Gravity Rush 2’s vibrant world is the perfect escape from the political nightmare of Donald Trump – or is it?

The adventures of a flying girl and her space cat might look like ideal escapism – but not for long
Sony
Joni Blyth2 February 2017

In can be hard in times of strife to find places to turn for escape.

I used to love cracking on an episode of Veep or House of Cards to distract myself in troubled times – now in the current political landscape I can hardly get through an episode of the West Wing without bawling, and Resident Evil VII just looks like a grim vision of an increasingly inevitable apocalypse.

After just a few weeks of 2017 I’m ready to crawl into bed and hide under the covers – now more than ever we all need something fun, to give us a break from the news, protests, and encroaching tyranny.

Then, I found the answer – Gravity Rush 2. This wacky physics-based adventure game seemed like the perfect slice of joy to take my mind off the news! Sure, I hadn’t played the original Gravity Rush in 2013, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me

I wanted something light, silly, maybe even a little bit bizarre – and Gravity Rush 2 delivered all of these in spades. The game opens with our impossibly peppy heroine Kat sleeping in a bird coop and working on a floating oil rig for food rations – although she doesn’t spend long there before her trusty space-cat shows up to imbue her with gravity-shifting powers and send her careening through the skies.

Seriously – space cat. Its name is Dusty, it gives her magic powers and seems to be her most trusted confidante in her travels across the game world’s floating cities. This is exactly what I needed – a celestial pussycat flying through the stars, un-groped by sexist tyrants or restricted by republican legislature. Just a cat, named Dusty, helping me save the world.

And what a world it is. Gravity Rush 2’s cities are as sprawling as they are beautiful, with market stalls and alleyways to explore from every angle – quite literally, thanks to Kat’s gravity shifting powers. Those struggling to wait for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild should get a kick out of the cel-shaded art style, which coupled with the manga-style cut-scenes ensure you don’t take anything here too seriously (probably for the best).

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While Gravity Rush 2 takes a while to get you out of the mining shanty town you start in, by the time you make it to the big city the story has turned full-tilt towards the bizarre.

One minute you’re helping free your best friend from the control of a creepy iron mask, the next you’re mistaken for a local jazz singer and asked to perform for the troops - which of course leads you to bust out the seminal classic ‘A Red Apple Fell From the Sky’, which quickly has the assembled crowd screaming for more.

Seriously, I have no idea what’s going on in this game – and Gravity Rush 2 doesn’t stay still long enough for you to figure it out. Missions ask you to strip-mine floating seashells, chase down ducks who have escaped from your bedroom, and battle oily alien foes on top of giant flowers.

I was loving it – and then the plot shifted, and I was brought crashing back to earth.

Sony

Gravity Rush 2 suddenly pivots into ‘Dystopian Fantasy 101’, as you realise that class struggles are manifested quite literally in the floating-city structure, with a tyrannical elite ruling over those below them.

Soon enough Kat becomes the most optimistic revolutionary this side of Les Mis, as she fights alongside local gang The Angry Centipede to stop the 1% demolishing the shantytown down below to build an amusement park.

Suddenly I’m defending refugees, fighting kill squads and trying to convince my friends to join in the fight – most of whom are all too willing to appease the tyrants and agree to their demands.

Ah well – maybe I can’t escape the news after all. At this rate Mario is going to end up organising rallies and protesting legislature when he arrives in the real world for Super Mario Odyssey on Nintendo Switch.

Gravity Rush 2 is out now on PlayStation 4

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