Gungrave

by Red Company

Product Features

• Play as a gun-wielding, death-dealing anti-hero
• Weapons include a coffin strapped to the character's back
• Fully destructible environments
• Roam the bowels of the criminal underworld
• Anime cutscenes by Yasuhiro Naito

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006AVAZ
• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 17, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,175 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #16 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Action > Shooter
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The name of our dead hero is Grave. The name of the game is Style. From the opening stab of jazz in the titles to the metal coffin chained to our hero's arms, Gungrave roils in hard-boiled cell-shaded .50-calibur style. The gameplay is the heir to many button-masher arcade games, offering an instantly gratifying gaming experience. Twin guns--called Cerberos--pound destruction to swarms of "syndicate" enemies and many objects in your environment. The coffin can be swung around to hammer foes at close range. The shots from the Cerberos can ring singly or as a spinning fountain in Grave's bullet dance. If you can keep a steady stream of destruction, your beat count goes up, and you generate demolition-shot special attacks and abilities which can restore life to Grave or serve damage like piping-hot fire to his enemies.

Gungrave is inaccurately compared to Devil May Cry. The games share some style points but otherwise have nothing in common. Grave's controls only permit him the most cursory of acrobatics. He can dive à la Max Payne, but his normal gait is the shuffle of a zombie. In an original twist on controller schemes, he can move at regular walking speed via the L3 (pressing down on the joystick) but this kink quickly loses its novelty as it is difficult to hold and feels as if it will damage the controller. Unfortunately, the instant gratification this game brings is short lived. At about two hours of play, it clocks in as one of the shortest, as well as most repetitive, games available. --Ashley Pond V

Pros:

• Fabulous style and arcade action
• Minimal load times
• Easy to jump into

Cons:

• Too short
• Shallow and repetitive gameplay

Product Description

Gungrave challenges gamers to kick some serious butt as Grave, a long-dead assassin sent back to earth to annihilate seemingly endless legions of merciless enemies. Players battle their way through massive, destructible areas in over-the-top anime-inspired action, earning insane special attacks and otherworldly power-ups as they embark on a mission of revenge and devastation. Featruing destructible environments, hordes of relentless foes and stunning art by anime legend Yasuhiro Naito, Gungrave is equal parts stylish anime thriller, Hollywood blockbster and heart-pounding action game. Prepare to be blown away.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stylish, mindless, short, fun., September 29, 2002

By 

Seppo Helava (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gungrave (Video Game)

Gungrave's character designs were done by the guy behind Trigun, and it shows. The pseudo-futuristic Western style mixed with an undead main character definitely works well, and Beyond the Grave (yes, that's your character's name) strikes an imposing profile, with his own coffin slung from chains wrapped around his arms.

If Gungrave is anything, it's stylish. From heavily stylized CG cel-shaded cutscenes, to the... logo at the beginning of each level (I kid you not - though this will probably be hit by the censors), everything in Gungrave oozes 1.) style and 2.) a sense that you must shoot everything on screen.

The controls are a little strange - Beyond the Grave walks at a snail's pace. You can make him move faster by running, or by clicking down on the stick, but his basic movement is *extremely* slow. This is again, probably a stylistic choice, as BtG isn't supposed to be a super-fast action hero - he's Death incarnate, and it would seem Death is content to take his time.

The graphics are, again, heavily stylized, and textures on everything retain a look like they were stripped out of an anime. There's a lot of explosions, some neat effects, and a bit of slowdown.

The biggest problem in this game is that there simply isn't much to do. As satisfying as it is to mow down enemy after enemy, it gets tiring after a few hours - either fortunately, or unfortunately, the game as a whole only lasts about this long. While the combo system and unlocking demolition shots gives it some semblance of replay value, the game itself isn't really complex enough to warrant playing it over and over. As fun as it is, just be warned, it's short.

So, if you're looking to blow off some steam, and destroy everything in sight, Gungrave's certainly an option to consider. Just be wary that the experience is brief, but intense.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get it right., July 20, 2004

By 

David Nakamura - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gungrave (Video Game)

Ok let me clear this up, the gungrave anime came out AFTER Gungrave the PS2 game. The gungrave anime tells the story of Brandon Heat (Beyond the Grave), his dealings in the syndicate Millenion, how he was killed, and the deal with his "best friend" Harry, the current boss of Millenion. The show also explains everything about the orcmen and the technology used to bring the dead back to life, "Necro-rise". The show takes place before the game untill episode 17.

I would recommend watching the show first (DVD volume 1 is out in america right now, but its available through fansub if you can find it.), and then playing the game.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "must play game," but must own?, October 2, 2002

By 

toastedrebel (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gungrave (Video Game)

Forget what you've read about being able to beat this one blindfolded, it's just not true. In addition to offering the most frentic anti-hero action this side of DMC, Gungrave's massively sprawling levels will certainly require your full attention span, all 6 of them that is. Yep, there's the rub folks. Gungrave is awesome, no doubt, but is there enough to warrant a purchase?Featuring outstanding cel-shaded graphics and character designs by the folks behind the hit anime series "Trigun," Gungrave certainly doesn't lack personality. In fact, the whole game is presented like an anime, with an entertaining albeit disposible plot unfolding via slick cutscenes, all of which are in japanese and subtitled in english! Gameplay wise Gungrave could be called shallow. Essentially shoot everything on screen using your impossibly large twin pistols, "Cerberos." There is a little depth here, a decent combo system, unlockable special attacks, a shield system, but chances are you will hardly notice with all the insane violence on screen. In fact, the action can get so intense the game will at times suffer slight slowdown, but in all fairness this effect will probably help your gameplay more than hinder it.So what we have is an arcade game that falls into all of the arcade game trappings, it's graphically superb but too short and not extremely difficult. However, as my rating implies, its charming characters and music should entertain. Don't write this one off! For anime fans, a must own title, for everyone else, at least rent this one. After all, sometimes you just need a game where all you do is blow stuff up!