Gungrave OD

[marcus]

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-r-70-2qg-4-5-77-2-15-grave.html

Recieved this from Play Asia this week and have had the chance to sit through the first two levels.
Ive not played the first game before (despite owning it..) so had no preconceptions or expectations for this.

Two words would sum this up for me so far, basic and intense, which if this is the premise for the first game Id appreciate someone telling me, but from what I can tell you simply move about a lot, lock on, jump left and right whilst hammering away at the attack button. Im yet to see much more to it than that, some enemies are best despatched via long distance, others are best attacked in close quarters but all die pretty quickly and show no real intelligence that I can find so far. You have access to a melee attack, and a shield meter is there to give you an idea of how much punishment you can take.

Graphically theres no great shouts, but it moves smoothly enough and I enjoy the style of the manga-influenced graphics. There are numerous cut scenes which to be honest I tend to skip so I cant comment on them to any great degree. I find myself fighting with the camera at times, and also have become disorientated too, Id like to see a proper strafe implemented but hey its early days and so too soon to form a proper judgement.

Its import-friendly, although you would miss out on the storyline depicted in the cut-scenes, if you were concerned about them that is. Expect a review of this on-site very soon.

[D-SG]

Two words would sum this up for me so far, basic and intense, which if this is the premise for the first game Id appreciate someone telling me...

That's pretty much it, yeah - it's a 2D shooter in 3D.

Caveat for returning Gungrave vets: Overdose is almost unrecognisably different from the original - Grave now moves like an acrobat instead of a shambling undead cowboy, and the whole game runs at least twice as fast, if not faster, than before. Levels are larger but don't feel as well-designed as Gungrave's with regards to beat count layout (there are more destructible objects, though they seem pretty haphazardly placed instead of organised in obvious chains), but this may be because I just haven't gotten my head around the changes yet.

It's not cel-shaded any more, although it's higher resolution and all the texture work is sharp and clean. The sound treatment's a bit underwhelming - no pounding Tsuneo Imahori score (apart from stuff recycled from the first game's OST for the front end) and all the bass and reverb is gone from Grave's gunfire, which made me cry horrible tears.

I'll probably think it's great when I give it another go, but it's not what I was expecting, that's for sure. This shouldn't be taken as a comment on the quality of the game; it's quite possibly better than Gungrave. I'm just not up to speed at the minute.

[D-SG]

I'll probably think it's great when I give it another go...

These last words are totally famous.

It's like Carry On Gungrave; there's practically none of the weightiness and clever mechanics that make Red games interesting beyond the production design, and this time even the production design's lacking. Though Gungrave got hauled over the coals for being "too shallow", it's like the Bering Sea compared to Overdose. By trying to answer to criticisms of the original, they've made a game that deserves those criticisms even more, and lost the focus that made Gungrave the taut, rewarding arcade game it was.

I'm heartbroken; even though I love **** games more than sweetness and light, I don't think I can force myself to play to the end of the second stage, let alone the end of the game.

I guess Red have just spread themselves too thin with Sega projects, Bujingai and the relatively fast turnover of OD; Christ only knows the state the game was in when it reached the original January release date.


edit: On third thoughts, it does get better.

[Shibusawa jr.]

All the bass and reverb is gone from Grave's gunfire, which made me cry horrible tears.

Tell me that's a joke because it's like a fundamental part of the satisfaction the original gave me really.

[D-SG]

Tell me that's a joke because it's like a fundamental part of the satisfaction the original gave me really.

Oh, it's a joke alright - ON US. The new charge-up shots make a slightly more satisfying thump (it's also the only attack in the game that feels like it's got any weight to it - even the coffin swing's been neutered), but generally the game's sonics are pish. It's made even more noticeable by the complete lack of in-game music, apart from the boss fights which recycle tracks from the Gungrave OST.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Sons of bitches!

I was really looking forward to this as I had hoped they had kept the design, flair and LOUDNESS of the original, but overhauled the gameplay to cure the tediousness of it.

Evidently Red have done the exact opposite. Makes me want to "KICK THEIR ASS!"

ft:

[D-SG]

Evidently Red have done the exact opposite.

I think it's more a case of being careful what you wish for. There is a lot more content in OD, with a wider variety of moves, characters, longer levels, et al; it's also much more difficult, with your shield collapsing after only a few seconds of concerted hits and the enemies later in the game are a lot more interested in killing you. There's flashes of Red magic - the game improves dramatically at, and after, the third stage - some great setpieces, and the new slow-motion/bullet-time effect is incredibly satisfying. So they've overhauled the structure and gameplay as demanded, but at the expense of the mechanics that made the first game great. Course, if you didn't enjoy the mechanics in the first game, that shouldn't bother you. It's a button-masher at its most extreme; it's fast, it's punishingly relentless, it's fun, but it's not quite Gungrave.

I'm a lot warier of the Bujingai sequel's player-driven "improvements", now, too. Come back purity, all is forgiven.

[Tobal]

Just butting in here, howi s the PAL version of Gungrave 1? is worth getting(borders/speed) or should i get the US version.

[D-SG]

Sorry Tobal, I haven't seen the PAL version running; I think Activision brought it over, and their conversions are usually pretty good, though.

Meanwhile, I was kinda wrong about OD: the game improves considerably after you complete it, with not only a harder than Hard "Kick Ass" difficulty that really means it, but the new playable characters put Grave to shame (if only because he's lost his cowboy hat and his guns sound rubbish).

Jyuji Kabane, grubby supernatural assassin and Takeshi Kitano-alike, has weaker guns but a ridiculously cool pair of swords, which cut the **** out of thugs in a frenzy of painful red slashmarks and actually require a different playstyle. Well, you hammer the button up close to people as opposed to far away from people, but it is a difference.

Star of the show, though, is Rocket Billy Red Cadillac, who lays waste to levels with arcing blue electric death from his guitar; it's magical. You haven't lived until you've seen (and heard) his charge-up shot reduce a parking lot to rubble in a series of explosive power chords, and I dare you to not shout "Elvis has left the building" after surveying the carnage.

Whether you'll have the will to get that far is another matter - the levels really are brain-free in terms of chaining; you can pick up a colossal beat count just by never stopping firing, as there's no real structure, just overkill to the nth degree. I still don't think the game feels as good as the original, but it's not taking the piss as much as I initially moaned.