Gravity Daze/Rush

[Yoshi]

9 from Eurogamer

[mollipen]

This game is so good. So good. I can't support the idea of buying a Vita (or anything) just for one game, but there's no doubt this would be one of the games to include as reasons for getting a Vita. It reminds you that yes, Japanese developers actually can still make awesome games sometimes.

[No One]

This is definitely the game I'm looking forward to most next month. Comes out on my birthday, to boot. Had no idea Keiichiro Toyama was involved with this until I read an interview with him about it recently. Quite a gear change thematically compared to his previous work!

[Mzo]

The demo that was up on store machines before the Vita release is finally on PSN.

Woo? Yeah, still woo. Game is awesome.

[No One]

Anyone else playing this? I was geeking out pretty hard the couple hours I played last night. Just insane graphics for a handheld; it's nice to be playing something on Vita that doesn't look like a slightly-boosted PSP game. Gravity shifting/flying is awkward at first but more intuitive than it seemed when I played the demo months ago. Before long I was getting around the first area easily with a fluid combination of running, jumping, and flying. The simple melee fighting on the ground seems a bit disappointing until you float up into the air and start flipping all over the place and dive kicking enemies. It's pretty awesome to watch. I love the art design as well; it seems very inspired by Moebius' stuff. Kouhei Tanaka's fully-orchestrated soundtrack is typically wonderful (reminds me of his work on Resonance of Fate).

I get the same feeling playing this that I did when playing games like Ico and Panzer Dragoon. There's just so much artistry and care put into almost every aspect of it. My only real gripes so far are that the camera is too sensitive and occasionally wigs out in tight spaces, and swiping the screen to dodge is somewhat unintuitive. I'd have preferred either a dedicated button or using the rear touch pad instead.

On a somewhat-related note, I love that the Eurogamer review mentions that the spoken dialogue is untranslated Japanese, when in fact it's a made up dialect similar to the one heard in Panzer Dragoon.

[Mzo]

Wasn't the EGM review shiboshi? Oh ohs! Yeah, it's a made up, French-sounding langue.

This is one of those labor of love games that are just beautiful through and through.

[No One]

Wasn't the EGM review shiboshi? Oh ohs! Yeah, it's a made up, French-sounding langue.

This is one of those labor of love games that are just beautiful through and through.

Eh, my bad, it was Eurogamer, not EGM. Better edit that.

But yeah, I'm already seriously craving playing it some more.

Edit: As it turns out, the EGM review was the one I really liked.

[Mzo]

I'm surprised a European doesn't have a better ear for languages. I thought that was our thing.

I can understand why NPCs are down with Shifters, every time I take off I launch someone's grandma over a roof.

[No One]

What the hell happens to everyone you shift with you, anyway? I haven't bothered to go back and look yet. Do they just plummet to the ground?

[Mzo]

Yeah they fall to the ground and get back up. I spent some time messing with people.