It's been some time since Gungrave came blasting into our consoles. After Gungrave Overdose in 2004, it seemed like Beyond the Grave had returned to his coffin to rest and 2017's Gungrave VR may have been the final nail in it. But like the anti-hero protagonist this franchise refuses to die and Grave is once again picking up his massive Cerberus Pistols and EVO-Coffin. It's been awhile since Grave has been in the fight and with his last outing not getting the best reception, the deck is stacked against Gungrave G.O.R.E. But part of the appeal of the character is he just keeps blasting against whatever challenge is thrown in front of him regardless of how daunting it may be.
Gungrave G.O.R.E. has the player stepping into the shoes of the titular Gunslinger Of Resurrection. This installment is the final arc of the seed story. Each Gungravegame features its own primary villain and evil organization so the stories are self contained enough where the player can jump in at any game without any prior knowledge of the series. There are a few callbacks to previous games, however, that would be appreciated more for those who played the prior games. For those who missed on the earlier games and want to learn more about Gungrave's history, there's a History section in the menu that recaps his previous adventures.
The seed in question is a parasitic drug of extraterrestrial origins. It has the power to transform those afflicted with it. In Gungrave G.O.R.E. the origin of the seed is traced back to Scumland on an island in southeast Asia. The game begins with El Arcangel, the group founded by Mika that includes Beyond the Grave making an attack on Raven Clan's facilities in Scumland as they are responsible for the manufacture and distribution of the seed. This doesn't go according to plan as the Raven Clan bosses have been enhanced through seed mutations and end up gravely injuring Grave. To further complicate things, the seed within Mika begins to crystalize and incapacitate her. From this point on the primary objective is to eradicate Raven Clan that includes visiting other locations such as Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.
Gungrave's gameplay is straightforward as it can be summed up as shoot everything on screen and don't die. Some special attacks and flashier moves have been thrown into the mix for variety, but the MO here is straight up mindless action. When Grave's beat count gets above fifty he can use an attack called Storm Barrage where he spins around, shooting in every direction. Demolition shots are super attacks that are good for knocking down everyone on screen. For those pesky enemies that have shields or are skilled at deflecting bullets swinging around, his trusty coffin is a good way to take care of them. Grave can execute stunned enemies to recover some of his shield. There's a few more things he can do, but outside of the most rudimentary combat tactics, strategy doesn't play a major role here. This here is nonstop action.
Grave is a formidable warrior at the start of the game, but the player can make him more powerful as they progress. Grave is awarded DNA at the end of every level based on the overall player score determined by factors such as completion, percentage of enemies killed, art score and remaining life. This can be used to purchase enhancements to Grave like learning new demolition shots, increasing his bullet damage or increasing the speed of his shield recovery. As player progress they can select the difficulty of each stage at any point and replay any completed stage on any difficulty. Grave has a lot of power ups and when the game was completed there was still plenty left to unlock, suggesting that repeated playthroughs with Grave always growing in power was an intentional design choice.
As Grave progresses through the 31 stages there are a few different bosses he will have to deal with which typically fall into two different categories. The first type of boss is some sort of seed infused abomination, some monstrous beast that probably doesn't have a personal vendetta against Grave but due to being a large video game monster has a compulsion to kill him. The other primary boss category is the four bosses of Raven Clan. These characters all have the qualities of comic book super villains, and what makes fighting them even more fun is they have a second form that involves some sort of seed mutation. The boss fights can get ridiculous, but do make for some of the more interesting moments in Gungrave. There are a couple levels were players take control of members of the supporting cast that play slightly different than Grave. These characters are used so sparsely, however, that their levels seem to be an attempt at adding token variety as the time controlling them is too brief to feel any attachment to them.
Gungrave G.O.R.E. plays similarly to the first two entries from the early 2000s and fans of those games will feel right at home in G.O.R.E. Like its predecessor, Gungrave in general isn't for anyone and this newest entry does fall into the category of style over substance. Grave is a badass anti-hero who takes on some great villains, but the gameplay ends up feeling lacking in its simplicity and repetition. The first few levels are easy to get the player acclimated with a difficulty spike at the end of level five. Gungrave starts off strong, but around the halfway point or so progressing through the game started to feel like a chore. The last few levels amp up the difficulty again, but this is simply by throwing a large amount of damage sponges at Grave which ends up resulting in scenarios that are challenging but also boring, but perhaps this is a game that is best enjoyed in small doses.
The environments in Gungrave are varied enough to keep levels from looking too repetitive and there's a certain joy in being able to destroy so many random objects that decorate each area. The character designers did a great job in creating memorable villains and interesting monsters even if the giant worms seemed overused. The excessive gunfire and explosions does contribute to exciting gun battles, but the mindless carnage stretched over about fifteen hours is too repetitive to maintain that level of excitement throughout the game.
Closing Comments:
Gungrave G.O.R.E. marks Grave's return to blasting everything in sight. Fans of the earlier entries in the series will be happy to see the gameplay has remained largely the same, which is charge into battle with guns blazing for pure action-packed carnage. Mindless mayhem and destruction can be a good time and that's exactly what this title delivers, which works as a double-edged sword for Gungrave. Because of how basic and repetitive the gameplay can be, it's easy to lose interest after a few levels and not find the experience of playing it fulfilling. On the other hand, there are times when it's good to just turn the brain off and have fun, and when that mood strikes, Gungrave G.O.R.E. is just what the doctor ordered.