Despite its uneven mission design Gravity Rush 2 rises above those flaws.
Kat returns for one last gravity defying adventure. After falling into a gravity wormhole she gets thrown into a new world to explore. Still full of floating cities and blob monsters to destroy with powerful gravity drop kicks. Over the 4 chapters of the game, it ends up going over some interesting topics like the fact the Jirga Para Lhao is ruled by a class system that puts the rich over the poor. With Kat being the classic hero archetype it should end a certain way but it may go in a direction you might not expect. One of the strongest points of this game is the story and when it is done well I was very invested in what was going on. The main story is generally solid (Other than the stealth missions ahh.) throughout but that isn’t the same for the side missions.
Unlike the first game, it feels like I was drowning in stuff to do in this one. Returning from the first game are challenge missions that test your gravity skills in a time trial fashion. With them being so short I quite enjoy playing them since using gravity powers is really fun. Another neat side mode has other players take pictures of hidden treasure chests that are then used to locate the chest in your game. All that is great but the named side missions are where things start to fall apart a bit. A lot of the issues I have with the side missions is that the good ones have a nice little narrative to go with them. While the bad ones just go on for far too long. The last thing I want to do is repeat the same boring thing 3 times in a row. Especially harsh in the mining side missions that is literally just about collecting ore to level up. The last thing I want to do is grind out levels in an action game. On the plus side, all of this is optional but still a bummer that some the missions are a letdown. A similar issue shows up in the gameplay.
In general, the basic movement and attack is kinda the best for just about any situation. The gist of the gameplay consists of dive kicking the living daylights out of everyone. Either with some normal kicks on the ground or a gravity kick from the air. Along with the ability to pick up random boxes to throw at enemies and a super move that can wipe out any nearby enemy. If you played the first game this may sound similar since it is exactly the same. This time the developers decided to add 2 extra styles that change up the effectiveness of moves. Lunar style speeds up attacks and makes it easier to leap around the world. Jupitar slows everything down while making attacks more damaging. Other than the sections that required me to use them it never seemed like they were more effective than the normal moves. Since either they don’t do enough damage or it takes to long to charge up an attack thus giving the enemy ample time to interrupt. The most use I got out of these additional styles was Lunar that let me get around the world faster. Even if the gameplay isn’t always useful the colorful world makes the game nice to look at.
The art style is other strongest point in this game's favor. Between the unique visual construction of all the different building and ruins, you won’t be seeing any other game that shows off such a wide swath of building architecture. At the same time, Kat and the rest of the cast have a nice cel-shaded look that matches the distinct look that this game has. As I come to the conclusion of this review I now see that I think this game matches the gameplay of the first game without really improving on it. The improvements mostly come from some crazy story arcs and a must better-looking game.If that sounds fun to you then I suggest you check out Gravity Rush 2.
