disclaimer : my review is based on the game post patches, which is how i experienced it for the first time, i am well aware of the issues it had at launch but i do not plan to keep it included since they were not part of the experience i had

that being said, WHAT A GAME !
it fixes a lot from Overdose and adds new quality to life to the series that just made the experience flow much better.
mouse aiming meaning you can quick turn and better focus on more dangerous targets, being able to play the entire game as bunji, the game taking into consideration parts of the anime and the other games into account, there are many praises i can give to this game, but there are indeed issues still present.

while the game is a improvement, the team is relativelly new with the series so there was some ground to be set, for example, they focused too much on their new OC quartz and my girl mika barely got much screen time, the cutscenes range from being some of the best in the market to amateurish dolls moving, i believe there was some budget thing going, as in they didn't had enough for all cutscenes so they only focused on the really HYPE ones.
there were enough bugs here and there that bothered me forcing me to restart checkpoint and i can see those being a bigger problem on gore difficulty, because there are no checkpoints on gore difficulty.
the game also isn't as tightly packed as the first game but i can't blame it much as i blame overdose, there is no way for gore to be as well paced as the original, the original is simple in its mechanics and it can be finished in 3 to 4 hours, meaning you finish the game before being tired of the mechanics, it would be unfair to expect the same from gore, since gore implements much more features and mechanics, that being said i still wish it had less stages, 31 is too much.
still its much better than overdose, because overdose increases its lenght without changing much about the original, so its just long and really bad.

i'm hopeful for what the team has to offer, because they proved capable of making a very good formula for the series and they seem to have just as much love for bunji as i do, tho they got so much hate since launch that they added a free dlc that is switch exclusive out of spite lol.

Gungrave GORE is a weird (but cool!) game and I have somewhat mixed feelings about it.

The gameplay is a great step up from the previous games, it's a nice modernization of Gungrave's control scheme without losing it's distinct feel. The executions and larger variety of special moves and attacks make me think they really tried to take a page off Doom Eternal's book. Did they succeed? Kind of. While they enrich Gungrave's gameplay a lot, it never quite gets to the same mechanical complexity and tightness of Eternal. I'd consider it more akin to Doom 2016, if anything, but that still was a tighter and more challenging game than Gungrave GORE. Gungrave GORE is NOT a hard game at all though. Any difficulty this game has is also inmensely artificial since it consists of throwing shit at you without letting you breathe, and it feels pretty unfair. That happens mostly within the final area, but all previous areas are better or at least only occasionally unfair. The lack of any mechanical complexity turns Gungrave GORE into a pretty mindless shooter. Is that bad? I don't think so. Gungrave GORE is at it's best when you're being pushed gently, with room to breathe while you hold left click for 15 minutes and occasionally hit some cool executions or moves. Levels tend to be short and sweet, but they do overstate their welcome sometimes. Boss fights are usually not that good, but they do their job I guess. It's a dumb, fun and stylish dopamine generator and I think that's awesome! It'd be a fine ass game to chill out with every now and again if it had some sort of horde mode.

The story sucks dick and balls, not really but it's mildly dissappointing how much of a non plot this game has. It tries suuuuper hard to be interesting but it never quite manages that. Flat, uncharismatic characters with average voice acting and a very generic plot. Generic is a word that can be applied to a lot of other aspects of the game. The environments and graphics in general, are very generic. My biggest issue with this game is that, even though it plays like Gungrave, it doesn't really feel or look like Gungrave that much. It doesn't employ the original game's stylish, cartoony and dark cel shading nor does it try to go for the anime's gloomy, early 2000s aesthetic. It settles for something that I surely wouldn't call distinct. It's this sort of futuristic, bright neon cyberpunk look that you'd swear you've seen a thousand times before. Enemies take a similar hit, and for most of the game you'll be fighting brightly colored armored dudes and neon criminals. The unnecesary amounts of shiny stuff enemies have on them is probably to increase visbility, which is fine, but i'd dare to call that a symptom of the graphical style just blending everything together. I don't really like the Superior bosses' designs either, they yet again show the hard pivot to technology, as opposed to previous superiors being much more fleshy and organic. The story also takes the liberty of reviving not one not two but three characters from the first Gungrave, I won't spoil the last two but be advised they are used as fanservice meatsacks with no payoff and no nothing. The one I will talk about and the most obvious one is Bunji. I don't actually mind Bunji being here honestly, I have a soft spot for him since he's just a really cool guy and to me always felt like an alternate version of Nicholas D. Wolfwood. His character is fun to play as, but you can tell he was only patched in later given how limited he is compared to Grave. Another playable character is Quartz, star of one of the most boring levels of the game that also shows you how incredibly basic this game's melee system is and that making a melee only character was a big mistake. Also, the inclusion of a random alien plot for no reason that isn't all too linked to the rest of the game, although a series tradition it seems, does not add anything to the story in any way shape or form. The random alien head at the end sure wasn't the best part of the original Gungrave, and replicating it only serves the purpose of pointing fingers and saying "WOAH!!!! IT'S THE THING™ THAT ALSO HAPPENED IN GUNGRAVE (2002) AND ALSO GUNGRAVE OVERDOSE (2004) I THINK IDK DIDN'T PLAY IT YET!!!!!!!!"

As a little side note I want to talk about the patches. What the hell is with that? Most of the QOL things that I was glad about when I started playing the game apparently were just not there when the game released? So Bunji really was meant to be playable in only 2 levels? Are you serious? NO MISSILE PARRYING? NO INVINCIBILITY WHILE DOING SUPERS? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS NO AUTOFIRE AT LAUNCH???? NO WONDER THE AVERAGE SCORE IS TWO STARS

Fuck it, this game is good.

It's worth noting that I am playing a very patched version of G.O.R.E. compared to what the launch version review outlets (and especially the Game Pass crowd) experienced. That all aside, Gungrave G.O.R.E is the perfect "low maintenance" experience where one can easily glide through the game with minimal critical thinking. The desire to go for the 100% this go around was an equal mix of needing a bit of a break from Elden Ring and its expansion and a promise I made to the friend who bought it for me a couple of Christmass' ago. Needless of the reason, I had a fun time walking around and holding the "R2" while the controller violently shook in my hands.

There isn't much I could avidly defend to convince anyone who isn't on the levels of "middle-shelf brainrot" I'm on that G.O.R.E is worth playing. To anyone who does have prior experience in the Gungrave series or adores the clunkier, lower-budget games we saw in the 7th generation especially, it's well worth your time.

Yes, Gungrave as a series is just Serious Sam, but you ceaselessly push forward in tight corridors instead of running backward in open fields. The principles of both games are the same, but I find Gungrave far more interesting with its unique style and general respect for the player's time (we do not talk about Overdose). G.O.R.E expands on the series by retaining the longer length of Overdose but breaking it into more manageable chunks to play over shorter play sessions. Additionally, the level design harkens more to the original game, with the pace of levels being short and sweet, only broken up with short, hilariously animated cutscenes instead of a half-assed, overlong visual novel style. Having upgrades and new combos to shoot for is a nice cherry on top, giving a real incentive to continue playing. Still, the rewards dished out for completing the game on different difficulties range from practical to "too little, too late" material.

The only content I haven't experienced is the free Bunji DLC to play the campaign as him. Unlocking Bunji requires a bit more grinding than I have in me at the moment. While I enjoyed the 1½ playthroughs I did to get the platinum trophy, I'm not about to run another 1½ to get another three random trophies (yet).

If you're looking for the chocolate milk of video games (something tasty but fleeting and ultimately bad for you), G.O.R.E has you covered, and you can't go wrong with it... as long as you're on the current set of patches.

A followup to the PS2 classic, Gungrave GORE sticks out in the crop of modern action games mainly for the fact that it pretty much is just purely action with little to no filler. Despite coming off like a 3rd person shooter, it has much more in common with older run n guns like Metal Slug. Dense and constant enemy waves, different enemy types leading to having to prioritize certain enemies above others, a focus on routing and an interesting chaining system. I’m a big fan of how they tied movement and shooting together, slowing down considerably when shooting having to gauge how much damage you can absorb before your shield breaks.

Unfortunately some things hold this game back. My biggest complaint is the balance of demolition shots. They are too easy to stock up on, refill, and be very loose with them. There’s some interesting nuance to them, using them at the right time to keep chaining going, but they’re too powerful and dominate the meta of routing and chaining, considerably detracting from the fundamental appeal of weaving through patterns while shooting enemies.

My other biggest complaint is the progression system. I’m not a fan of them in general, especially in stuff like character action games. You’ll eventually unlock everything, so it’s holding you back for very arbitrary reasons. But it’s particularly egregious not just because of the amount of them, but they’re mostly stat upgrades. Do more damage, more health, etc. A game that has such an appeal for being very simple and straightforward was the last game that needed this terribly tacked on progression system.

While flawed, Gungrave G.O.R.E. isn’t nowhere as flawed as some critics lead me to believe, or for the reasons that were often brought up. It’s a game that had a lot of passion put behind it and it’s unfortunate that there will probably never be another considering its reception. Which is a shame because with some iteration and refinement it could really be next level.