Gungrave G.O.R.E. [Xbox]
IGGYMOB’s Gungrave G.O.R.E. is a brand new instalment to the Gungrave series, though you’ll get on just fine without having played any of the previous titles. You play as Grave, a badass ‘Gunslinger of Resurrection’ who has come back from the dead to Kick. Some. Ass. A crime syndicate known as the Raven Clan have been dealing a drug known as SEED throughout Scumland, turning its users into monsters. This drug had ravaged the world long ago - back in the original games - but was incorrectly thought to have been wiped out. So now Grave has been called upon, to stop Raven Clan from spreading their SEED.
Mowing down enemies is fun, and you’ve got a variety of satisfying moves to pull off. Continually shooting does knacker your fingers a bit, though thankfully an option to allow auto-firing when holding in the trigger has been added since launch. Successful hits count as ‘Beats’, with your Beat Counter shown at the side of the screen, rapidly increasing as you annihilate enemies at speed. The Beat Count resets after too long without a successful shot, though this can be used for enemies as well as destructible items within the environment if you’re trying to keep it going in quieter areas. As well as your pistols, you’ve got your massive coffin-weapon known as Death Hauler that you can swing around, mashing enemies into oblivion, though you’ll most likely spend the majority of your time just rapid-firing your way through the levels - and boss battles are a bit of a mixed bag, with some feeling more entertaining than others, though they do break up a bit of the repetition (kinda).
You can pull off cool executions known as R.I.P. against stunned enemies, and doing so will increase your “Art” score for the final rundown at the end of the level. Death Spear, which is a charged shot to use against shielded enemies with a whole lot of oomph in the sound effects. Grab with the Death Hook, and use enemies as meat shields, or execute them with the R.I.P. in a stylish flurry. You’ve also got Demoliton Shots, which are high powered shots that can be pulled off once you’ve filled the Demolition Gauge, and there’s a variety of these on offer, each of them looking cooler than the last - and they’re all super satisfying. There’s not a whole lot of variety to the standard enemies you’ll face, which does result in it feeling like you’re just rinse-repeating your way through chunks of the game at a time, but it does still feel quite fun to do so.
Visually, Gungrave G.O.R.E. is impressively detailed - particularly in the opening cinematic - and there’s even now a cel-shaded option that can be switched on that makes things POP. My main issue with the visuals is that many of the areas have a very similar feel, with not much variety to the environments themselves. Cinematic cutscenes are downright fantastic, pretty much the highlight of the game, and reaaaaally make me wish there was a full movie or series. Lighting, particularly in the neon-lit areas, is stunning, and all of the colour reflecting against the metallic backdrops adds a nice feel. Gameplay cutscenes however, are slightly funky, with the likes of Mika talking directly into Grave’s belly, and they sometimes cut to these so abruptly at the end of levels that it can feel quite jarring. Music is very catchy and energetic in the midst of combat, and is reminiscent of the soundtracks from games we played in the early 2000s.
At the end of each level, you’ll be given a ranking based on how well you’ve done. This is rated based upon the percentage of kills you got (which, if you’re not running away from enemies at all, should most often come in at 100%), as well as how much life you had left by the end of the level, your “Art” style points, and more.
At certain points in the story, you’ll play as other characters that change things up gameplay-wise. Bunji feels much quicker to play as (and he looks absurdly cool), and Quartz plays in a much more melee-focused way. There’s some platforming sections that are awkwardly clunky, and the pacing for some of the levels feels almost unbearably slow, even in spite of the level completion time often coming in at under 5-10 minutes. Standing on a moving platform and just waiting for it to progress along its path to take Grave where he needs to be is super frustrating, and causes you to totally lose momentum - if only for a short time.
Gungrave G.O.R.E. comes in at £44.99 on Xbox, with additional DLC skins: Death Ronin and O.D. Grave, available for £4.49 each (fairly steep for each skin!). Thankfully, it is available on Game Pass if you want to take it for a test run first, if you’re a bit unsure about dropping the best part of fifty quid up front, and you’ll also get a slight discount on the DLC through Game Pass, too. Despite its flaws, I have had fun with Gungrave G.O.R.E. and would say it’s very much a game that’s designed to just mindlessly blast through, but it is expensive at it’s standard pricing for what it is - so if you’re not going down the Game Pass route, I’d probably recommend you wait for a sale or pick it up physically, since that often works out cheaper.
In the end, we decided to give Gungrave G.O.R.E. the Collecting Asylum rating of 6/10.
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- V x
Thank you to Plaion for the Gungrave G.O.R.E. Xbox review code!
