Gungrave G.O.R.E Review

ign.com:

Gungrave G.O.R.E has exactly one mission objective, three words that flash across the screen at the beginning of each level and every time you die: Kick their ass. For the 12-15 hour campaign, you’ll do exactly that – shoot, slash, blow up, and otherwise execute thousands of enemies and bosses on your quest to eradicate the Raven Clan and save the world from an evil drug called SEED. When it works, which is often, Gungrave G.O.R.E is a captivating ballet of blood and bullets that merges Gungrave’s signature style with the best aspects of modern action games. Unfortunately, for everything Gungrave G.O.R.E does right, there are an equal number of frustrations and missed opportunities, making it difficult to recommend to anyone outside of action game aficionados or hardcore Gungrave fans.

Gungrave G.O.R.E picks up where Gungrave VR and Gungrave VR U.N left off. You don’t have to have played any previous Gungrave games or seen the anime adaptation to pick up what G.O.R.E is laying down, though it will definitely help – if you’re new to the series, there’s a short video explaining its history to help you along. The setup is a bit goofy: SEED, a drug with a knack for transforming its users into monsters that was thought to be eradicated, has actually survived. This time, it’s being sold by the Raven Clan, so Mika, Beyond the Grave (Grave to his friends, and your main protagonist), Dr. Aso, newcomer Quartz, and the rest of the rather forgettable El-Al Canhel head to Scumland to stop SEED production and take the Raven Clan, and its four bosses, down.

Things escalate from there, of course, but Gungrave G.O.R.E’s plot and characters are never strong enough to provoke more than passing interest in what’s going on. Grave is silent as