As the wise Youtube channel, TeamFourStar, once said, “Bitches love cannons.” For those who haven’t seen Hellsing Abridged, it is a joke, that a female vampire says when shooting a giant rifle. If you have not seen it and are curious, here is a link to two scenes with the reference. The reason why this reference is pertinent to our PAX West 2022 coverage of Gungrave G.O.R.E is due to a special ability done by the main character; additionally, the main character is a vampire with two guns. Yes, Gungrave does have an animated adaptation but did not reach the notoriety of the Hellsing series.
Fans of Hack-and-Slash games with bullet hell capabilities will love Gungrave G.O.R.E. Do you know what the most badass way to make an entrance is? Popping out of a coffin and snapping someone’s neck. Players do not have to worry about reloading their weapon since it reloads on its own. As the player deals out damage their beat attack meter increases. Once the meter is over 50, the player can trigger a special attack that will continuously attack either until all enemies are dead or they are hit. Players can snap the camera to target enemies in rapid succession. If you like blood splattering everywhere you are in luck.
Beyond shooting enemies with standard guns, once the special meter is charged, the player can unleash their Demolition Shots. Our favorite special attack is when Grave summons a giant cannon to shoot the enemies. If enemies are too close, the player can have Grave unleash devastating melee attacks. Say you want to get up close and personal? You can use your chain to pull yourself to the enemy. Grave uses his coffin to break enemies’ shields, deflect rockets, and even stun enemies.
Gungrave G.O.R.E Impressions
Jumping into Gungrave G.O.R.E, we had never played the series. In fact, the main things that drew us in to check out this demo were the game’s graphics and music soundtrack. The music in the trailer sounded vaguely familiar but we could not put our fingers on it immediately. Once we met with Prime Matter and Iggymob, we were informed that Tetsuya Shibata was the musical composer for the game; for those unfamiliar with his name, he is the behind the music of Devil May Cry. Needless to say, the game’s soundtrack pulled us in and kept us emerged in the action.
The game’s soundtrack alone did not keep us going. The overall gameplay is what held our attention. Yes, shooting enemies with a metric ton of bullets was fun, but there was something more enjoyable about smacking our enemies with a coffin or crush in their skulls. At one point, we had so much fun smacking the enemies around that we forgot how to shoot.
Sadly, we were unable to complete the demo due to time constraints. Part of those time constraints was hindered due to us trying to break the game at the request of the Prime Matter employee showing us the game. The game is well polished and we were not able to break it despite trying some of the most common tricks in the book. Thankfully, this was one of the few titles that we did not manage to break that weekend and that made it even more special.
Upcoming Launch
If you are a fan of games such as Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bulletstorm, or Bayonetta this game might be right up your avenue.
Gungrave G.O.R.E is set to release on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. The game is scheduled to be released on November, 3rd (11/03/2022).
