The PS Vita has a great launch line-up, but most of the first party titles are  just spin-offs (or ports) of PS3 games. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this, but the PS Vita deserves a unique game that makes the system worth owning. Well, this is where Gravity Daze comes in.

The Story – You play as Kat, a blonde haired red eyed girl with no memories, and one day you meet a black cat that gives you the power to control gravity. You use your new found powers to fight off the Nevi and help the people of Hekseville. During your journey you clash with a girl that has the same powers as you (Raven) and go up against an evil super villain. I won’t talk about the story too much,  it was great (I think)–but since this game is in Japanese I can’t give my final verdict on the plot until I get my hands on the English version.

PRAISE:

• Beautiful – This is one of the best looking PS Vita games, the cell-shaded graphics really pop out at you and the art direction is phenomenal.
• Big City – The city is broken into different parts and you unlock them as you progress through the episodes. It’s a decent size, and it’s layered with hidden areas, an underground, and rooftops to explore.
• I’m Free Falling – Falling out of the sky is more fun than it should be, I’d fly really high just to watch Kat fall, does that make me weird?
• Lots of Variety – Don’t come in to this thinking you’ll only be fighting monsters. There is a lot of combat in Gravity Daze, but it’s not all the game has to offer. There are tons of mission types; one minute you’re sneaking around hiding from cops, stopping a terrorist plot, and then you’re looking for furniture for your makeshift apartment underneath the city. These are only a few examples, I don’t want to ruin too much for you. Oh and did I mention all the challenges (races and other events) spread around the city?
• Tight Controls – Press R to turn on gravity, use the left stick or motion controls to line up the blue circle and then go flying through the air. The controls are responsive and easy to master. You’ll be juggling Kat in the air and destroying monsters with ease in no time.
• Gem Collector – The city is littered with gems for the taking, there are literally 1,000s for you to collect.
• Too Damn Cute – Kat is a wonderful protagonist, I became attached to her during my playtime. She really wants to help people, but sometimes things backfire on her. She gets tricked and bullied a few times during her adventure—but it’s impossible to hate her (even though she can be a bit of an airhead at times).
• Living Comic – Gravity Daze art direction pays homage to the work of French comic book artist Jean Giraud. I wanted to know what could inspire such an amazing world so I did some digging. Below are a few examples of Giraud’s work. The Kat and Raven characters seem to be inspired by Les Yeux du Chat (the image in the middle). The other images show someone walking on a wall, and another person falling from the sky. Click to enlarge the picture.

• Occasional Cutscenes – Most of the cutscenes are comic strips, but occasionally we are treated to more traditional cutscenes. These look lovely and will almost make you wish all the cutscenes were like this.
• The Suburbs – Most of your time is spent in the city, but sometimes you’re transported to mysterious places to do some training. Since I can’t speak Japanese and had no way of knowing what these places are actually called, I just called them “The Suburbs”. Anyway, these areas give a nice challenge, they’re filled with monsters to fight and new moves to learn.
• Air Lock – The combat could have been bad, but it’s quite fun once you get the hang of it. You can lock on to your enemies and give them a good gravity kick. You can also orbit objects around you and send them flying towards your target, and press triangle to hone in on your foe and unleash a devastating series of attacks.
• Tons of Boss Battles – If you like boss battles then you’re in luck. There are a ton of bosses to fight, from your rival to a big spider-like creature that you have to chase through the streets.
• Goofing Around – Playing with gravity is a blast; I spent hours just flying through the air and doing stupid things. Below is a video I made that shows off how fun it is to just play around.

• Busy Streets – The streets are filled with people and animals. You can even give them a good kick. You won’t get arrested; the person will just run away and then disappear.
• Difficulty Ramps Up Nicely – In the beginning you’ll feel like things are too easy, but during the later episodes you’ll die… a lot!
• The Little Things – Hair blowing in the wind, backflips off walls, cats meowing, and dogs barking. Little things like this always made me smile.
• Blimps – The skies are filled with blimps, and if you’re feeling bold you can even ride them around town.
• Working Around Limitations – The draw distance isn’t amazing, but thanks to the game’s comic book art style this doesn’t seem like a major problem.  The buildings in the distance are just a bunch of outlines, some people may have a problem with this–but I thought it was a cool way to work around the PS Vita’s limitations.

AWKWARD SILENCE:

• Not Import Friendly – As much as I love this game I don’t think you should import it. First off, you won’t understand the story. And there are a few missions that are hard to complete if you don’t know Japanese. For example, during one mission you have to find a missing schoolgirl, so you go around and question students. Well, the last one quizzes you. So you have to guess the right answers, if you don’t understand Japanese, it’s a major headache.
• Occasional Hiccups – A lot of stuff is going on at once sometimes, and in this situation the game can slow down. Although, this doesn’t happen often enough for it to become a major problem.

WELL-DESERVED CRITICISMS:

• Loading Times – The loading times can be a pain, if you die during a boss battle you have to wait about 30-40 seconds to try again. This is strange because when you’re playing around in the city there basically isn’t any loading times.
• Am I Upside Down? – Things become tricky later in the game, eventually you don’t know the difference between up or down. You’ll go flying through the air and land atop a building–only to find out that it’s upside down–and then you’ll go falling to your death.

CONCLUSION:

Forget the PS3 spin-offs, the PS Vita needs more games like this. It’s original, beautiful, deep, charming, and offers something that’s currently unavailable on home consoles. This is what I want from the PS Vita, the spin-offs are great—but at the end of the day they’re just more of the same. Gravity Daze has a few problems, but they don’t take away from the overall experience. This is one game that you’d be foolish to even consider skipping.

About DeShaun Zollicoffer

I’m a 25-year-old Ohio native and the Founder/ Editorial Director of Geek Revolt. When I’m not writing about my obsessions I’m working towards my MBA. If you’re still curious about me or GR read the FAQ.