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!

Some of the best pieces of media have come from adaptions. Whether its with movies like Fight Club turning a forgettable book into a classic movie, or maybe its Madhouse taking One Punch Man from an ugly webcomic to one of the most beloved anime series ever made. One thing (at least as far as I'm aware of) that has never been adapted into a piece of media has been a pizza. While Pinneapple on Pizza is mostly just a goofy meme game, I'm kind of fascinated by the idea of adapting the concepts and themes of pineapple pizza and visualizing it in the form of a video game. I'm definitely all for that kind of weird shit even if the final product is just an unfunny meme game.