New York Falls

The beginnings of the Juggernaus series

 
The first warning anyone had in New York was on the Manhattan Bridge. The first sign of any disturbance was when hair started to rise on arms and static discharges occurred between cars and the safety railing. The discharges grew in intensity and frequency, jumping from car to car to railing at the center of the bridge. Trains experienced chaotic power fluctuations, causing fail-safes to trigger and the trains to stop on the bridge.

Within minutes of the disturbance starting, large electrical discharges along the bridge supports caused any traffic that was still moving to a standstill, with drivers getting out to stare open mouthed at the unexplained electrical storm. Curiosity turned to apprehension which soon turned to fear and then into terror as the discharges started pointing inwards and coalescing into a sphere in the center of the bridge, growing in size from a simple golf ball to a sphere as large as a car and casting a pale purple glow.

The purple sphere elongated down towards the bridge, becoming an ovoid shape. Foot traffic at this point had fled in terror, yelling and stampeding in either direction, desperate to get away. Where the ovoid intersected the bridge, metal melted or rusted and plastic turned to ash or exploded in a shower of molten liquid, a truck stopped beneath it simply disintegrated into dust, the driver just managing to get to safety. Every other driver not yet out of their car grabbed children, purses, briefcases or just simply opened the door and ran in panic, before the expanding ovoid got them too.

The ovoid stopped expanding microns above the asphalt of the central lane, severing the inner support cables and melting one of the cars of the abandoned subway trains. It simply hung there for a full minute before it started to flatten on both sides, becoming an oval disc with both faces visible along the bridge. The surfaces of the ovoid began to fluctuate, and if you could compare both sides you'd see that they were fluctuating differently, if one side bent inwards the other would not bend outwards. Within seconds of the surfaces fluctuating, they both began to move inwards, the sides almost disappearing as they became vortices of darkness, only it's edges visible.

The surface of the ovoid facing Manhattan Island became a vortex that fell away into blackness. A few brave souls had remained at the edge of the bridge, gazing into the vortex, and a shout arose as a pinprick of light was seen at the center of the vortex, rapidly expanding to revolve into what appeared to be a wall of thick dust, which floated out of the ovoid and spread out along the bridge.

It was at this point that police cars arrived at both ends of the bridge, quickly blockading all 3 levels and forcing any remaining brave observers back behind further blockades. Swat trucks and tactical teams pulled up soon after, the dust cloud spreading towards Manhattan as they set up positions. As the dust cloud began to shift oddly, the bridge shaking slightly. The police and swat units on the Brooklyn side quickly reporting that the ovoid was gone, and that they could see a large silhouette inside of the dust cloud.

Like a dramatic unveiling, a breeze started up, quickly drawing the dust cloud away, revealing a large figure, 50 meters tall and heavily armored, glowing pinpricks of electric blue light for eyes, with an Australian flag painted on its shoulder and the words "Juggernaus" and "Australian Titan Corps" stencilled just below its chin on it's chest. The police units stood and stared, their mouths gaping open in abject terror. They opened fire upon the hulking bringer of death as it began to stride forward....

Game Review: Gravity Rush

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to another Game Pad Game Review!

This issue we'll be reviewing Gravity Rush (Gravity Daze in Japan), the vertigo inducing roller coaster of a game on the under appreciated PS Vita.

       The game begins as such games do, with an apple. This apple is many things, metaphor, symbol, and also a tasty apple. The apple then falls from on high down to the mutli-district city of Hekseville, and eventually to our protagonist, who, due to amnesia, cannot remember her name. After saving a father and son she wanders the city, eventually becoming named Kat by a scruffy cop. Kat soon learns that thanks to her mysterious cat she dubs Dusty, she's a gravity-shifter, one of the few who has the ability to shift gravity. Shifting is, at the start, really difficult difficult to get the hang of, but when you do it's the most damned fun you'll have on any handheld in this generation of handheld consoles.

     The plot of the game initially revolves around Kat becoming familiar with the city she wakes up in, finding a job and building a home, and then beginning to help the city defend itself from the enigmatic Nevi, strange beings linked with gravity storms that have been literally tearing the city apart. The story progresses and Kat becomes more and more embroiled with Hekseville's battle for survival. While the ending leads a few questions to be answered, as well as making some new ones, It leaves just enough unanswered for a sequel, one I fervently wait for.

      The game is quite visually stunning, with explicit attention to detail right down ads on the street. I know that probably sounds cheesy but the game universe is fully realized, every pertinent detail of both the world and the scenery immaculately crafted. It's very easy to immerse yourself in because of the visuals, they draw you in, and then the shifting starts and then it's 4 hours later and you've had the best time. I seriously love this game, as my first game of many for the PS Vita, I think it was the best one to start with!.

 

Category	Rating: out of 5 gamepads
Gameplay:
Plot:
Enjoyment:
Total: