There is a
review on Gungrave awhile ago by Raziel, and now Gungrave OD has finally made its appearance in NA. First of all, I've played Gungrave OD in its Japanese version, and it was several months ago. So, there
might be changes to the game in NA, but I doubt any of those would be major.
Gungrave Overdose
Developer: RED Entertainment
Platform: Playstation 2
Genre: Action
Where should I start? It is still a game that involves actions, actions, and more actions. But this time, you have more than just one character to choose from. There is Beyond the Grave who will allow you do once again destroy anything with his dual handguns and coffin, and then there are two new comers (unlocked after the first mission): RocketBilly, one who fights with a electric guitar and totally excels in long ranged combat, and Juji Kabane, a blind swordman who is deadly in melee.
Story
The simple is nothing extraordinary. Grave and his companions are on a mission to hunt down a drug lord. And of course, the drug lord has his group of elitists who will interfere with you, and you are to break them apart one by one. (I think it also involves some save-the-world from the bad guy theme, too. Can't be too sure because it's in Jap.)
Gameplay
While it still follows the "Shoot-things-shoot-things-shoot-things" formula, the addition of two playable characters have added quite a lot to the game. Still opening the still with "Kick Their Asses," you can destroy almost anything in this game: crates, cases, pillars, statues, shelves, cars... they will all explode into pieces if you shoot them.
Aside from the stand-still shooting combo, and the charge-up attacks, this time the characters can have up to 9 different Demolition Shots. (3 types, 3 in each type) They are unlocked after missions depends on performance, such as combos, remaining health, kills, clear time etc.
Sound and Graphics
The graphics are quite fine in the game, with impressive animated cutscenes.
The soundtracks are mostly catchy, yet the voice effect is a little medicore... reason being you'll have to hear the same moaning sound from
different enemies you kill, but the chances are you will be too busy shooting to even notice them. The voice-acting is okay. Nothing surprising. (Again, I played the Jap version, so this might be different?)
Overall
As a pure action game, Gungrave OD has done a good job, with relatively more depth than the original Gungrave. The fact that it has 3 difficulties to choose from also add to its replay vaule, along with the large amount of unlockables. For a price of only $15.00 USD, you really can't go wrong with this game. (Oh come on, it's only $15.)
Score: 8.5
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