Gungrave G.O.R.E.'s The not-so-triumphant return | Review

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Developed by Iggymob studio and published by Prime Matter, Gungrave G.O.R.E. was highly anticipated by gamers, especially for the nostalgic air of the franchise. This one made some buzz in the golden days of Playstation 2.
As presented in the announcement trailer, the game didn't have much chit-chat, so to speak. It was a bullet hell everywhere, literally, in several areas, which seemed more like a playground for the legendary Brandon Heat, who after his death uses the nickname, Grave.

Not only that but a series of supposedly interesting characters, a mystery plot...everything we like. Everything seemed very good until the game arrived for the players, and... well... here you can check our review.

The story of Gungrave G.O.R.E. takes place about fifteen years after the plot Gungrave: Overdose. Here we can already point out the first problem, because at no time do we have a flashback of the main character's narrative.

We simply follow the protagonist (who looks like a mixture of Bayonetta and the Addams Family stumble) arriving in an area of some cyberpunk conglomerate, carrying a coffin (??), and two pistols with infinite ammunition.



In spite of this "cliché" about the origin of the character, Grave is a killing machine who, even after his death, was brought to life to help the El-Al Canhel organization (commanded by his adopted daughter, Mika Asagi) to fight the creators of the drug known as Seed.

Among a series of powerful enemies and cornered smugglers, Grave will travel to different corners of the world to put an end to this plague. And for this, he will count on the help of some allies, in which they have some kind of relationship. But here, once again, we are not able to have some kind of connection, because we don't know his past.



As if the lack of knowledge of the origin and the lack of connection were not enough, Grave does not speak a single word during practically the entire campaign. What is implied is that, in fact, the character has a past (something like RoboCop's origin), and that he manages to have a small flashback during the course of the story.

Let's face it, what caught the players' eyes in Gungrave G.O.R.E. was not the confusing and poorly explained story, but the expected feeling of what won a legion of fans in the golden 2000s: the hack'n'slash combat.

The feeling of wrecking hundreds and hundreds of opponents that just keep on coming, while you manage to string together a series of continuous attacks, generating a rank at the end of the phase...it was an indescribable feeling in games like Devil May Cry, for example. We have that same style here, but...not so much. Let me explain.



You know when I talked about the game's idea to bring all the majesty of the PS2 to something new, giving a breath of nostalgia? Here the feeling is that yes, they did that, but they forgot to update the mechanics. If someone told me I was playing an emulator, I would easily believe it.

As mentioned earlier, the protagonist has only two pistols, which means he only shoots. Not to say that I am exaggerating, he also has a melee attack with the use of the coffin, but it is not very effective, dull, and not at all accurate. There have been countless moments when he has struck the right blow, but by some law of physics, he passes away without any kind of targeting.

To dodge the enemy's blows, Grave can either hit back at the cannons, or he can dodge, but this proves to be very inefficient, almost in slow motion when executed. Also, the rush to try to speed things up is almost as if it didn't exist, so little difference it makes to the gameplay.

Grave is able to improve his arsenal of moves by buying upgrades at the end of each stage, but the problem persists as there is no significant change in the way the character performs. Special moves can also be purchased and used when the energy bars are full.

But these also leave something to be desired, especially in the fact that they are uncoordinated and often do not cause the damage expected by the cutscene presented.

I think the game could be more creative, allowing the shooting mode to be changed, so that the character could collect other pistols... but here this is just rice and beans. You have the power to shoot non-stop using RT, with or without auto-aim, and you can fire a single concentrated shot at a time.

For a hack'n'slash game, this is really frustrating. Although the game presents a reasonable amount of enemies, they differ little from each other. Other than the bosses that have a less generic style, the others have no charming visual identity or unique style.

It is worth mentioning that the enemies in the more urban regions match their location, presenting aspects of a neighborhood gang. As a big fan of the genre, all of this would be forgivable if the combat was satisfactory.

But here, once again, the game proves ineffective. Because Grave is a bullet sponge, I wish it were possible to crush enemies, to devastate a generous amount, to feel the old feeling of power in control. But the great naked truth is that unfortunately these moments that could be epic are left only for cutscenes, such as the one below.



Of course, if compared to its predecessors, Gungrave G.O.R.E. had a significant change in its graphics, besides better-defined characters and different scenarios, rich in details. Despite these adjectives, the potential wasted by the game is completely linear, not presenting any kind of alternative route to reach your goal.



A game could not be considered a respectable hack'n slash game (not that it is very respectful) without a good soundtrack. Here, the songs are okay according to the genre, but they are repeated several times, and it is a small repertoire. And for this reason, you will probably be so far into the game that you won't be able to stand hearing the same song again.

As a game that promised too much, especially in bringing a nostalgic air to the players, Gungrave G.O.R.E. fails in several moments. The idea was well thought out, but the studio sinned in its execution.

The feeling of devastating a field with hundreds of enemies does not exist here, besides the weak arsenal of the protagonist and the constant failures to execute special moves, which in the cutscene you imagine that the damage will be huge, but may well not reach any enemy.

With a confusing story and no background (especially for those new to the franchise), perhaps it would have been better if Grave had remained in his beautiful coffin and rested in peace.

Gungrave G.O.R.E. was played on Xbox Series S, via Xbox Game Pass.
 

 
Veredito
57
Excelente

Gungrave G.O.R.E. was seen by many as the perfect game to bring the glamour of hack'n'slash games from the legendary Playstation 2, such as God of War and Devil May back to the current generation of consoles. But the fact is that perhaps the developers have taken this intention too far, making a dated game.

Scoring

  • Gameplay
    55
  • Graphics
    70
  • Audio
    70
  • History
    50
  • Controls
    40
Scoring Criteria
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Gungrave G.O.R.E.

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