Gungrave GORE: We tried it and it was like traveling back in time!

At video game fairs, just like Gamescom in Cologne, there are events you can’t wait to get to, and others you want to escape from. The one with Gungrave GORE could only be part of the second category and for reasons that are anything but secondary: the game was presented years ago to subsequently disappear into thin air, this certainly does not instill confidence, and was born from a collaboration between Japanese and Korean developers, mix that never led to great video games. Yet, as the hour X approached, our opinion slowly began to change, above all thanks to what the PR had said who, introducing us to the game, defined its spirit with a word that even now, as we write about it, echoes in the our head: shameless, that is, without shame.

Find out why in ours tried by Gungrave GORE.

Flying coffins

After thinking about it for a whole day, there is probably no better definition to describe this title. Gungrave GORE is shameless because it gives a damn about what is modern and à la pageproposing a type of action that appears to come straight from 1999. Yes, this Gungrave is old fashioned yet not old fashioned at all, but damn refreshing. Let’s face it: we also like committed, deep games, with strong characters and burning themes, but damn it all there is a limit. An action game must also be light, an all-round game of those that while you turn on the console, at the same time makes you switch off your brain, just like those of the past that would never have brought up conflicting family relationships, or even worse ecological dramas. as they seem to be in vogue nowadays. Where is it written that a video game must necessarily teach you something, or even make you think?

Here, Gungrave GORE is none of this: here we impersonate Brandon Heat, killed by his best friend and returned to life as Grave, a dark warrior who travels like a meteor on his own coffin capable of transforming himself into a hundred and more different weapons. And just like this begins this game: Grave arrives and starts shooting at those who are his enemies. There is a plot, but it is practically impalpable, secondary; the real star is the gameplay, pushing hell into action that never stops, combo after combo, boss after boss. To survive and have the best you must also play with intelligence, but it remains mainly a question of eye and thumb coordination.

Shoot, kill and avenge

The arsenal at our disposal is of course one of the most extreme. Grave’s basic attack is tied to his two guns, but their power varies depending on how we load the shots; by pressing Y / Triangle, we will instead see him put himself in the coolest pose possible and shoot everything around him. Of course it does not end there, soon we will also be able to use a grappling hook with which to project ourselves towards the enemies, then finishing them with bullets or hitting them with our shape-changing coffin. Melee, Grave hurts just as much, closes the longest combos with a flourish with finishing moves worthy of the best anime, and hitting enemy missiles on the fly can send them back directly to the sender with attached fireworks. Worthy of note are the three special moves that will transform his coffin on the shoulder into as many lethal weapons, from which to fire homing missiles and drill the surrounding threats.

We are the danger

Grave is powerful, very powerful, and to justify the dangers he is forced to run, the designers of Gungrave GORE have had to force him into paramilitary bases crammed with the same enemies that in other contexts would have been wiped out in no time at all. . The game is set totally indoors, between corridors and armored rooms, even if there will be more spacious areas where, however, we will usually meet the inevitable end-level boss. What we had the pleasure of dealing with is a sort of huge armored car that was not at all difficult to blow up into a thousand pieces, but we are still talking about a long introductory level designed more to teach us to play than to test ourselves.

Technically Gungrave GORE is doing just fine, but don’t expect who knows what graphics. It does not matter: the main character is animated very well, the enemies are mostly forced in camouflage, members of the drug cartel Raven Clan, and the explosions make quite convincing booms. That’s enough to make the gameplay run at full speed, and to give maximum emphasis to the epic charisma of this one character created in 2002 by Yasuhiro Nightowthe same author of the much loved Trigun.