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GunGrave

Playstation 2 - RED Entertainment - Action - M - 1 Player

With the possible exception of Contra III's "The Alien Wars Have Begun", never before has a game been so adequately defined by a single in-game phrase as GunGrave and it's oft- repeated "Kick Their Ass."

GunGrave is destined to be forever misunderstood in the eyes of the PS2 consumer. Once you're dubbed a poor man’s Devil May Cry, it's difficult to really break loose and find your own market. The truth of the matter is that GunGrave has much more in common with games like Cannon Spike or Metal Slug than it does with DMC, which for all intents and purposes, is a really high budget brawler. GunGrave crashes onto the PS2 with the mindset of an 80's arcade title. You shoot *#$! (moving or not) until it explodes. You strike cocky poses. You're in possession of exceedingly large, blunt objects. That being said, you have to treat GunGrave as such. I wouldn't call it retro, but if you go in expecting anything other than a twitchy arcade title, you're going to be disappointed. Or at the very least, surprised.

Considering the fact that GunGrave sports unlimited continues and some rather wussy enemy AI on the default settings, you will beat the game a few hours after your initial purchase. But if you were to just put the game on the shelf after that (or even worse, bring it back for a refund...) you'd be missing the entire point. How much enjoyment you get out of RED's creation ultimately depends on why you're playing video games in the first place. If you approach your games like you do your movies --and that is to stay awake long enough to get to the end credits-- you won't find all that much to like about GunGrave.

However, the same thing can be said about many games. GunGrave is similar to titles like Viewtiful Joe and Ikaruga in the sense that the game is as fun as you make it. You can blow through GunGrave, riding the infinite continues, abusing the rechargeable shields, and otherwise playing the game "like a girl" (note: sarcasm), or you can do it right, diving headlong into crowds of tuxedo wearing, machine gun toting vampires, armed with nothing but two pistols and a really big stick.

Gungrave awards the aggressive player. The game’s biggest draw, and where a great bulk of the games replayability can be found, lies with the game’s combo system. Similar to the chaining system featured in the Japanese shooter Donpachi, the counter rises with every hit you land on an enemy or environmental object, and is reset whenever there's a substantial lapse in the action. Entire segments of the game can be strung together with enough practice, with chains spiraling into the hundreds. The satisfaction gained from laying waste to vampires, thugs, and public urinals in such stylish fashion can't be adequately described in words. At times, GunGrave elicits the same ‘zen-like' state as well as any shooter --three dimensional or otherwise-- that I've ever played.

When reviewing a game that was received by the media like GunGrave, I usually read up on a bunch of ‘pro-reviews', if only for the sole purpose of rebutting the stupidity spewed forth therein. I gather that one common complaint about GunGrave was the game’s straight forward level design. Levels are laid out in a way to take full advantage of the game’s chaining system. That long, seemingly empty hallway between populated rooms serves as an opportunity for you to make or break your chain, keeping it alive by shooting out the lights in the ceiling, or any such clever means. The other complaints, and perhaps the ones that irk me the most, are ones concerning the game’s length. Two to three hours for a shooter such as this is actually a little on the long side. In fact, I think that two of the later levels drag on too much, and could be shortened with no real detriment to the game at all. But all that is irrelevant. Basing your decision on whether or not to buy a game based on play time is akin to going to Barnes and Noble and passing over anything short of a thousand pages.

The one thing that everyone can agree on, whether they like the game or not, is the fact that the game is artistically brilliant. Grave himself -the undead Cowboy hell spawn- is one of the best lead designs in gaming history. Boss designs walk that thin line between exceedingly stupid and pure, unadulterated brilliance. My favorite of course being the big bicep. That's just clever. The plot of GunGrave is a little thin, though considering the genre, it's exceedingly well written, and beautifully presented in a series of animated cut scenes. You'd be hard pressed to find a shooter with a better plot than the one found here. Ultimately it's a tale of hideous mutations and revenge, but at least it's presented well.

I feel obligated to make my normal ‘this game might not be for everyone speech' here, but really, why couldn't it be? Or for that matter, why shouldn't it?

++ Beautiful cell shaded graphics. + Cutscenes are wholly impressive. - Some animation, particularly that of the fatalities, is lacking.	9.0
+ Not exactly what you would expect for a game of this type. + I have a particular slide guitar/harmonica number stuck in my head right now.	8.5
++ Smooth and stylish, one of the top action games of this generation.	9.5
++ Grave himself is an incredible piece of design, and the rest of the game is rife with similar quality.	9.5
+ Ranking system. + Chain-based gameplay is inherently deep. ++ Genre lends itself well to replayability.	9.5
++ Much maligned and often misunderstood, GunGrave is one of the top action titles on the Playstation 2.	9.5
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