There are a handful of games that are just so chaotic that they can nearly cause a sensory overload. The speed and destruction of the recent Burnout 3: Takedown is an excellent example of a game of this nature, but just as chaotic, if not more, is Red Entertainment’s Gungrave: Overdose. Gungrave: Overdose is one of the most hectic action games around. The game is bloody, incredibly fast-paced, and stylish all at the same time. Trust me when I say you haven’t seen any game more violent or more destructive.
Players are first introduced to the game with an animated intro sequence that’s reminiscent of an anime the likes of Cowboy Bebop, with fast moving images and jazz-inspired music attempting to give players an idea of what to expect from the game.
"Gungrave: Overdose is one of the most hectic action games around."
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What’s impressive about this intro sequence is that these images shown aren’t hand-drawn scenes in a traditional animated sense. Instead, they’re done using 3D rendering techniques that help give a rather impressive look to the game’s cinematic sequences. These cinematic sequences are used as a storytelling device, but it isn’t the only one used. The game also features comic book-inspired conversations that add to the storytelling element of the game. While the game has all these interesting storytelling devices, the game’s plot, unfortunately, isn’t all that encompassing unless you’ve played its predecessor and seen the Gungrave anime. But it’s entertaining, nevertheless.
After finding out that the three characters players can use in the game are all dead men, one would assume, if without prior knowledge of the game’s predecessor, that the game’s plot would be heavily based around the supernatural. Although that’s not too far away from the truth, the game’s plot actually revolves around a parasitical and murderous drug called ’Seed’ and the efforts of two young teenagers, Mika and Spike, who call upon the Beyond the Grave (a.k.a Brandon Heat), the game’s main character, to prevent The Corsione Family from manufacturing the drug, and stopping this mafioso organization from following through with other malicious endeavors. Just like any entertaining story, Overdose’s features its own share of surprises, and introduces many likeable and well-developed characters throughout the adventure, including dead-men Juji Kabane and RocketBilly Redcadillac, who join Mika and Spike’s cause to take out ’Seed’ and The Corsione Family for their own, more personal reasons. While Juji and Billy are quite the talkers, the main dead-man, Beyond the Grave, is the silent type. You won’t hear him mutter a single word in the game; all you’ll get from him is a cold gaze of death.
Death seems to be a strong theme in Gungrave: Overdose, especially when taking into consideration that Grave hauls around a coffin as a symbol of his sins, and the fact that the goal of the player is to mercilessly obliterate and kill everything standing in their path in a linear point A to point B fashion. The game doesn’t really offer much else to do. But luckily for us, what it has to offer is satisfying enough.
This game is just chaotic. Even from the earliest of the game’s nine stages you’ll run into dozens of enemies at a single time, including your gun-touting grunt, missile-launcher-carrying giant, armored tank, or even a chemically engineered chain-saw wielding -- thing. With all these enemies approaching you at single moment
"As you can imagine, there’s plenty to absorb when playing the game"
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you would assume that it would be difficult to take them on, and at times it can be, but luckily the game’s playable characters are incredible killing machines.
Often the repeated pressing of the square button, while standing in stationary position, can put bullets through hordes of enemies, and since there’s no need to stock on ammo, or even reload, there shouldn’t be much trouble annihilating the opposition. But when players run into those difficult situations they can use a super charged attack which the game calls a "Demolition Shot." Demolition Shots are acquired when consecutively wasting enemies, uninterrupted by a pause in action or an enemy attack. When executed the game slows down into this bullet-time-like effect and your character will launch an attack that can destroy every enemy around him in the near distance. With a large selection of Demolition Shots to use in the game for each character, players should choose wisely when entering an open or tight space. You never know which one may work best for each of the game’s situations, or, more importantly, boss fights.
Even though the Demolition Shot can help get players out of sticky situations, Overdose is a difficult enough game that is likely to cause quite the few to yell out swears and curse the game to Hell. Players are likely to attempt stages time and time again, memorizing the attack patterns of enemies and knowing the exact areas they pop up from. The on-screen chaos can almost seem impossible to overcome when players are runnin’ and gunnin’ like madmen, using melee attacks to repel enemy missiles, performing side evasions to hide behind a wall for shielding, and many desperation maneuvers in times of what seems to be certain death. The game’s chaotic difficulty delivers a rush that beckons you to keep playing, urging you to make it to next save point only to catch your breath. However, the game’s difficulty does feel a bit unbalanced at times, in particularly, when in a boss fight. For instance, the boss(es) on the game’s fourth
"the amount of action found in it is unlike any game that has come before it"
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level are incredibly difficult to defeat. In fact, it’s very likely that your chances of winning are based completely on luck. But then on the following level, its boss can be defeated easily by just strafing around it in circles, blasting away at it with you rarely ever taking damage.
If players want to experience an even harder challenge, they can after completing the game once through, unlocking more difficultly settings. And, as you can imagine, the game becomes even more difficult, increasingly adding to its replay value, despite the game’s story mode being approx. five hours in length. But even then, the game’s brevity won’t have much of a negative impact with a player’s overall experience with Overdose. As players will find out, the game is not meant to be played in lengthy periods of time. It just can’t be stomached for long enough before feeling overwhelmed by its intense action. However, it’s enjoyable enough that those willing to get the full experience, will go back to it over and over again with the unlockable Juji and Rocketbilly characters, whom, interestingly enough, are much more powerful and faster than Beyond the Grave, making the experience even more enjoyable. If that’s not enough, there are plenty of unlockables in the game, including a cheat that makes the gameplay faster than what it already is.
As you can imagine, there’s plenty to absorb when playing the game. Aside from enemies attacking you from all directions, the game’s environment is being torn apart by gunfire, with stone pillars collapsing, glass structures shattering, bullets piercing walls, and other effects of the sort. Bluntly put, Overdose’s environments are closest seen to those that are completely destructible. This destructive aspect is without question the game’s most commendable visual aspect. Add to this the game’s interesting anime-inspired cel-shaded and fast moving visuals, which rarely are affected by slowdown, and you would think that Gungrave: Overdose is a pretty good looking game, and it is. However, the game is unfortunately affected by aliasing problems that affect most early PlayStation 2 titles. Because of this, it feels as if the game’s visuals flicker while in motion and, as you can imagine, it can become a nuisance, although, a minor one. After some time, players are bound to become adjusted.
For the game’s other key area of presentation, its sound, all is well done. While music is rarely to be found during gameplay, it’s not that much of a drawback due to the fact that the sound of gunfire, loud explosions, and the war cries of enemies manage to keep everything noisy in a way that’s bound to get a chuckle out of many players enjoying the destruction which ensues. For the music featured in the game, during its intro sequence and cutscenes, they’re funky and emotional., well orchestrated and ripped straight from the highly enjoyable Gungrave anime (definitely worth a look if you’re an anime fan). And, like every modern video game, aside those from Nintendo, Gungrave: Overdose features voice acting. Although, this voice acting isn’t exceedingly good, nor is it exceedingly bad. Just somewhere in between, where over-exaggerated dialogue is accepted by those who listen to it.
When it all comes down to it, Gungrave: Overdose is an extremely enjoyable game. The amount of action found in it is unlike any game that has come before it. It’s definitely worth the look if you’re an action fan. Of course, the game’s lack of variety and linearity can be seen as a negative factor, but the fact that the game is enjoyable from start to finish, almost makes these factors become trivial. If you’re reading this, thinking that perhaps the game is still not worth a look, maybe its attractive fifteen dollar price tag with lure you in? That’s right, Gungrave: Overdose is a budget-priced game title, but hopefully, you’ll see the game for what it truly is, and not foolishly base your decision on its price tag.
