The absolutely ludicrous Gungrave has finally returned! This brand-new entry sticks resolutely to the script laid down by earlier efforts in the franchise, presenting exactly the same flimsy but satisfyingly flamboyant arcade action as its predecessors, just with much prettier graphics this time around. This is a hyper violent, noisy and very, very silly explosion of murder that absolutely entertains in bursts, but will likely leave many players wishing there'd been just a little more nuance added to the mix for this latest outing.
Gungrave has been around in one form or another since all the way back in 2002 and the core gameplay in Gungrave G.O.R.E sure does feel like it's been airlifted in from a couple of decades ago in many respects. There are no branching paths, no collectibles or thoughtful narrative hooks to sink your teeth into, it's 100% all about relentlessly killing people and blowing things up. Period. You play as Grave, the gunslinger of resurrection, a sullen and extremely violent anime hard lad who blasts through levels with a coffin on his back, shooting absolutely everything that moves as quickly as possible in order to rack up massive combos.
Yep, it's all about the combos here, each kill adding to your overall beat count and giving you more options to toy around with as you rise through levels. It's pure arcade silliness and it suffers from a definite lack of feedback when you take damage - it really is quite hard to tell when you're being hit - but if you like the idea of chaining together huge kill streaks while very loud music blasts away in the background, this one is still well worth checking out, especially since it's been launched on Xbox Game Pass.
For as seemingly simplistic and repetitive as it all is too - and it is massively repetitive - there's actually a decent variety of moves to utilise, with screen-shaking specials constantly activated as you successfully kill your foes, meaning there's always some big explosive attack ready to unleash as you move through the short and totally linear levels on offer. You can upgrade Grave with a bunch of new attacks as well, giving you lots of brutal assaults to unlock and perform as you march through the roughly 15-hour campaign.
If you don't immediately gel with the style of this one you're likely not going to be entertained for long but, if you get into the swing of things, if you fancy the idea of S-ranking every single one of the levels on offer, you may find yourself having way more fun than you initially expected. There's genuine skill involved in keeping your beat count ticking over too, you need to think ahead, make sure you're always shooting at something and coming up with inventive ways to keep your combo rising during transitions between waves of enemies. Things get properly crazy when you kick the difficulty up and, if you're looking for a challenge, perfecting every level on the hardest setting here will keep you busy for a very long time.
On the downside, as we mentioned, damage feedback feels lacking and it's hard to really know when you're taking hits a lot of the time, so you'll find yourself spamming your dodge shot moves without feeling as though you're actually getting out of harm's way. A little more attention to this aspect of proceedings would have made for a much more satisfying core experience. We also wish there was an option to hold in the trigger and continuously fire, as having to constantly pull on it millions of times as you blow through baddies can get really quite tiring on the old finger bones.
Overall though, if you can look past the highly repetitive nature of what's on offer here, Gungrave G.O.R.E is a very loud, very silly good time. This is a resolutely old-school arcade action effort that will 100% click for players who are down with its relentless combos, rock music and non-stop murder mayhem. It may not be for everyone, but once the rhythm gets you, it's hard not to blast through this one with a great big smile on your face.
Conclusion
Gungrave G.O.R.E feels like a perfect title to release on Xbox Game Pass, the kind of thing most people really will want to try before they buy. It's absolutely not for everyone, it's old-fashioned, obnoxiously loud and highly repetitive, but if you fall under its spell, if you get into the murder rhythm of it all, you may well find yourself thoroughly addicted. It's a shame there's not better feedback when you take damage, and we wish there was an option to hold in the trigger for continuous fire, but beyond these shortcomings this one absolutely nails what it sets out to do. This is a loud, silly and gratuitously violent slice of old-school arcade action.
Comments 17
One of your randomly placed screenshots on this review made my hand hurt looking at it knowing that there is no auto-fire.
I have to be honest. Tried it yesterday and it wasn’t for me. Too repetitive and dull. The story and protagonist also don’t help more than they hurt the game. I uninstalled it one hour later and noped the heck outta there! One of the most disappointing additions to game pass this year, tbh.
That 2nd screen shot says a lot. Every enemy looks identical, and they're all just sort of crowding in on the character with their fists raised in the same way, just walking up to a guy with multiple guns, trying to punch his face.
@CunningPig That's 100% a design decision though. It's a good looking game but it's also very knowingly retro arcade stuff. That look, the countless samey baddies, it's an aesthetic choice.
@PJOReilly But as far as them attacking goes, it's barely even about that, it's about raking them down and keeping your combo meter going when there's a lull in the action by getting clever with environmental damage. It's absolutely an acquired taste this stuff.
@PJOReilly Fair enough. Just because it's a choice doesn't mean I think it's a good one And now the screen shots have changed?
@CunningPig Yep, as I said in the review, it's gonna be an acquired taste this one. The screenshots change around as you reload the page.
“linear with no collectibles“
I was interested in playing it, that line convince me. I yearn for the arcade style games.
Feels and plays like a PS2 game, and I mean that literally, not in a nostalgic type of way. Would rate it as 3/10 (really disappointing).
@PJOReilly ah, I never noticed that before!
It's worth a trial on game pass then, to see for myself.
@GamingFan4Lyf well, there are certain inputs that help in those situations. When you reach 50 beats you can press y multiple times to fire in 360°.
Whilst saying that however my hand did feel a bit uneasy after three levels.
Also probably just me but the dodge system needs work.
I played the first 2 on Ps2 and loved them. This game plays the same. If you're not into mid-2000 gameplay you're not going to like it.
Alos, there IS auto-fire. It's a move in itself. Press fire a few times and hold the RT down. That's it. The game tells you this.
@GamingFan4Lyf It's okay, you can press Y when you have a Beat score of 50 or more to wildly shoot around you, aiming at everyone there.
@Bartig @Cherip-the-Ripper Thanks for the tip. I'm still going to give it a try when I have some free time.
Amazingly this got a physical release here in Japan. The last game to get one was Saints Row (the remaster).
I wonder if the American version was much worse, because I can't think of a worse game I played all year, and I did played quite a few gamepass stinkers when I wasn't on my superior (in every way) PS5. Very buggy, melees don't hit when they should, very repetitive, the train level was where I quit. I'd put this as a 4 at best, unless you're really into the gun grave lore.
Ok, this got hard scores elsewhere and here 7/10. And Wanted Dead is scored bad here, but good elsewhere 😁.
I tried out Gungrave thanks to Gamepass and bought it after playing the first level.
I like it, games like these are rare these days.
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