GunGrave PS2 Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Adam Woolcott on August 28, 2003

Review: Shallow like a kiddie pool, short like a midget, easy like a hooker Ц that's GunGrave!

Ever since Sega went the 3rd party route in 2001, the company has been like Jeckyl & Hyde at times Ц alongside their brilliant sports games and the great Xbox offerings, along with Virtua Fighter 4 for PlayStation 2, the company has released a small share of games that go against their grain of quality. How many 18-wheeler games do we need, anyway? The latest unusual decision was to grab the rights to publish Red Company's GunGrave. With character designs created by the same individual behind the Trigun anime (not that I know that much about anime), and Devil May Cry gameplay, expectations were pretty high for the game, especially since it was coming stateside through Sega.

Unfortunately, GunGrave is your basic example of a poor game. Despite some great cel-shaded graphics, an interesting story and a fairly cool main character, the game just can't get over the blatant flaws that are visible immediately Ц the game is incredibly shallow, the game is incredibly short, and the game is incredibly easy. 3 strikes and not only are you out, you're also ejected from the game, so hit the showers. Playing GunGrave could be compared to watching a test pattern on television; only it numbs your brain even faster.

GunGrave's story revolves around Grave, a dead/undead guy who carries a casket on his back, which makes his movements akin to a zombie. Grave is a former Syndicate member, which is a gang of evildoers who are now hellbent on putting Grave into that casket. Throughout the game, Grave battles hordes of Syndicate forces and bosses on the way to wiping out the Syndicate.

And, umm, well, that's it. The lame story only begins the pattern of lameness that GunGrave personifies. Grave has only a few different moves at his disposal; his guns, his casket, and one special move that is built up through massive amounts of killing. There's no ammo, so like Devil May Cry, you're able to focus on beating enemies than looking for ammo. If anything, a unique trait is the semi-musically related way of building up his special move Ц if you kill enemies in the УcorrectФ pattern, a music beat plays while you mow down baddies, which builds up the special meter. This remains the only interesting trait, since it invokes memories of Rez, which is of course the greatest wire-frame shooter involving music of all times, and probably never will be touched unless someone else makes a wire-frame shooter involving music.

The rest of this game borders on lame. The linear progression means all you have to do is kill enemies and move along, and this could work if there was a decent challenge. Alas, there isn't. It's not every day that I beat a game the first time playing in one single sitting, but I managed to do it with GunGrave. This shows 2 things Ц 1st, the game is extremely short, and 2nd, the game is extremely easy. By the later levels I was basically in a trance of hitting the buttons to fire weapons, and watching TV on the picture-in-picture. It's that bad, you can beat levels without looking or at least not paying much attention. In concept GunGrave should be something special, but instead it borders on utterly boring and worthless. Which is a shame.

When it comes to GunGrave, the visuals are actually the best part. The cel-shading looks great and feels like Jet Set Radio Killing Machine, which is always a plus (admittedly I'm a fan of cel-shading; it's a very cool touch). This actually makes GunGrave feel very anime-ish which isn't surprising given the Trigun connection. The anime cutscenes are sure to please anime fans, as they look quite good and might even be enough to keep anime fans interested in playing this game.

GunGrave's audio is decent, but also somewhat forgettable. The whole УbeatФ process is cool when playing the levels, but it drowns out any background music and other sound effects. The voice acting is pretty well done though, and makes the cutscenes at least watchable to forward the story.