while falling in any particular direction is still pretty difficult. Using the sticks will alter your course to a small degree, and tilting the system will alter it to a large degree. These won't change whatever direction is currently your down, though. To do that you must enter hover again and re-aim. This is what I mostly do. The stick and tilt redirection works well enough, but I haven't been able to use those very well for finesse maneuvering. Either way, flying is a blast, which you'll find out the first time you start scouring the open world for upgrade orbs.
You can also get these orbs through side challenges, most of which are actually challenging and will require upgrades to get gold medals on. So far it's these challenges that have made up most of the games difficulty. Traversing the world and fighting hasn't been too tough yet, though I'd imagine it'll get more challenging later on. Still, I'm not expecting to be fuming at my Vita except for maybe when I miss the gold medal on a race challenge by less than 2 seconds.
I've seen a review that said the story is hard to follow, and though I haven't seen enough to agree or disagree, it does take you in a lot of directions. Of course, this isn't something that bothers me. Life pulls you in a lot of directions at once, so I feel more naturally drawn in when a game doesn't focus soley on one thing that's going on.
I give it high points for style. I like the world and the art style, and I like the comic/story board style cutscenes. The music has been good so far though I haven't been listening to it all that intently yet. Fighting is simple and fun, and so far they've introduced new enemy types regularly enough to keep things from getting stale. Really, the whole game has been a fun experience so far, and again, the flying is the best part. I know I keep bringing it up, but it really is a blast. I don't mind running all over the map to do side things between missions because the traversal itself is fun, and even when I'm done I mite just breeze around a while longer. That alone really sells the game, and makes it worth the money. ...which is good since it's the main focus of the game after all.
Anyway, to anyone who has a Vita, I would definately recommend a look. Don't know if I'd go so far as to say system seller, but close. On a side note, here is a .
