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Nightow is a famous manga creator in Japan, best known for Trigunin the 2000s which was blowing up on Adult Swim. He helped design characters and came up with a story guideline. There was even an anime adaptation. So, does Gungrave G.O.R.E surpass its predecessors, or is it too stuck in the past to make anyone new care about this franchise in 2022? The Metacritic scores paint it out to be a dud, but there are things to like about it.
6 Best: Tons Of Weaponry
Grave has an arsenal of weapons attached to his body and players will unlock more as the game progresses. There are twin pistols that can be upgraded via a skill tree outside of missions. Their stopping power, for example, can be increased. Most things in Grave’s arsenal can be purchased or upgraded through this system which is typical for an action game.
Grave’s coffin, which stores a majority of these weapons, is also a tool to be used in combat from swiping it at enemies to firing bullets larger than Grave. Players won’t get any weapons that reinvent shooters, but they get the job done.
5 Worst: A Third-Person On-Rails Shooter
The downside to the combat is that it can feel too automatic. Gungrave G.O.R.E plays like a light gun game or an on-rails shooter. Players can move freely throughout levels, but Grave moves at a snail’s pace thanks to that giant coffin. Tons of enemies will spawn in areas, shouting the same lines on repeat just itching to die.
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They’ll go down pretty quickly which adds to the light gun analogy. Bosses are the only exception wherein players will feel a bit of exhilaration in combat. Even in these moments though, there won’t be much of a challenge.
4 Best: Great Looking Cutscenes
Gungrave may not have started as anime series, but since Yasuhiro Nightow worked on the character designs and story concepts from the start, it has an anime feel to it. The cutscenes, which aren’t many, are great whenever action kicks off. The opening cutscene shows Grave doing his finest work in the game as he takes out villains.
The graphics in these cutscenes are great too. They’re almost Pixar-level quality as far as the polish goes, which may be an overstatement but they do look good. It’s just a shame there weren’t more cutscenes to show Grave in action, although playing an action game is seemingly a bigger want for most players.
3 Worst: Backtracking On Art Design
It’s a shame that the aforementioned cutscenes weren’t animated traditionally as well as they are. Why make an anime-inspired game with realistic graphics rather than cel-shaded ones? The PS2 games were both cel-shaded, making them stand the test of time better than other games of this era.
They are far from the best-looking cel-shaded games on the system though if compared to high marks like Dragon Quest 8 or Dark Cloud 2. It’s disappointing that Gungrave G.O.R.E didn’t continue the anime trend. It’s not a bad-looking game, but the more realistic in-game, non-cutscene graphics aren’t going to help it stand out as much. Plus the level and enemy variety are bland.
2 Best: Checkpoint System
Action games play it fast and loose when it comes to checkpointing progress. Some games require players to finish levels in one run or are at least obscure about where checkpoints are. Bayonetta 3 is a good example of an action game that does a confusing job, which should be addressed with a patch.
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While Gungrave G.O.R.E is not clear about how saves work, here is the rundown. Every time a save icon appears onscreen, the level makes a checkpoint that players can back out of. Missions can be selected and replayed for better grades, which is always a plus, and overall missions are short and add to the want to replay them.
1 Worst: Poor Story
The cutscenes are flashy and cool but the overall plot is not going to win any awards. Gungrave G.O.R.E may feel especially bad if one is coming off of a sweeping narrative like God of War Ragnarok. It’s not fair to compare the two since the goals and budgets of each game are wildly different. The story is seemingly not the reason to jump into any of these Gungrave games. It certainly wouldn’t have hurt to get something more compelling though.
Also, on another production note, the music detracts from the experience. Be prepared to hear the same melodies from mission to mission. Also, there is a recap on the starter menu that will take players through the previous entries which do deserve applause. However, this recap isn’t voiced and players instead have to read through animatics. The story, music, and some of the voicing decisions make Gungrave G.O.R.E feel like a very low-budget game. That’s part of the charm, but it’s hard not to dock some points off of the recommendation as well.
Gungrave G.O.R.E was released on November 22, 2022 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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