What could’ve possibly have happened for the balancing to be this horrendous. Not only that but the charm of the original has been significantly dumbed down. It’s at least stylish and keeps the gameplay somewhat so I still think it’s fine, but it’s a pretty big downgrade.
5/10
5/10
The Gameplay it's sucks...
how did they fuck up Gungrave dude
Billy and Juji are fucking awesome
Might be the next contender for worst action game I've played since Devil May Cry 2. Gone is the short, fast, stylish arcade action of the first and instead a boring, annoying slog of a sequel.
I couldn't force myself to get through this. Gungrave O.D. marks one of the sharpest declines in quality for a game sequel. The lean, stylized experience from the original game is replaced with an agonizing pace, muddy visuals, and a story that's too long and too boring to keep me invested in nearly 6 hours of very repetitive gameplay. Gungrave worked because it was a 2 hour, all-killer-no-filler arcade experience translated onto a home console, not because it was a half arcade shooter - half visual novel that's at least 4 hours longer than it has any right to be.
I just watched the rest of the story through YouTube and watched the refresher video before G.O.R.E. and called it good.
I just watched the rest of the story through YouTube and watched the refresher video before G.O.R.E. and called it good.
If the original Gungrave were reminiscent of any other game to me, it was Devil May Cry. And if there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I fucking adore Devil May Cry. DMC3 and 5 are basically running an eternal neck-and-neck race for my favourite game of all time, but DMC1 sits comfortably in my top 10. It's a title that feels totally unique within the greater action genre, mostly brought on by its atmosphere; very similarly to the original Gungrave and its great use of cel-shading. Likewise, a short length allowing for easy replayability, a relentless, almost endless amount of style, and satisfying gameplay were all commonalities between the pair, and made me appreciate the time I spent with Gungrave even more.
In that same sense, Gungrave Overdose is almost painfully reminiscent of Devil May Cry 2. Not in the same sense of how DMC2 was churned out from a hellish development cycle, where its original director was replaced and the newbie had to go from a single attack animation to a full game that you could buy for real money over the span of 4 months. Rather, GG:OD feels like it's following in DMC2's footsteps of trying to be bigger and better in every way, while forgetting what made the original title as good as it was. In that respect, Overdose is the most appropriate subtitle this game could've had.
While the core of the satisfying and frantic gunplay of the original title remains, and you also get the sick ability to whack rockets with your coffins melee attacks, the game's lock-on proves a massive hindrance from beginning to end. I lost count of the amount of times that I lost track of whoever I was trying to kill because the wonky lock-on, both auto and manual, just wouldn't keep on the foes I was trying to target at that moment. Moreover, the "hold square to rapid fire" option from the original has been completely removed in favour of a barrage of charge shots. This means carpel tunnel is on the menu, and mashing is the only way you're raking in high heat counts, so have fun.
Additionally, the game wholly feels bloated by levels that go on way longer than they should, and aren't doing anything to justify their length beyond to break the fantastic pacing and short but sweet runtime of the original Gungrave's 2 hour length that I personally felt the game greatly benefitted from. It wasn't a game that needed to be any longer than it was; it set out knowing what it wanted to do, went in, gave you everything, and got out before overstaying its welcome.
And we aren't done yet! Throw in some absolutely garbage difficulty balancing where the game will just decide, after a few standard hallways, that it's time for you to get gangbanged by 20 waves of mooks, plenty of whom spawn in behind you and will take the chance to flank you. Other classic enemies in the lineup include forklifts and frontloaders, who serve to do nothing more than mow you down and send the camera right up your own ass, and they act as nothing more than HP sponges, ala Devil May Cry 2.
That still not enough? There's also bosses that constantly summon adds to get potshots in for the sake of whittling both your in-game health, and those of your real wrists as you mash the shit out of the square button. I forget what lead to it, but I brought up the original game being incredibly fun in conversation with some friends, to which one replied with something along the lines of "I remember seeing a clip of someone playing that, they walked into a hallway and got shot to death by 20 dudes and died instantly". In the moment, I replied with, "Are you sure that was the first game you were watching, and not Overdose?" In spite of not having seen the clip in question, and the fact I got a verbal shrug from them, I am absolutely positive Overdose was the title in question.
The fact that one mid-game stage ended with a barrage of spider tanks, enemies that run around like a kid on sugar-laced cocaine, are impossible to constantly lock on to, and are spraying you with bullets like they relapsed after a half year of nofap is one thing. These enemies genuinely made me consider dropping the game on the spot, compounded by the fact I didn't feel like I learned anything or changed my strategy when I finally won out. Then, the following level gives you a boss straight from the Devil May Cry 2 playbook, where I was literally able to circle-strafe and dodge to bring his health to 0 without taking a single hit. I went to sleep that night feeling bitter, unfulfilled, and that whoever balanced this game's difficulty must have been a mental patient. And those aren't even the worst sections in the game! This is before the godawful "giant boss over a ledge" trope kicks in, that then asks you to destroy generators that the game is incredibly picky about you locking on to, while the boss is still attacking you from offscreen. This is before the airstrip where you fight a barrage of tanks, choppers who constantly fly out of range up and down the entire strip's length (really strengthening my DMC2 comparisons), and tons of suicide bombers.
The utter nadir comes in the final stage, sporting another gauntlet of enemies to flank you while you focus on destroying 3 separate targets. Easy in concept, brutal in execution, and I feel like I only got through it because the game decided to let me win. Following this comes the absolute worst platforming section in gaming history, asking you to dive across gaps that the game is incredibly picky over the hit detection of, with respawning enemies on platforms across from you, and suicide bombers below you, which serves both to tank the framerate, and drive me to drink.
The penultimate boss fight then serves to shit on your face with its gimmick, being "I spawn a shitload of walls around the arena, and you either take the time to shoot them all individually, or you get fucked by my massive cannon as you die slowly in the corner".
Then the final boss hits you with this god awful gimmick of three giant shields flying around you, and three giant generators you need to destroy. The problem is that one of the shields slows down your movement, slowing you to an absolute crawl, while the other shoot you, knocking you down to the floor, and watching Brandon get up at the same pace I, a slightly overweight asthmatic with a heart condition, run. The game makes no attempt to show you the damage you're doing to the generators, and your best bet is to spam Demolition Shots, because it's the single saving grace you get. Then, the second phase kicks in, and it's the same concept, except the boss is teleporting around and can teleport on top of you, catch you in a forcefield you can't escape from, and then proceeds to drop missles on you. All the while, Robin Atkin Downes is mocking you with the same few voice lines, every single time. Just imagine Travis Touchdown knocking you down in slow motion and constantly quipping, "YOU HAVEN'T BEATEN ME YET!", ad infinitum. Prior to this level, I was sitting on a tentative 3/10 score, but this section alone dropped the game down an even lower peg, and I'd be shocked if a single segment of any other game I play over the course of 2023 is as bad as this.
Gungrave: Overdose is a frustrating, terribly designed game the likes of which I haven't played in years. But I think there's a far bigger sin it commits; worse than its bad pacing, worse than its frustratingly inconsistent difficulty, worse than its terrible lock-on. A thought that set in from early in the game, and rarely left my mind after starting.
Gungrave: Overdose is fucking boring.
While its story tries to be bigger than the original, featuring an admittedly not great English dub but some decent character moments, especially with new duo Juji and Billy, the cutscenes are mostly comic panel slideshows with few unique illustrations, and even fewer full FMVs. The cutscenes themselves also tend to drone on for minutes at a time, leaving me ultimately uninvested in everything happening, which hits even harder when the game tries to hit you with a few plot twists. Visually, the game loses the cel-shading, leading to it looking so much blander when compared to how striking the original looked. The game's roughly 6 hour runtime feels so much longer because, as established, the levels drag on for way longer than needed, and bosses that are total HP sponges. There's barely any music to be heard under the constant hails of gunfire. It's legitimately how most people would describe Devil May Cry 2, but without that game's banging OST and constant value of being so bad it's funny.
Gungrave: Overdose is genuinely a contender for the worst video game I've ever played, and that's a term I don't throw around very lightly. In spite of hearing mixed opinions across the board in regards to G.O.R.E, the game would literally have to trip over a bar planted within the earth's fucking core to be any worse than this.
In that same sense, Gungrave Overdose is almost painfully reminiscent of Devil May Cry 2. Not in the same sense of how DMC2 was churned out from a hellish development cycle, where its original director was replaced and the newbie had to go from a single attack animation to a full game that you could buy for real money over the span of 4 months. Rather, GG:OD feels like it's following in DMC2's footsteps of trying to be bigger and better in every way, while forgetting what made the original title as good as it was. In that respect, Overdose is the most appropriate subtitle this game could've had.
While the core of the satisfying and frantic gunplay of the original title remains, and you also get the sick ability to whack rockets with your coffins melee attacks, the game's lock-on proves a massive hindrance from beginning to end. I lost count of the amount of times that I lost track of whoever I was trying to kill because the wonky lock-on, both auto and manual, just wouldn't keep on the foes I was trying to target at that moment. Moreover, the "hold square to rapid fire" option from the original has been completely removed in favour of a barrage of charge shots. This means carpel tunnel is on the menu, and mashing is the only way you're raking in high heat counts, so have fun.
Additionally, the game wholly feels bloated by levels that go on way longer than they should, and aren't doing anything to justify their length beyond to break the fantastic pacing and short but sweet runtime of the original Gungrave's 2 hour length that I personally felt the game greatly benefitted from. It wasn't a game that needed to be any longer than it was; it set out knowing what it wanted to do, went in, gave you everything, and got out before overstaying its welcome.
And we aren't done yet! Throw in some absolutely garbage difficulty balancing where the game will just decide, after a few standard hallways, that it's time for you to get gangbanged by 20 waves of mooks, plenty of whom spawn in behind you and will take the chance to flank you. Other classic enemies in the lineup include forklifts and frontloaders, who serve to do nothing more than mow you down and send the camera right up your own ass, and they act as nothing more than HP sponges, ala Devil May Cry 2.
That still not enough? There's also bosses that constantly summon adds to get potshots in for the sake of whittling both your in-game health, and those of your real wrists as you mash the shit out of the square button. I forget what lead to it, but I brought up the original game being incredibly fun in conversation with some friends, to which one replied with something along the lines of "I remember seeing a clip of someone playing that, they walked into a hallway and got shot to death by 20 dudes and died instantly". In the moment, I replied with, "Are you sure that was the first game you were watching, and not Overdose?" In spite of not having seen the clip in question, and the fact I got a verbal shrug from them, I am absolutely positive Overdose was the title in question.
The fact that one mid-game stage ended with a barrage of spider tanks, enemies that run around like a kid on sugar-laced cocaine, are impossible to constantly lock on to, and are spraying you with bullets like they relapsed after a half year of nofap is one thing. These enemies genuinely made me consider dropping the game on the spot, compounded by the fact I didn't feel like I learned anything or changed my strategy when I finally won out. Then, the following level gives you a boss straight from the Devil May Cry 2 playbook, where I was literally able to circle-strafe and dodge to bring his health to 0 without taking a single hit. I went to sleep that night feeling bitter, unfulfilled, and that whoever balanced this game's difficulty must have been a mental patient. And those aren't even the worst sections in the game! This is before the godawful "giant boss over a ledge" trope kicks in, that then asks you to destroy generators that the game is incredibly picky about you locking on to, while the boss is still attacking you from offscreen. This is before the airstrip where you fight a barrage of tanks, choppers who constantly fly out of range up and down the entire strip's length (really strengthening my DMC2 comparisons), and tons of suicide bombers.
The utter nadir comes in the final stage, sporting another gauntlet of enemies to flank you while you focus on destroying 3 separate targets. Easy in concept, brutal in execution, and I feel like I only got through it because the game decided to let me win. Following this comes the absolute worst platforming section in gaming history, asking you to dive across gaps that the game is incredibly picky over the hit detection of, with respawning enemies on platforms across from you, and suicide bombers below you, which serves both to tank the framerate, and drive me to drink.
The penultimate boss fight then serves to shit on your face with its gimmick, being "I spawn a shitload of walls around the arena, and you either take the time to shoot them all individually, or you get fucked by my massive cannon as you die slowly in the corner".
Then the final boss hits you with this god awful gimmick of three giant shields flying around you, and three giant generators you need to destroy. The problem is that one of the shields slows down your movement, slowing you to an absolute crawl, while the other shoot you, knocking you down to the floor, and watching Brandon get up at the same pace I, a slightly overweight asthmatic with a heart condition, run. The game makes no attempt to show you the damage you're doing to the generators, and your best bet is to spam Demolition Shots, because it's the single saving grace you get. Then, the second phase kicks in, and it's the same concept, except the boss is teleporting around and can teleport on top of you, catch you in a forcefield you can't escape from, and then proceeds to drop missles on you. All the while, Robin Atkin Downes is mocking you with the same few voice lines, every single time. Just imagine Travis Touchdown knocking you down in slow motion and constantly quipping, "YOU HAVEN'T BEATEN ME YET!", ad infinitum. Prior to this level, I was sitting on a tentative 3/10 score, but this section alone dropped the game down an even lower peg, and I'd be shocked if a single segment of any other game I play over the course of 2023 is as bad as this.
Gungrave: Overdose is a frustrating, terribly designed game the likes of which I haven't played in years. But I think there's a far bigger sin it commits; worse than its bad pacing, worse than its frustratingly inconsistent difficulty, worse than its terrible lock-on. A thought that set in from early in the game, and rarely left my mind after starting.
Gungrave: Overdose is fucking boring.
While its story tries to be bigger than the original, featuring an admittedly not great English dub but some decent character moments, especially with new duo Juji and Billy, the cutscenes are mostly comic panel slideshows with few unique illustrations, and even fewer full FMVs. The cutscenes themselves also tend to drone on for minutes at a time, leaving me ultimately uninvested in everything happening, which hits even harder when the game tries to hit you with a few plot twists. Visually, the game loses the cel-shading, leading to it looking so much blander when compared to how striking the original looked. The game's roughly 6 hour runtime feels so much longer because, as established, the levels drag on for way longer than needed, and bosses that are total HP sponges. There's barely any music to be heard under the constant hails of gunfire. It's legitimately how most people would describe Devil May Cry 2, but without that game's banging OST and constant value of being so bad it's funny.
Gungrave: Overdose is genuinely a contender for the worst video game I've ever played, and that's a term I don't throw around very lightly. In spite of hearing mixed opinions across the board in regards to G.O.R.E, the game would literally have to trip over a bar planted within the earth's fucking core to be any worse than this.
Terrible game. Everyone who says this is the best in the series or even better than the first one are lying. There's nothing better about this game than Gungrave 1. Put it in the bin.
é bem mais jogo que o primeiro, mas ainda prefiro a simplicidade e farofa do primeiro
first one was better
Big step down from the original in just about every way.
New playable characters are kinda cool, but not enough to make me go through again because the difficulty seems to mostly stem from the jankiness, and it's got it in spades. Some of those boss fights are criminal.
New playable characters are kinda cool, but not enough to make me go through again because the difficulty seems to mostly stem from the jankiness, and it's got it in spades. Some of those boss fights are criminal.
Better gameplay than Gungrave 1 but trades the atmosphere for more anime
While the first game was carried on the back of its vibes, Overdose is legitimately solid and fun. The first is the quintessential rental game, but this is the kind of game you find in the bargain bin and fist pump to yourself over, knowing that you'll have a ton of fun with it at that price. Beyond the Grave is not a massive, lurching chunk fo meat here, but everything else is expanded on and feels so much better that it's an acceptable tradeoff.
how did they let this happen
I was having fun with this until I reached a point where there is just no way to advance due to the sheer number of enemies and firepower. The lack of proper balance, the clunky camera and other choice regarding gameplay are very questionable and can kill the shoot em up experience. It seems that the previous game is better, so I'll have to try it at one point.
A total downgrade from the first game despite an improvement to the shooting in some ways, I feel it's important to mention that because everything else about this game is terrible and makes those changes practically irrelevant. We went from a 2-hour long arcade style shooter to a boring, 6 hour long slog of a game with terrible presentation, dead silence in levels except for all the gunshots, levels that drag on far too long, cheap as hell difficulty, and god awful voice acting. I could go on more about how bad this game is, but I at least want to mention the entire final boss sequence is honestly pretty amazing and absolutely hilarious that everybody needs to see for themselves. I'm still laughing about it whenever it comes to mind and that alone saves it from giving me the lowest possible score.
This game is the definition of style over substance. This games story is pretty good, these characters and the performances are great, the look of this game is stylish, and the music is banging but the gameplay really just lacks in some places but maybe some of the other characters improve the game, idk. Very mixed on this game tbh.
please for the love of christ put Juji and Billy in a better game
Overdose is very much a case of one step forward two steps back. Gameplay takes a massive overhaul being a lot more frantic than the previous game and to compensate for that they give Grave more mobile movement and some additional moves. You're constantly in a loop of running, dodging, and shooting to build up your beat in order to use a destruction bullet which is now the only means to recover health along with regenerating your shield at a much faster pace. Unfortunately almost every other aspect of the game takes a downgrade. The sleek cel shading is now gone, cutscenes are presented mostly in a comic style format with only characters chatting, the somber tone and story is ditched in favor of a more generic 2000s action anime. Music? What music? Almost every stage is dead silent outside the sound of gunfire. Pacing also takes a turn for the worse as they tried to stretch what was a solid two hour game into a six-eight hour one so some levels really overstay their welcome. Still overall it's a pretty fun time though outside of gameplay is a disappointment compared to the original.
Gungrave if it was balanced by a 7 year old in Mario Maker
Grave's inital playthrough is enjoyable, albeit janky in the late game; once you unlock the final two characters expected in the endgame for replay value it's the most obscene mixed bag. Billy is by far the most enjoyable playthrough while Juji is entirely a slog and honestly painful to sit through in order to access the game's extra content.
Just play through it with Grave and then enjoy the smooth second playthrough with Billy; it's not worth the pain of the third playthrough for nothing but horde extras and minimaxing the gameplay for anything worth following through for the postgame goodies.
Just play through it with Grave and then enjoy the smooth second playthrough with Billy; it's not worth the pain of the third playthrough for nothing but horde extras and minimaxing the gameplay for anything worth following through for the postgame goodies.
Overdose is a good name, because you gonna OD on how much this game abuses you patience with its terrible levels and enemy types custom made to be as annoying as possible.
you gotta ask yourself, how on earth did they saw a game as simple and mindless as the original Gungrave and fuck it up by trying to "outdo it", without noticing their own limitations at all.
also, don't believe the credits, Tsuneo Imahori didn't make any music for this, 80% of game is dead silent.
you gotta ask yourself, how on earth did they saw a game as simple and mindless as the original Gungrave and fuck it up by trying to "outdo it", without noticing their own limitations at all.
also, don't believe the credits, Tsuneo Imahori didn't make any music for this, 80% of game is dead silent.
How people think this is better than the first one is beyond me
there's not a single thing in Overdose that i like over the first Gungrave. the auto aim now sucks, the newly added lock-on sucks, the bosses are dealt with mostly by diving incessantly, it falls flat when it tries to flesh out the boring characters and it's like 2 hours too long. as the icing on the cake, it ends with a boss that makes the game run at 5 fps. it's just baffling. not even a solid arcade game, just suffering. i really hope that G.O.R.E ends up being good...
I REALLY don’t like the camera for this game. It just goes wherever it pleases and bumps into everything. The lock on doesn’t help whatsoever either.
My stone brain can’t handle it and enjoy the game. A shame because it’s more of the same to the last game but with more added mechanics.
My stone brain can’t handle it and enjoy the game. A shame because it’s more of the same to the last game but with more added mechanics.
Some fights last way too long and the final boss is terrible but this game fucks. The story is the right level of dumb, there's a button dedicated entirely to cool posing, and the skull on your UI is now a cyber skull so it's impossible to not love this game. Rocketbilly Redcadillac is the best action game character of all time. I played this with the gang and we had basically the best time ever and my thumb felt like it was about to fall off. 10 outta 10, perfect game.
Worse than the original in just about every way. Flat visuals, repetitive level design, cheap difficulty, an overly convoluted plot with no time to develop its few interesting ideas, floaty controls, and some button mashing gameplay that really sets off my carpal tunnel syndrome.
Though I appreciate the ambition in giving more depth to the original, the lack of polish is palpable here.
Though I appreciate the ambition in giving more depth to the original, the lack of polish is palpable here.