style is substance
It’s always great to play a game that takes a simple approach to game play, nails it, and runs with it to the finish line. GunGrave is one of the best examples of this.
If you’re old enough to remember just how huge Max Payne was in the 6th generation (For those who don’t, Final Fantasy and Star Wars copied that formula), you’ll remember most of the games that aped its mechanics not doing to much to mess with such a winning system. GunGrave does boldly subvert this, in the most 180 degree way possible. Instead of being focused on nonstop fluid movement, GunGrave wants you to stand still.
With a combat system designed around gaining a high hit count, the game optimizes the narrow hallways you’ll be trudging through expecting you to stand still, hit square, and be aware of your surroundings, shooting absolutely everything.
Your attack animations are much faster when standing still, with Grave doing stylish gun kata desperado esque aiming, and you’ll quickly rack up a high hit count, as enemies often are just far away enough shooting at you that you can quickly swerve in place and shoot them to keep your combo going. Enemies also have just enough but not too much health to add a fair amount to your hit count without the game feeling overly generous, and when you do need to move forward to reach more targets, you can risk moving slowly, with less accuracy, or dodge rolling forward, which maintains your standing still shooting speed, but leaves you wide open to eating enemy fire. The flow of combat is instantly learnable and it then falls on the player to memorize the level design.
And what great level design at that, while I did criticize the empty hallway levels in my Ghost Rider review, the emphasis was on “empty”. In GunGrave, each combat segment has strategically placed enemies and objects where a skilled player can get the most out of each layout. And there is a great risk versus reward dilemma for every mob, do you shoot up objects immediately to get a high initial beat count? Or do you take the safe route and rush to a point to take care of enemies first, then shoot and move towards the remaining objects. There’s a lot of fun in either the thrill of clearing out everything, or strategically planting yourself and taking out every object and mook line by line. This loop never wears out its welcome thanks to the games short length, which is a great show of restraint.
There are some minor issues with certain sections, due to how big Grave is, when turning he can often obscure your view of what you need to shoot, and the camera occasionally glues its self to his back. This is most egregious during a train set piece where you need to shoot missiles and a helicopter outside from the windows, but it’s highly likely you’ll hit the bezels between the windows instead, my only advice is when you see that hit count on screen to plant your self there and hit square until you need to dodge, and unfortunately due to the missiles and helicopter constantly moving horizontally, you can’t just memorize a spot and circle back, you can only hope RNG is in your favor. This is only one of two low points of the game play thankfully, but you can only wish they just dropped this segment entirely.
In order to make this approach work, the health system is very similar to the Halo games, you have shield meter that will refill after no one is hitting you for a few seconds, and health meter that can only be restored with demolition shots (more on those later). You’ll clue in quickly as to which enemy to focus on to not have your shield drained by smg toting enemies melting it the quickest. This makes what could have devolved into senseless square whacking into strategic shooting galleries where you constantly shift focus to smg enemies that could melt your shield and zerg rushing big brutes and melee weapon wielders to keep a combo going. It’s incredibly rewarding to engage with such well designed, smart combat. With the game expecting you to notice these things without explicitly telling you as well, so it doesn’t feel condescending.
As I said in my Ghost Rider review, when an action game includes a screen nuke mechanic, it’s beyond imperative for it to be conveyed to the player why, and most importantly, when to use it, and then properly balancing it. While Ghost Rider was designed around you using the nuke as soon as you get it in order to get your feet in the water to maintain a good combo rhythm, in GunGrave it’s the opposite, and just as well designed.
You only have two demolition shots, with two upgraded versions you unlock via getting high ranks . The first shoots vertically and kills any enemies in front of you, and the second is a 360 spin that kills enemies surrounding you in close. The caveat to using either of these is that your combo count is reset to zero every time, and during boss fights, the damage they deal is minuscule compared to a high volume regular shot volley from your regular pistols, taking out only 10% of a bosses health bar. It’s great that the game treated these as bail outs for mistakes that you can’t fall back on, the only way to build up meter and stocks for demolition shots is get a high combo count, and you only build chunks of meter every 20 hits. So you will need to play well regardless of how invested you may be in getting the most out of the game mechanically. As you won’t have access to your bail outs if you aren’t that invested regardless.
You can also spend a demolition shot on refilling 70% of your health meter, which is a much better use of them. Playing well will cap your max number of demo shots at 9, which during boss fights is invaluable as you can heal often while getting your bearings. Much like the offensive shots, healing also resets your combo to zero, but if you’ve been playing well during the levels, and getting high hit counts on bosses before you heal, this won’t affect your end rank in a significant way. It’s always great to play an action game that knows when and why to use your nuclear option, and GunGrave is one of the best at it.
Boss fights in GunGrave are (mostly) thrilling and engaging. For the most part, you’ll have an empty flat plain to give you enough lanes to dodge bosses attacks. The first boss does an excellent job cluing you in for how they work. If a boss is coming at you from above with a ground slam, you just hold circle while holding the stick backwards to fast hop. Vertical charges just need you to dodge left or right, and projectiles need you to dodge left or right, then run by holding circle. Every bosses attack is very well telegraphed and they only have a handful of moves, so mastery of the fights will come quickly as long as you are observant. Boss AI knows when to react and counter as well. Once your shot volley starts melting their HP, they’ll signal to you that they are ready to attack, so you can’t camp and shoot under any circumstances. The game does a great job of making you feel powerful during these fights, as bosses will lose bits or armor and limbs as they lose more and more health, which is a great detail.
There is one bad boss fight unfortunately. At the start of chapter 6, you’ll engage in what you think would be a rival fight, but it feels anything but that. He’ll charge at you, then when his health hits 40%, he’ll run behind a pillar and start recovering his health. This wouldn’t be to much of an issue if the pillars weren’t made intentionally huge to slow you down and obscure your vision to make the fight artificially harder. What you need to do is let him recover, wear him down again, and then repeat as he will recover less and less health each time. But this is incredibly boring and blatant padding. It’s genuinely astounding how poorly designed this fight is. It’s the absolute low point of an otherwise stellar game.
GunGraves story is quite poor. While you are presented with an incredibly interesting and visually rich world to engage with, the game makes no effort to make any of its character or its plot writing as interesting or rich. And it’s a shame, cause you have all the makings of a classic battle shounen story here. An elite organization you fight through a gauntlet one by one, a planet where classes are separated by wealth, (with the lower classes living in the lower levels, and the elite classes living skyward) and a great visual contrast between these classes with dirty industrial lower levels, and cyberpunk and angelic far future tech for the higher levels. It’s an utter waste.
Grave himself doesn’t express or assert himself in an interesting way, which is incredibly important for silent protagonists. And Mika and DR T are simply just there for the ride. The reach of the Syndicates influence is never really conveyed. We have no idea if they control the planet or just a few businesses, and Harry is a very one note antagonist, he betrays Grave and that’s it. You track him down and kill him, and then the game just ends. If the game actually had a few more cut scenes to flesh out every one, the game would be a masterclass, rather than just outstanding.
Visually GunGrave is outstanding. With character designs from the author of Trigun, you’ll get some really cool looking elements like bulky rectangular weapons, incredibly busy and loud patterned trench coats, and heavy uses of red and gun metal gray through out. This is paired with beautiful, fluid animations that take clear influence from Desperado and John woo films, with gun kata-like shooting and environmental destruction everywhere.
Mech designs also feature a prominent Japanese manga artist. Kousuke Fujishima lends his skill for the vehicle designs here, and they are as good as you’d expect. With bulky and bubbly juttings and rounded, steam punkish looks. As well as heavy uses of lenses and windows.
All of this is presented in a gorgeous cel shaded look that makes everything pop. From graves dusty brown trench coat giving off a smooth sheen that draws your attention, to huge bosses oozing detail with exposed sinew and veins that pulsate and tear. Lighting is also outstanding, with dingy lower levels being dim and dirty, and the aristocratic upper levels being bright white and angelic.
UI has a ton of personality, looking like you’re going through a well used weapons cache, with metal plates and skulls everywhere. The skull in your health meter will growl when you gain meter, which is a really cool detail, and while menu navigation is stick only, you won’t be constantly menuing, so this annoyance isn’t to much of an issue.
While the story isn’t great, cut scene direction will make you wish it was. Models move with an intentional stiffness which contributes very well to the gritty, dreary atmosphere the plot seems to want to convey, and one of the coolest choices artistically is to give only very important characters mouth animations, which is a clever way of hiding the games AA budget.
Optimization is never an issue either, no matter if you are being swarmed by a horde of mooks, or fighting one of the gigantic well detailed bosses, the game maintains a locked rock solid 60fps.
The games OST is composed by the same guy who did the music for the Trigun Anime, though thankfully unlike other anime/television/film composers who try their hand at video games and trip over themselves adapting to a medium that requires a different approach (See Hiroyuki Sawano’s terrible Xenoblade X score, or BloodBorne’s cluster fuck of trash) that isn’t the case here. You’ll get a Trumpet heavy ost that wonderfully compliments the games high octane fast paced gameplay. Stand out tracks include Ear fudge, with its trumpet heavy tempo contrasting wonderfully with the ambient backing track, China moon’s slow gingerly saxophones and steady percussion section, and Tough Cookie’s serene pianos and fast paced drums blending with the bombastic trumpets.
The most memorable track in the game that will stick with you though is “Here comes the rain”, that plays during the stage select screen, a calming ballad that helps you decompress after the intense action you just experienced.
It’s one of the most enjoyable and memorable OSTs I experienced in a shooter, that I will definitely keep listening too outside of the game.
GunGrave is a fantastic game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. You have a great combat system that requires strategic thinking and memorization, great visuals, and a outstanding ost. While it is kneecapped by a barely there, severely under cooked story, the incredible combat and level design makes this a must play.
9/10.
If you’re old enough to remember just how huge Max Payne was in the 6th generation (For those who don’t, Final Fantasy and Star Wars copied that formula), you’ll remember most of the games that aped its mechanics not doing to much to mess with such a winning system. GunGrave does boldly subvert this, in the most 180 degree way possible. Instead of being focused on nonstop fluid movement, GunGrave wants you to stand still.
With a combat system designed around gaining a high hit count, the game optimizes the narrow hallways you’ll be trudging through expecting you to stand still, hit square, and be aware of your surroundings, shooting absolutely everything.
Your attack animations are much faster when standing still, with Grave doing stylish gun kata desperado esque aiming, and you’ll quickly rack up a high hit count, as enemies often are just far away enough shooting at you that you can quickly swerve in place and shoot them to keep your combo going. Enemies also have just enough but not too much health to add a fair amount to your hit count without the game feeling overly generous, and when you do need to move forward to reach more targets, you can risk moving slowly, with less accuracy, or dodge rolling forward, which maintains your standing still shooting speed, but leaves you wide open to eating enemy fire. The flow of combat is instantly learnable and it then falls on the player to memorize the level design.
And what great level design at that, while I did criticize the empty hallway levels in my Ghost Rider review, the emphasis was on “empty”. In GunGrave, each combat segment has strategically placed enemies and objects where a skilled player can get the most out of each layout. And there is a great risk versus reward dilemma for every mob, do you shoot up objects immediately to get a high initial beat count? Or do you take the safe route and rush to a point to take care of enemies first, then shoot and move towards the remaining objects. There’s a lot of fun in either the thrill of clearing out everything, or strategically planting yourself and taking out every object and mook line by line. This loop never wears out its welcome thanks to the games short length, which is a great show of restraint.
There are some minor issues with certain sections, due to how big Grave is, when turning he can often obscure your view of what you need to shoot, and the camera occasionally glues its self to his back. This is most egregious during a train set piece where you need to shoot missiles and a helicopter outside from the windows, but it’s highly likely you’ll hit the bezels between the windows instead, my only advice is when you see that hit count on screen to plant your self there and hit square until you need to dodge, and unfortunately due to the missiles and helicopter constantly moving horizontally, you can’t just memorize a spot and circle back, you can only hope RNG is in your favor. This is only one of two low points of the game play thankfully, but you can only wish they just dropped this segment entirely.
In order to make this approach work, the health system is very similar to the Halo games, you have shield meter that will refill after no one is hitting you for a few seconds, and health meter that can only be restored with demolition shots (more on those later). You’ll clue in quickly as to which enemy to focus on to not have your shield drained by smg toting enemies melting it the quickest. This makes what could have devolved into senseless square whacking into strategic shooting galleries where you constantly shift focus to smg enemies that could melt your shield and zerg rushing big brutes and melee weapon wielders to keep a combo going. It’s incredibly rewarding to engage with such well designed, smart combat. With the game expecting you to notice these things without explicitly telling you as well, so it doesn’t feel condescending.
As I said in my Ghost Rider review, when an action game includes a screen nuke mechanic, it’s beyond imperative for it to be conveyed to the player why, and most importantly, when to use it, and then properly balancing it. While Ghost Rider was designed around you using the nuke as soon as you get it in order to get your feet in the water to maintain a good combo rhythm, in GunGrave it’s the opposite, and just as well designed.
You only have two demolition shots, with two upgraded versions you unlock via getting high ranks . The first shoots vertically and kills any enemies in front of you, and the second is a 360 spin that kills enemies surrounding you in close. The caveat to using either of these is that your combo count is reset to zero every time, and during boss fights, the damage they deal is minuscule compared to a high volume regular shot volley from your regular pistols, taking out only 10% of a bosses health bar. It’s great that the game treated these as bail outs for mistakes that you can’t fall back on, the only way to build up meter and stocks for demolition shots is get a high combo count, and you only build chunks of meter every 20 hits. So you will need to play well regardless of how invested you may be in getting the most out of the game mechanically. As you won’t have access to your bail outs if you aren’t that invested regardless.
You can also spend a demolition shot on refilling 70% of your health meter, which is a much better use of them. Playing well will cap your max number of demo shots at 9, which during boss fights is invaluable as you can heal often while getting your bearings. Much like the offensive shots, healing also resets your combo to zero, but if you’ve been playing well during the levels, and getting high hit counts on bosses before you heal, this won’t affect your end rank in a significant way. It’s always great to play an action game that knows when and why to use your nuclear option, and GunGrave is one of the best at it.
Boss fights in GunGrave are (mostly) thrilling and engaging. For the most part, you’ll have an empty flat plain to give you enough lanes to dodge bosses attacks. The first boss does an excellent job cluing you in for how they work. If a boss is coming at you from above with a ground slam, you just hold circle while holding the stick backwards to fast hop. Vertical charges just need you to dodge left or right, and projectiles need you to dodge left or right, then run by holding circle. Every bosses attack is very well telegraphed and they only have a handful of moves, so mastery of the fights will come quickly as long as you are observant. Boss AI knows when to react and counter as well. Once your shot volley starts melting their HP, they’ll signal to you that they are ready to attack, so you can’t camp and shoot under any circumstances. The game does a great job of making you feel powerful during these fights, as bosses will lose bits or armor and limbs as they lose more and more health, which is a great detail.
There is one bad boss fight unfortunately. At the start of chapter 6, you’ll engage in what you think would be a rival fight, but it feels anything but that. He’ll charge at you, then when his health hits 40%, he’ll run behind a pillar and start recovering his health. This wouldn’t be to much of an issue if the pillars weren’t made intentionally huge to slow you down and obscure your vision to make the fight artificially harder. What you need to do is let him recover, wear him down again, and then repeat as he will recover less and less health each time. But this is incredibly boring and blatant padding. It’s genuinely astounding how poorly designed this fight is. It’s the absolute low point of an otherwise stellar game.
GunGraves story is quite poor. While you are presented with an incredibly interesting and visually rich world to engage with, the game makes no effort to make any of its character or its plot writing as interesting or rich. And it’s a shame, cause you have all the makings of a classic battle shounen story here. An elite organization you fight through a gauntlet one by one, a planet where classes are separated by wealth, (with the lower classes living in the lower levels, and the elite classes living skyward) and a great visual contrast between these classes with dirty industrial lower levels, and cyberpunk and angelic far future tech for the higher levels. It’s an utter waste.
Grave himself doesn’t express or assert himself in an interesting way, which is incredibly important for silent protagonists. And Mika and DR T are simply just there for the ride. The reach of the Syndicates influence is never really conveyed. We have no idea if they control the planet or just a few businesses, and Harry is a very one note antagonist, he betrays Grave and that’s it. You track him down and kill him, and then the game just ends. If the game actually had a few more cut scenes to flesh out every one, the game would be a masterclass, rather than just outstanding.
Visually GunGrave is outstanding. With character designs from the author of Trigun, you’ll get some really cool looking elements like bulky rectangular weapons, incredibly busy and loud patterned trench coats, and heavy uses of red and gun metal gray through out. This is paired with beautiful, fluid animations that take clear influence from Desperado and John woo films, with gun kata-like shooting and environmental destruction everywhere.
Mech designs also feature a prominent Japanese manga artist. Kousuke Fujishima lends his skill for the vehicle designs here, and they are as good as you’d expect. With bulky and bubbly juttings and rounded, steam punkish looks. As well as heavy uses of lenses and windows.
All of this is presented in a gorgeous cel shaded look that makes everything pop. From graves dusty brown trench coat giving off a smooth sheen that draws your attention, to huge bosses oozing detail with exposed sinew and veins that pulsate and tear. Lighting is also outstanding, with dingy lower levels being dim and dirty, and the aristocratic upper levels being bright white and angelic.
UI has a ton of personality, looking like you’re going through a well used weapons cache, with metal plates and skulls everywhere. The skull in your health meter will growl when you gain meter, which is a really cool detail, and while menu navigation is stick only, you won’t be constantly menuing, so this annoyance isn’t to much of an issue.
While the story isn’t great, cut scene direction will make you wish it was. Models move with an intentional stiffness which contributes very well to the gritty, dreary atmosphere the plot seems to want to convey, and one of the coolest choices artistically is to give only very important characters mouth animations, which is a clever way of hiding the games AA budget.
Optimization is never an issue either, no matter if you are being swarmed by a horde of mooks, or fighting one of the gigantic well detailed bosses, the game maintains a locked rock solid 60fps.
The games OST is composed by the same guy who did the music for the Trigun Anime, though thankfully unlike other anime/television/film composers who try their hand at video games and trip over themselves adapting to a medium that requires a different approach (See Hiroyuki Sawano’s terrible Xenoblade X score, or BloodBorne’s cluster fuck of trash) that isn’t the case here. You’ll get a Trumpet heavy ost that wonderfully compliments the games high octane fast paced gameplay. Stand out tracks include Ear fudge, with its trumpet heavy tempo contrasting wonderfully with the ambient backing track, China moon’s slow gingerly saxophones and steady percussion section, and Tough Cookie’s serene pianos and fast paced drums blending with the bombastic trumpets.
The most memorable track in the game that will stick with you though is “Here comes the rain”, that plays during the stage select screen, a calming ballad that helps you decompress after the intense action you just experienced.
It’s one of the most enjoyable and memorable OSTs I experienced in a shooter, that I will definitely keep listening too outside of the game.
GunGrave is a fantastic game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. You have a great combat system that requires strategic thinking and memorization, great visuals, and a outstanding ost. While it is kneecapped by a barely there, severely under cooked story, the incredible combat and level design makes this a must play.
9/10.
Gungrave is exactly what it promises, a nice fun action romp with some really cool style. Gameplay's fairly simple, Grave aims on his own so all you have to do is fire (I recommend turning on the autofire option, unless carpal tunnel syndrome is your cup of tea) and watch enemies and the environment blow up. There's just enough strategy to Gungrave for it to not feel completely mindless, but still quite easy to breeze through: Grave is very sluggish normally but you have a few movement options like a dodge roll, and a mode, normally activated by clicking in a stick but that I recommend you remap via emulator to a free shoulder button, that lets him run a bit faster, plus a score system that grants you some consumable super attacks/heals throughout the stages and a rating at the end of them.
On the presentation front, yeah this game goes pretty hard, especially for a small scope PS2 game. Beyond the Grave is a really stylish protagonist (Incredibly smart of Nightow to design him from the back first, since that's what the player would be looking at most of the time), but honestly what I really liked were the stages- some are less interesting than others but on average the atmosphere is quite great. I especially loved how the last one looked but unfortunately that's the only one that seemed very unpolished and not fun at all as a result. Still this is a very low-commitment super neat game, highly recommend it.
On the presentation front, yeah this game goes pretty hard, especially for a small scope PS2 game. Beyond the Grave is a really stylish protagonist (Incredibly smart of Nightow to design him from the back first, since that's what the player would be looking at most of the time), but honestly what I really liked were the stages- some are less interesting than others but on average the atmosphere is quite great. I especially loved how the last one looked but unfortunately that's the only one that seemed very unpolished and not fun at all as a result. Still this is a very low-commitment super neat game, highly recommend it.
the sheer amount of dopamine that is released in the brain of anyone who plays this should be studied by scientists
Imagine paying 60$ for 2 hours long square & x spamming.
-1 hour long
-only 1 gun
-1-hit melee combo
-no collectibles
-no upgrades
-fully linear
-tank controls
-max payne shootdodging
-every sound effect is bass boosted
-looks pretty
-will probably damage your square button
immaculate arcadified character action
-only 1 gun
-1-hit melee combo
-no collectibles
-no upgrades
-fully linear
-tank controls
-max payne shootdodging
-every sound effect is bass boosted
-looks pretty
-will probably damage your square button
immaculate arcadified character action
they really don't make 7/10s as good as this anymore
There's a lot to like about Gungrave, but I also came away finding things I disliked. The game is a very arcade-y third person action shooter. Levels are mostly wide corridors where enemies jump out from all sides to ambush you. In that regard it shares some elements with rail shooters, but the game also has shoot dodging and bullet time akin to Max Payne. I think it offers a unique blend of gameplay that is striking but remarkably pretty clumsy in its execution. Despite being able to jump in all directions and shoot, the main character Grave still feels stiff on his feet and I found myself spending lots of time eating dozens of bullets from goons trying to get my bearings when Grave leaped in a direction I didn't intend. The game has a quick turn around button but it seems to only work when you're at a complete stand-still which is not a place you want to be with a game as hectic as this.
In addition to his dual wielding pistols, Grave has what's called a Demolition Shot. If you can rack up a combo by plugging enough goons you can increase a meter that will eventually let you unleash a small variety of devastating moves. You also can spend a demolition shot on healing yourself if things get too crazy. I really like this system, it's a small level of a decision making that doesn't feel like it gets in the way of the simple arcade design. The game is also quite difficult, but it has a forgiving checkpoint system and it gives you a couple extra demolition shots everytime you die. As nice as that is though I couldn't help but feel that I was beating boss fights simply but running my head into a wall until I had enough demolition shots to complete it. Maybe I need to git gud, but I didn't feel overly frustrated by it.
The game's story (or lack thereof) left me pretty disappointed tbh. The game only clocks in at around 2 hours which is pretty damn short but suits the arcade feel the game is clearly going for. And it can be argued that the game doesn't need any deep narrative. My criticism lies in that it's written and paced like I'm watching the last episode of an anime. Alot of characters refer to places and people and events that I never get to see or get any kind of elaboration for. Maybe it was to plant seeds for what became the 2003 anime, I'm not sure. But in a vacuum I thought it was kinda underwhelming.
I wanna say upfront that the presentation is incredibly solid. The designs were made in a collaboration between Yasuhiro Nightow (my goat fr) and Kosuke Fujishima and it's a very appealing and striking combination of a gangster flick combined with an almost sci-fi dystopia. There's nothing quite like it that I've ever seen and it's super impressive. All the assets look handdrawn and the black shadows provide a very badass look that doesn't feel like it's aged much since 2002. The music was composed by Tsuneo Imahori who is a personal favorite composer of mine. His work on Trigun, Hajime no Ippo, the Gungrave anime and now this are remarkable and show his talent as a composer. Solemn guitar pieces, funky beats, and exuberant big band jazz help elevate the game's presentation to something truly special.
Overall it's a very unique arcade shooter that you can beat in one sitting, I just wish it had more time to expand on the story and fine tune the controls to push it into goated status. As it is it's good but not great.
(also haha ik this is long winded as fuck if you actually read all this thank you ok have a nice day)
In addition to his dual wielding pistols, Grave has what's called a Demolition Shot. If you can rack up a combo by plugging enough goons you can increase a meter that will eventually let you unleash a small variety of devastating moves. You also can spend a demolition shot on healing yourself if things get too crazy. I really like this system, it's a small level of a decision making that doesn't feel like it gets in the way of the simple arcade design. The game is also quite difficult, but it has a forgiving checkpoint system and it gives you a couple extra demolition shots everytime you die. As nice as that is though I couldn't help but feel that I was beating boss fights simply but running my head into a wall until I had enough demolition shots to complete it. Maybe I need to git gud, but I didn't feel overly frustrated by it.
The game's story (or lack thereof) left me pretty disappointed tbh. The game only clocks in at around 2 hours which is pretty damn short but suits the arcade feel the game is clearly going for. And it can be argued that the game doesn't need any deep narrative. My criticism lies in that it's written and paced like I'm watching the last episode of an anime. Alot of characters refer to places and people and events that I never get to see or get any kind of elaboration for. Maybe it was to plant seeds for what became the 2003 anime, I'm not sure. But in a vacuum I thought it was kinda underwhelming.
I wanna say upfront that the presentation is incredibly solid. The designs were made in a collaboration between Yasuhiro Nightow (my goat fr) and Kosuke Fujishima and it's a very appealing and striking combination of a gangster flick combined with an almost sci-fi dystopia. There's nothing quite like it that I've ever seen and it's super impressive. All the assets look handdrawn and the black shadows provide a very badass look that doesn't feel like it's aged much since 2002. The music was composed by Tsuneo Imahori who is a personal favorite composer of mine. His work on Trigun, Hajime no Ippo, the Gungrave anime and now this are remarkable and show his talent as a composer. Solemn guitar pieces, funky beats, and exuberant big band jazz help elevate the game's presentation to something truly special.
Overall it's a very unique arcade shooter that you can beat in one sitting, I just wish it had more time to expand on the story and fine tune the controls to push it into goated status. As it is it's good but not great.
(also haha ik this is long winded as fuck if you actually read all this thank you ok have a nice day)
It's all flash without much substance. Cool visual design, which is to be expected since you can just smell Nightow's Trigun all over Grave. Music is alright too, leading to a decent presentation. It's when you get to the combat where things start to fall flat. It's simple enough, press or hold (If you have rapid fire turned on) the square button, lock onto foes using shoulder buttons, and shoot like hell... there's a charging meter to activate special shots, and well... that's about it really. As far as combat goes, it's just a matter of spray and pray as you are like a lawn mower chopping up enemies like weeds. Boss battles aren't much of a struggle either, just time their lunges, dodge, and then press square. No real rhyme or reason, it's simply a matter of moving and shooting.
As far as presentation goes, the aforementioned visual/music design keep this game from being completely forgotten. It's a typical cel-shaded fare that was common back in the day, but now is rather pleasant to look at. And the story? Generic "guy comes back from dead in exchange for his soul to extract revenge" sort of deal. Yawn.
Basically, it's form over function. It's a shame because I went into this thinking it would be a pleasant and fun experience, but at the end of the day, feels like I could have used the 2 hours I spent on this game elsewhere. Like reading a book, or staring at a wall. Or perhaps playing a better game.
As far as presentation goes, the aforementioned visual/music design keep this game from being completely forgotten. It's a typical cel-shaded fare that was common back in the day, but now is rather pleasant to look at. And the story? Generic "guy comes back from dead in exchange for his soul to extract revenge" sort of deal. Yawn.
Basically, it's form over function. It's a shame because I went into this thinking it would be a pleasant and fun experience, but at the end of the day, feels like I could have used the 2 hours I spent on this game elsewhere. Like reading a book, or staring at a wall. Or perhaps playing a better game.
It's pretty clunky, kind of messy and unfocused, and all over the place. But it was just so stylish that it felt good mowing down waves of goons that I was engaged for the entire short runtime. The art is rad, music is great, and some bosses are pretty solid. It's mindless but does what it does well.
Pinche juego todo estúpido (Lo volvería a jugar)
the gnarliest video game. pure shonen schlock. style is substance type beat (shoutout maraganger). has the first 10 seconds of the final cutscene play in-engine so you can take the dramatic plot relevant killshot yourself. starts its kickassery when the intro cutscene plays and doesn't stop until the credits roll. a buttonmashy bad time for any bimbos that bumble in front of your boomstick. play it on hard mode, you scrawny fuck.
This game is like a late 90's rule of cool Anime OVA with that sick aesthetic by the creator of Trigun and that badass jazzy music.
However it comes with a price, also just like a late 90's OVA, it is very underwhelming in its short duration and can't manage to explore its themes and story of two criminal partners who had a dream to reach the highest position in the criminal world, and the protagonist being like a reanimated corpse who is only made to kill everyone in his way to have revenge. I feel there's some commentary about corrupted ambitions but instead, the game indulges in bizarre boss encounters that feel out of place when they could have had more personal battles (like the one near the end with the protagonist's previous apprentice).
I hope the 2003 anime TV series can fully explore the themes
However it comes with a price, also just like a late 90's OVA, it is very underwhelming in its short duration and can't manage to explore its themes and story of two criminal partners who had a dream to reach the highest position in the criminal world, and the protagonist being like a reanimated corpse who is only made to kill everyone in his way to have revenge. I feel there's some commentary about corrupted ambitions but instead, the game indulges in bizarre boss encounters that feel out of place when they could have had more personal battles (like the one near the end with the protagonist's previous apprentice).
I hope the 2003 anime TV series can fully explore the themes
This happened to my buddy Brandon.
I only played this game since it takes two hours to complete; it can be entertaining at times but sometimes feels quite repetitive
-the idea of creating action by putting yourself right in the middle is nothing new -I mean pretty much every switch pre Kill Switch or even something post Gears of War does it- now they force you to do it? It's probably due to the lack of an accurate and reliable aiming system, but standing still in the face of hordes as a requirement to shoot madly with the frame serving as a giant random "sight" works better than I'd like to admit for creating. moments of powerful exploitative action
-Most of the scenes that are visited incite me to interpret each moment as most of the shooting scenes, from the 50s to the 2000s. There is this section in the Chinatown stage where the action puts you back in the half surrounded by flammable kitchens in which, as in those movies, I am in the center of everything, the bullets do not touch me and my shots arrive by magic. auto aim spatial manipulation replaces video montage
And speaking of scenarios and Stages, start from a grave to an oriental altar, carrying a corpse character that moves like one... kinda rules. It is a game more thought than it seemed
-Soy un hombre muy honrado
Que me gusta lo mejor
Las mujeres no me faltan
Ni el dinero, ni el amor
Jineteando en mi caballo
Por la sierra yo me voy
Las estrellas y la luna
Ellas me dicen donde voy
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Me gusta tocar guitarra
Me gusta cantar el son
Mariachi me acompaña
Cuando canto mi canción
Me gusta tomar mis copas
Aguardiente es lo mejor
También el tequila blanco
Con su sal le da sabor
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Me gusta tocar guitarra
Me gusta cantar el son
El mariachi me acompaña
Cuando canto mi canción
Me gusta tomar mis copas
Aguardiente es lo mejor
También el tequila blanco
Con su sal le da sabor
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
-Most of the scenes that are visited incite me to interpret each moment as most of the shooting scenes, from the 50s to the 2000s. There is this section in the Chinatown stage where the action puts you back in the half surrounded by flammable kitchens in which, as in those movies, I am in the center of everything, the bullets do not touch me and my shots arrive by magic. auto aim spatial manipulation replaces video montage
And speaking of scenarios and Stages, start from a grave to an oriental altar, carrying a corpse character that moves like one... kinda rules. It is a game more thought than it seemed
-Soy un hombre muy honrado
Que me gusta lo mejor
Las mujeres no me faltan
Ni el dinero, ni el amor
Jineteando en mi caballo
Por la sierra yo me voy
Las estrellas y la luna
Ellas me dicen donde voy
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Me gusta tocar guitarra
Me gusta cantar el son
Mariachi me acompaña
Cuando canto mi canción
Me gusta tomar mis copas
Aguardiente es lo mejor
También el tequila blanco
Con su sal le da sabor
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Me gusta tocar guitarra
Me gusta cantar el son
El mariachi me acompaña
Cuando canto mi canción
Me gusta tomar mis copas
Aguardiente es lo mejor
También el tequila blanco
Con su sal le da sabor
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Ay, ay mi amor
Ay, mi morena
De mi corazón
não tem jazz que se compare ao free jazz
why is he built like that
+great character designs by Trigun creator Yasuhiro Nightow. Kosuke Fujishima of Oh My Goddess worked on this one as well
+cinematics hold up well, this is one of the first games I can think of that made the link between cel shading and anime designs that we commonly see today
+interesting pseudo-tank controls that emphasize careful approaches
+lots of movement options including jumping, running, dash evasion, and quick 180 turnarounds
+mowing down enemies is a blast, and taking out enemies in close combat by sweeping them with your own coffin also rules
+halo-esque regenerating shield system was a good choice considering the chaos during battles
+continue system is forgiving by giving you more "demolition shots" (super attacks) to use on every death
+some very solid boss design in the second half of the game
-level design is bland. it's a lot of walking forward and mashing square, with little enemy variety until the endgame
-certain mechanics are unresponsive, including the quickturns and lock-on system that are essential in most boss fights
-early game bosses are pushovers, some of which can be killed by a single demo shot
-there's no handgun variety through the game. supposedly you can unlock more demo shots but I never saw these while playing (perhaps I am just bad...)
-apparently there's a fatality system too during the boss fights? again, the game is very opaque about this so I was never made aware that this was a possibility
-the plot is pretty hard to follow, though I don't mind this as much because it's unobtrusive and well-animated
-rather short, at under 2 hours long. this may be for the best considering the lackluster stage design
-a certain boss at the beginning of the final level has a desparation attack where he hides from you while healing himself. not a great mechanic in a game with such limited mobility
I had fun playing this in 30 minute spurts here and there, and this would probably be very easy to binge in its entirety as well. it's a very unique third-person shooter, and what it lacks in content is makes up for in style and sheer fun
+cinematics hold up well, this is one of the first games I can think of that made the link between cel shading and anime designs that we commonly see today
+interesting pseudo-tank controls that emphasize careful approaches
+lots of movement options including jumping, running, dash evasion, and quick 180 turnarounds
+mowing down enemies is a blast, and taking out enemies in close combat by sweeping them with your own coffin also rules
+halo-esque regenerating shield system was a good choice considering the chaos during battles
+continue system is forgiving by giving you more "demolition shots" (super attacks) to use on every death
+some very solid boss design in the second half of the game
-level design is bland. it's a lot of walking forward and mashing square, with little enemy variety until the endgame
-certain mechanics are unresponsive, including the quickturns and lock-on system that are essential in most boss fights
-early game bosses are pushovers, some of which can be killed by a single demo shot
-there's no handgun variety through the game. supposedly you can unlock more demo shots but I never saw these while playing (perhaps I am just bad...)
-apparently there's a fatality system too during the boss fights? again, the game is very opaque about this so I was never made aware that this was a possibility
-the plot is pretty hard to follow, though I don't mind this as much because it's unobtrusive and well-animated
-rather short, at under 2 hours long. this may be for the best considering the lackluster stage design
-a certain boss at the beginning of the final level has a desparation attack where he hides from you while healing himself. not a great mechanic in a game with such limited mobility
I had fun playing this in 30 minute spurts here and there, and this would probably be very easy to binge in its entirety as well. it's a very unique third-person shooter, and what it lacks in content is makes up for in style and sheer fun
A game that's mostly just turning around and mashing square shouldnae be this fun. It feels good to dive about and blast dudes. I like firing big rockets. The simple stuff.
Just slap Nightow's wild designs and mad proportions over the top of an OK arcade shooter and you get something pretty decent.
Just slap Nightow's wild designs and mad proportions over the top of an OK arcade shooter and you get something pretty decent.
Square + x mashing game but fun.
Maaaaan this game kicks ass. It's not long but it makes such a good impression that I could not give less of a shit. It's the perfect level of simple stylish substance in both its gameplay and cutscenes with a bit of jank and a prevalent melancholic atmosphere throughout. I cannot explain through words how happy this game makes me even if it's barely over two hours, it's just fucking awesome.
Tl;dr, An incredibly short game that I recommend to play if got a few hours to use, bonus points if you beat it in one setting stoned.
A style over substance game.
It’s a criminally short title and heads up that I don’t know anything about Gungrave outside the games so no comparison coming from me.
With the game being so short, the gameplay still stayed fresh beginning to end. Enough difficulty where just walking and mashing square will get you killed, but not hard enough to get any frustration.
Enemy variants are okay to say the least. None that pose a threat besides of the rpg guys.
The story is very simplistic of a classic revenge gang story, but presentation made me engaged with some cool concepts like the main character needs new blood in him every few days because yknow, he’s a walking corpse.
I had fun throughout it, didn’t really gain anything throughout it on a personal level except 2 hours of escapism and fun!
A style over substance game.
It’s a criminally short title and heads up that I don’t know anything about Gungrave outside the games so no comparison coming from me.
With the game being so short, the gameplay still stayed fresh beginning to end. Enough difficulty where just walking and mashing square will get you killed, but not hard enough to get any frustration.
Enemy variants are okay to say the least. None that pose a threat besides of the rpg guys.
The story is very simplistic of a classic revenge gang story, but presentation made me engaged with some cool concepts like the main character needs new blood in him every few days because yknow, he’s a walking corpse.
I had fun throughout it, didn’t really gain anything throughout it on a personal level except 2 hours of escapism and fun!
My brain tells me that this game is boring and bad but my heart tells me I had an absurdly fun time. I am stupidly fond of this game and can recommend it to nobody.
"Is there a point in which a game that, on an objective level, is about as 7/10 as it gets, could be considered a 10/10 relative to the fact it knows what it wants to do and executes it amazingly?"
This is a question that sat in my mind throughout my entire playthrough of Gungrave, fresh from the brainchild of Trigun, Yasuhiro Nightow. A game that, on its face, is as simple as an arcade-like shooter can get, but oozes that cool 2000s style that made people fall in love with other titles of the era from its every pore, with its cel-shading and ability to blast background elements to keep your combo meter up and running. Add on a comfy runtime of about 2 hours, so that it never feels like it's overstaying its welcome, and a soundtrack that, when not drowned out by the hails of gunfire, is a treat to the ears. A short, simple and sweet blast that I loved from start to finish.
This is a question that sat in my mind throughout my entire playthrough of Gungrave, fresh from the brainchild of Trigun, Yasuhiro Nightow. A game that, on its face, is as simple as an arcade-like shooter can get, but oozes that cool 2000s style that made people fall in love with other titles of the era from its every pore, with its cel-shading and ability to blast background elements to keep your combo meter up and running. Add on a comfy runtime of about 2 hours, so that it never feels like it's overstaying its welcome, and a soundtrack that, when not drowned out by the hails of gunfire, is a treat to the ears. A short, simple and sweet blast that I loved from start to finish.
The best 7/10 game ever made
This game had to walk before Bayonetta could dance.
Entry number seven of the list of obscurity is Gungrave, recommended by Retyl. Thank you very much for the recommendation, this game is truly a sight to behold.
Before even getting into the game, I was greeted by this intro. Not to toot my own horn, but I uploaded it to my account simply because I could not find an HD version of this... magnificent and mesmerizing opening. It was actually kind of irritating because this is an intro that should be seen by everyone for just how stylish it is and how it gets you right into the mood to play this game.
Gungrave is quite possibly one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I have ever played, which makes complete sense as the character designs are all done by Yasuhiro Nightow, the author and artist of the critically acclaimed Trigun. All of the characters, from our protagonist Grave, to the various bosses and enemies, ooze with this kickass late 90's-early 2000's anime feel. The music as well composed by Tsuneo Imahori reminds me a lot of Cowboy Bebop... which makes it unsurprising that he contributed several tracks to the show.
The game itself is extremely simplistic. Press Square to shoot things. Rinse, Lather and Repeat. Of course, it isn't that simple, but that is what you will be spending a majority of the game doing. I would find this to be much worse if the game wasn't just under 2 hours, and if it wasn't as fucking fun as it is.
The way Grave begins dancing with his guns when you start shooting in place, allowing you to just turn and slaughter at ease, the way that like a John Woo film, you can jump in various directions while firing rapidly to avoid attacks yet deal massive damage, the way using Demolition Shots can just erradicate enemies and bosses, it's just pure kino to me.
Of course, there's also shit I had a serious problem with, that being the camera. This game does not have a manual camera, and while there are games that can do that well, Gungrave ain't one of them. The camera only turns when Grave turns, which in certain moments while in tight narrow hallways, makes it borderline impossible to fucking see.
During boss fights it is especially noticeable, as bosses will often just fly off screen where you can't see them and angling back towards them can be awkward if you don't know about the lock-on feature, which I didn't until the Bunji boss, which is the second to last boss in the entire game.
Onto the story, it starts as a very vague mafioso revenge story. You play as Beyond the Grave, or just Grave for short, as you mow down hordes of goons of various types. You attack various places, a nightclub, then a drug lab, and eventually a fucking blimp. There's a feeling of slow escalation as you get further up the city.
You notice it in the second level, where the drug lab for some reason has bodies in test tubes, and in the third level where you fight Bob Poundmax, a big chungus who then turns into a robotic chungus. There's this feeling of science fiction and the super-natural seeping into the woodworks. Of course, the super-natural and science fiction were always there, Grave is a perfect example.
So it's no surprise that the final level has you entering what appears as an artificial heaven, filled with various experimented beings that look very inhuman. The final boss itself looking like a cosmic deity from the beyond.
While the story isn't overly deep, I do recommend you play the game yourself to truly experience it. There are a lot of moments that will have you questioning the true nature of the game, thematically and all.
Do I recommend Gungrave? Yes, but I will fully admit that this is a guilty pleasure game. It doesn't really ask anything of the player for the most part and is almost completely mindless, but ultimately it is satisfying fun from beginning to end.
Entry number seven of the list of obscurity is Gungrave, recommended by Retyl. Thank you very much for the recommendation, this game is truly a sight to behold.
Before even getting into the game, I was greeted by this intro. Not to toot my own horn, but I uploaded it to my account simply because I could not find an HD version of this... magnificent and mesmerizing opening. It was actually kind of irritating because this is an intro that should be seen by everyone for just how stylish it is and how it gets you right into the mood to play this game.
Gungrave is quite possibly one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I have ever played, which makes complete sense as the character designs are all done by Yasuhiro Nightow, the author and artist of the critically acclaimed Trigun. All of the characters, from our protagonist Grave, to the various bosses and enemies, ooze with this kickass late 90's-early 2000's anime feel. The music as well composed by Tsuneo Imahori reminds me a lot of Cowboy Bebop... which makes it unsurprising that he contributed several tracks to the show.
The game itself is extremely simplistic. Press Square to shoot things. Rinse, Lather and Repeat. Of course, it isn't that simple, but that is what you will be spending a majority of the game doing. I would find this to be much worse if the game wasn't just under 2 hours, and if it wasn't as fucking fun as it is.
The way Grave begins dancing with his guns when you start shooting in place, allowing you to just turn and slaughter at ease, the way that like a John Woo film, you can jump in various directions while firing rapidly to avoid attacks yet deal massive damage, the way using Demolition Shots can just erradicate enemies and bosses, it's just pure kino to me.
Of course, there's also shit I had a serious problem with, that being the camera. This game does not have a manual camera, and while there are games that can do that well, Gungrave ain't one of them. The camera only turns when Grave turns, which in certain moments while in tight narrow hallways, makes it borderline impossible to fucking see.
During boss fights it is especially noticeable, as bosses will often just fly off screen where you can't see them and angling back towards them can be awkward if you don't know about the lock-on feature, which I didn't until the Bunji boss, which is the second to last boss in the entire game.
Onto the story, it starts as a very vague mafioso revenge story. You play as Beyond the Grave, or just Grave for short, as you mow down hordes of goons of various types. You attack various places, a nightclub, then a drug lab, and eventually a fucking blimp. There's a feeling of slow escalation as you get further up the city.
You notice it in the second level, where the drug lab for some reason has bodies in test tubes, and in the third level where you fight Bob Poundmax, a big chungus who then turns into a robotic chungus. There's this feeling of science fiction and the super-natural seeping into the woodworks. Of course, the super-natural and science fiction were always there, Grave is a perfect example.
So it's no surprise that the final level has you entering what appears as an artificial heaven, filled with various experimented beings that look very inhuman. The final boss itself looking like a cosmic deity from the beyond.
While the story isn't overly deep, I do recommend you play the game yourself to truly experience it. There are a lot of moments that will have you questioning the true nature of the game, thematically and all.
Do I recommend Gungrave? Yes, but I will fully admit that this is a guilty pleasure game. It doesn't really ask anything of the player for the most part and is almost completely mindless, but ultimately it is satisfying fun from beginning to end.
Something really interesting about video games seems to be just how unoriginal they can be as a medium of storytelling. While recently, it seems like every game is trying to be like a movie with their realistic graphics and long cutscenes, but there was one game that decided to take that approach to game design in a much different way. Gungrave is pretty much just an anime movie where all the action scenes are playable. It's got some amazing visuals both in game and the cutscenes, the gameplay is cinematic enough that even if its a little basic, its always a blast to look at, and even just the general look of the ui and the music is incredible. But sadly, while Gungrave as a game is pretty good, It's a pretty shitty movie that leaves the player wanting something more from it, and that's not even due to the length.
The phrase "style OVER substance" gets thrown around a lot in terms of media discourse and a somewhat common response to that is "style IS substance". While I mostly agree with the idea that style can be substance, I don't think it always can just be some kind of magical tape that fixes any sort of crack. While I never took my eyes off the cutscenes due to how cool they were, I can't tell you a single thing about the story of this game. I had no time to get attached to the world or characters. Everything in this game just moved way too fast. Typically, I love short games, but I wish their story would actually fit their shorter scale like what you would see in a Resident Evil game. Every boss fight held no emotional value or intensity. Every character death had no impact on me. Graves goals did not motivate me to show interest. The worst part about that is probably that I would've cared if the game just put a little effort into developing things.
Enough shit talking because I genuinely really love this game. In fact, the only reason I have these complaints is because of how much I loved this game. Everything about this game is just what I love. Like I mentioned, the style is really what carries this game. Everything from the ui, the graphics, the music, and the character designs is all just perfect. The character designs coming from the trigun character designer really help push the whole idea of this game feeling like a playable anime movie. Hearing the screeching saxophones as Grave jumped around the beautiful cell shaded urban city was such a treat.
Playing games with unique gameplay is always fun. While it's quick to draw comparisons to Max Payne, there's enough that makes this game stand out. The auto-aim mechanics along with the nice animations really help give it that cinematic feel. For the most part, the set pieces were really good. My biggest issue with the actual gameplay would probably be the bosses, and even then none of them were ever bad but instead missed the potential to flesh them out both in terms of gameplay and story. Due to the story feeling so rushed, it can cause the gameplay to feel disconnected, and for the boss battles to carry no weight.
Gungrave really is one of those ThorHighHeels 7/10 masterpiece games you can only find on the ps2 that you always hear people talk about. It really is a unique game that has elements seen in other games, but executes it all with its own charm to give it a special identity. I was really hoping that this would become a new favorite of mine after playing the first level, and it definitely has, just not as much as I was expecting. I will definitely be returning to this game in the future and checking out its sequels!
The phrase "style OVER substance" gets thrown around a lot in terms of media discourse and a somewhat common response to that is "style IS substance". While I mostly agree with the idea that style can be substance, I don't think it always can just be some kind of magical tape that fixes any sort of crack. While I never took my eyes off the cutscenes due to how cool they were, I can't tell you a single thing about the story of this game. I had no time to get attached to the world or characters. Everything in this game just moved way too fast. Typically, I love short games, but I wish their story would actually fit their shorter scale like what you would see in a Resident Evil game. Every boss fight held no emotional value or intensity. Every character death had no impact on me. Graves goals did not motivate me to show interest. The worst part about that is probably that I would've cared if the game just put a little effort into developing things.
Enough shit talking because I genuinely really love this game. In fact, the only reason I have these complaints is because of how much I loved this game. Everything about this game is just what I love. Like I mentioned, the style is really what carries this game. Everything from the ui, the graphics, the music, and the character designs is all just perfect. The character designs coming from the trigun character designer really help push the whole idea of this game feeling like a playable anime movie. Hearing the screeching saxophones as Grave jumped around the beautiful cell shaded urban city was such a treat.
Playing games with unique gameplay is always fun. While it's quick to draw comparisons to Max Payne, there's enough that makes this game stand out. The auto-aim mechanics along with the nice animations really help give it that cinematic feel. For the most part, the set pieces were really good. My biggest issue with the actual gameplay would probably be the bosses, and even then none of them were ever bad but instead missed the potential to flesh them out both in terms of gameplay and story. Due to the story feeling so rushed, it can cause the gameplay to feel disconnected, and for the boss battles to carry no weight.
Gungrave really is one of those ThorHighHeels 7/10 masterpiece games you can only find on the ps2 that you always hear people talk about. It really is a unique game that has elements seen in other games, but executes it all with its own charm to give it a special identity. I was really hoping that this would become a new favorite of mine after playing the first level, and it definitely has, just not as much as I was expecting. I will definitely be returning to this game in the future and checking out its sequels!
Gungrave introduces every level with the smash-header "Kick their asses." Gungrave is about one thing, kicking ass. Or more succinctly, shooting ass. You hardly aim, you don't reload, you hardly move. You mash a button and in response things either die or explode. Grave walks in a straight path, blazing everything in his way and taking every bullet wordlessly and painlessly as a combo builds in the corner of the screen. Get too close and he lifts a coffin from his back and swings it, insta-killing almost anything in its trajectory. The gunfire blows out the music and audio quality, and the gorgeous hard-black cel-shading lights up with muzzle flares as the screams gradient into the wailing jazz in the background. Gungrave is as primal as a video game can be without losing its status as pure, true art.
the most 7/10 game ever made