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‘Gungrave’, which received attention for its attractive character design and exhilarating action description through game and animation series, is back with the new game ‘Gungrave GORE’. The developer was changed to Lee Gimob, a domestic console game company, but Yasuhiro Naito, who was in charge of the character design of the original series, participated in the development and inherited the legitimacy. It is characterized by the series’ unique sensibility with a heavy hitting action wielded with a .
For those who remember the past of Gungrave, which was cut off regarding 20 years ago, the new Gungrave Gore can be said to be a title like a gift. The main characters appearing are all original characters, and the personality of each character is implemented as if it was moved from the original story or animation.
The most noteworthy part for those who think of the game series first than the animation is Grave’s shooting action, which pours bullets vigorously without reloading. Every step he took, pouring out dozens or hundreds of bullets at the enemies coming from all sides, leaving behind the streets that became a sea of blood, Graves calmly walking as if nothing happened was reproduced as it was in the new ‘Gun Grave Gore’. From the phrase ‘Kick their ass’ displayed when starting a mission, to the appearance of Grave preparing for battle while turning Cerberus, to the demolition shot points displayed in the form of a skull, and the UI displaying the remaining health and shield amount, it reminds me of the previous Gungrave OD. Dots are filling up all over the screen.
The basic direction of gameplay is also a structure that can be easily adapted to those who have played Gungrave OD. All battles were conducted in a short stage format, and enemies with various gimmicks continued to appear in this. A high score is calculated so you can see how quickly and efficiently you cleared it, so you can enjoy playing the same stage multiple times.
One of the fun elements of Gungrave Gore battles is that enemies with various special abilities appear so that it does not stop at monotonous action that easily pushes all stages with a single pistol shot. In addition to mobs that can be cleared with normal pistol fire, you can block all of Grave’s bullets with your sword and shield, attack with a bazooka with a knockback effect, come invisibly and attack from behind, spray toxic substances that disable auto-targeting, or molotov cocktails. There are many types of enemies that appear even in one stage, such as throwing a . Each enemy has a different way to deal with it, so it is necessary to think regarding various combat methods each time to clear the stage more effectively.
However, it is somewhat disappointing that all of these are only at a level that can be satisfied only by those who know the original story and remember the unique fun that the original series had. Although it is said that it has been renewed visually, it is true that it seems somewhat lacking when compared to other next-generation console games released in 2022.
This regret is most evident in the story. There is a lack of basic introduction to the characters that appear during the game, as well as a large number of proper nouns that are difficult for those who do not know the work to sympathize with the characters’ lines and stories.
Consideration for those who have never encountered Gungrave games or animations is the summary video that can only be viewed by selecting ‘History’ on the main screen, and the constant ‘Do you remember this character? As if to say, “This character is also coming!” It is not a big obstacle for those who focus on the TPS-style gameplay itself, where bullets are fired wildly, but it can be a bit difficult for those who want to taste the cool character and the story drawn with that character.
It seems clear that the game tried to put in a variety of elements so that it would not stop at monotonous shooting action, but in the process, the existing physical strength distribution of the enemies increased, resulting in high fatigue in each round, and the more you progressed through the stages, the more repetitive the battle felt. The point is also one of the missing points.
If five or more enemies throwing machine guns, bazookas, or grenades appear on one screen, the enemy’s fire becomes so intense that it is impossible to perform a proper shooting action. Also, even on Normal difficulty, which is the basic difficulty level, there are quite a few cases where you need to pour more than 10 bullets to defeat an enemy. These are the parts that are bound to feel regretful for those who are expecting it.
Of course, alternatives to early play, which can feel somewhat frustrating, are also clearly prepared. It is a laboratory system that strengthens graves with goods that can be obtained following clearing the stage. In the laboratory, ‘skills’ that allow you to perform more spectacular actions by combining basic controls, ‘stats’ that strengthen basic stats such as bullet damage, targeting distance, physical strength and shield recovery, and ‘demolition shots’ that add more colorful special skills Various reinforcement elements are prepared. Clearly, there is no major obstacle to clearing the game without learning additional combat skills or more demolition shots, but it can be said that there are additional options for those who want to taste the hotter ‘annihilation’ action. In order to enjoy it properly, constant replay is required, such as achieving a clear rank of A or higher on all stages and updating the high score.
Those who have played Gungrave Gore for the first time often say, ‘My fingers hurt’ in unison, because you have to press the mouse button or the trigger button on the pad every time you shoot, just like shooting a real pistol. In order to reduce the fatigue that can be felt at this time, the developer has prepared user-friendly functions such as ‘four bullets per button click’ and ‘burst maintenance by holding down the button during burst’.
Of course, it is true that it is difficult to use until you have not read the tutorial text properly or are familiar with it. In particular, to quickly activate burst mode, you have to click the button four times in place, but if the hold function was to be supported when holding the button, it would have been nice to assign a separate key to burst mode from the beginning.
As Gungrave Gore is a title that was originally scheduled to be released in 2019, there are still some directions that look somewhat awkward from the current point of view in 2022. In order to save the ‘gore’ included in the title, the limbs were dismantled, but the expression of blood splashing or head and limbs flying is somehow awkward rather than cruel.
However, the significance of ‘Gun Grave Gore’ is by no means small in that it succeeded the series, which almost ended without news of a new work for a long time following Gun Grave OD. With the addition of Yasuhiro Naito, who was in charge of the original character design, it has authenticity, and a high level of Korean dubbing has been applied to it, so it will be an ideal gift for Korean gamers who remember Gungrave.
Gungrave Gore can be said to be a meaningful step that will be recorded in the future journey of Lee Ki-mob, a Korean console game developer. I look forward to continuing the challenge in the future until we secure the various improvements revealed in this work and achieve the aspiration of ‘the first game company that comes to mind when it comes to console action games’.
