Completed: Gravity Rush (PS Vita)

big huge massive preface to this.
I am not good at video games.
i would call this one of the first games i've EVER played that uses both analog sticks as an integeral part of gameplay.
I do not tend to play Action games.... i'm very happy in my tiny little jrpg bubble.

HOWEVER.... expanding ones pallet is important in all mediums...
so even though gravity rush is not the type of game i'm used to playing... it was free with Playstation+ and honestly what did i have to lose?

Also i'm going to sound a little harsh but i did really enjoy the game.

okay.... thats out of the way? good.

Gravity rush is about an amnesiac girl who just happens to be able to bend gravity to her will thanks to her kitty cat.
The story mainly focuses on her finding herself which just happens to involve saving this town in the clouds.
any more then that would probably be spoilers so yeah...
i will say the tone is very.... french...
i honestly can't think of another way to describe it, the style of the music and design of the characters (ignoring that the characters have a heavy anime influence) all looks very french. Considering the original project (which wasn't even for the vita) was called Gravité I think i may just be onto something. still this entire game oozes with style and character and even though i'm not a fan of "action adventure" and "open world" games make me grumble i had a blast.
well... for the most part.

The good:
The gravity mechanic is really well done and although it took me a while to get used to it is quite easy to control (as long as your not trying to fight with the camera to find that enemy you need to attack)
The Cel-Shaded style is really really pretty and the comic book cutsceens add to this feeling of a living story book. it did have a bit too much bloom in some areas for my taste but overall this game is really pretty.
Collecting never felt like work, i had to focus on collecting gems in the world cause i SUCK at the challenges but it was never tricky... the world is littered with them and i maxed out the stats i wanted maxed out a chapter or two before the end of the game (health, gavity guage/recovery/ some attacks)
The Music... if i get a chance i plan to buy the soundtrack cause a lot of the songs are very nice... especially the one used in fights thats just uplifting.

The not so good:
this isn't really... a bad thing about the game but it feels kinda like a proof of concept demo. pretty much every 'gimmick' the VITA possesses is used. some well (the sliding is decently easy to control though i tended to oversteer) and some not so well (i'm a jerky player so to have things like aiming assited by the gyroscope was a bit of a pain... i turned it's sensitivity way down but it still got in the way sometimes. but yeah it's not a bad thing that it's showing the potential for the system in an unusual way but there were moments where i wondered. "would this mechanic be missed if the vita couldn't do this"

The Bad:
again... i suck at games...
but dammit the combat made me want to defenestrate my vita.
even with the attacks i used maxed out i would still be perfectly aimed up with a core and kat would go sailing right past it. I asked my friend if there was a targeting system.. he said touch the enemy but that didn't do anything.... so i asked twitter if i was missing something about combat and i was informed by @taylorsshelf (aka Shinkara) that if i put more into attacks it would home more... and it does but still... something like kingdom hearts were i can just target the enemy would have been truly loved. (though using buttons other then the shoulder ones since thats how you control gravity)


so... yeah i guess i'm saying if this game was purely environmental puzzles i would have been thrilled... hopefully gravity rush 2 (which i will get) will have 'better' combat (and when i say better i mean in a way that even someone like me who is terrible at games can get the hang of it)

but the best thing about this game
The main characters name is Kat
my name (well... shortned) is Kat
this pleases me very much
the fact that she has a cat (fav animal) and glows red (favourite colour)... yeah this game was tailor made for me.

the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger (kinda) so i'm really happy that 2 is in the works (though as far as i can tell it may be a whole before we actually get it)

So yeah if you have a vita, get the game, it may still be free on playstation plus (it may not... i'm new to all this PS + stuff cause i never owned a ps3.... though if gaikai isn't a thing by the time i get ps4/persona 5 comes out.... well then i guess i can probably find a cheap ps3 somewhere... maybe sony will release a slim version or something...)

Now i gotta start thinking about year end stuff...
and persona 4 golden should arrive in a few days (the only thing i got from 'black friday' sales and i only got it cause i already had 10 bucks off from amazon) then after i beat that i'll probably get disgaea 3 and we'll take it from there.

Thanks again to those that had to put up with my bitching about my sucking at the combat. i was just frustrated since this was fairly far out of my comfort zone. But in the end i did get through it, feeling pretty happy right now.