GunGrave’s hero, allegedly back from the grave, sports a dark blue overcoat and hat, concealing most of his human form. With him he carries but two weapons: the gun known as “Ceruberus” in his hand and an all-in-one death machine called “The Coffin” chained to his back. With these two metallic allies at the player’s side, he will traverse six levels of intense and pure action. GG makes no pretense about being an adventure game or a role-playing game. For the current generation of consoles, action has been defined. GunGrave does not require or encourage the player to double back a single time. There is no one to talk to during a level. There are no items to find. There is only a single switch to flip in the game, which, fittingly, must be flipped with a gunshot. In short, it comes with an extra order of action and holds the fluff.

GG’s controls are intuitive, a complete necessity for a game of this type. Movement is controlled with the left analog stick of PlayStation 2 controller. Firing of Ceruberus is handled with the Square button. Circle initiates running. X is mapped to the jump, which allows jumping or diving in any direction. The final three buttons are where some of the strategy of the game comes into play. The L1 button allows the player to lock onto an enemy. This is not often needed; however, when a screen full of enemies presents itself, it is often a good idea to target the largest threat. For instance, taking out any and all enemies with rocket launchers comes highly recommended. R1 enables the player to clear the area immediately around him by swinging the Coffin in an arc. This melee attack is much more effective than a gun could hope to be against enemies that have gotten too close. The final interesting button is the Triangle. It triggers the use of a Demolition Shot.

Demolition Shots comes in four varieties, depending on the intended strength of the attack. The Ceruberus provides the power behind the “Bullet Dance” and “Raging Inferno,” while the Coffin packs the punch for the “Death Blow” and the “Hell Hound Roar.” These attacks diminish a meter at the upper left of the screen, which must be refilled by killing enemies and gaining their energy. However, they are very powerful and are a necessary tool for clearing rooms infested with small armies of foes.

GunGrave boasts some of the more stylized visuals one will see on PlayStation 2. The opening cinema, and every between-level cut scene, is up to par with most anime movies. Couple this with the fact that the in-game action appears to be a moving manga, and players of GG have themselves a Asian masterpiece to play. The characters are well-animated, and the environments are well-detailed both before and after everything in sight is destroyed. Perhaps the lone downside to the graphics is the dull palette chosen, although it was surely intended to further the tone of the game.

The sounds of GunGrave are both well done and memorable. The game features a musical score of catchy, yet mood-setting tunes. Favorites include the action-oriented opening theme and the harmonica tune played near the game’s conclusion. The effects also add to the experience, as machine guns rattle, rockets zoom toward their targets, and enemies scream in agony as they are dealt a final blow. The level of sound detail is best described by a specific example. As the player ascends stairs in tight quarters, the large Coffin often will scrape against the cement walls. This creates a loud sound that could have easily been overlooked by the developers, but really shows the care put into every level of the game.

With any action game, longevity quickly becomes are question mark. GunGrave does its best to answer the bell. While the game can be completed in less than hour, it offers incentives for the player to enter its grasp time after time. For instance, at the end of each level, the player is rated in five categories. “Beat Count” is a measure of the largest hit combos that the player was able to complete. These often reach triple digits. “Kill Rate” is exactly as it might sound, namely the percentage of possible targets that was effectively exterminated. “Clear Time” is the length of time the player took to finish the level. “Remain Life” is the amount of energy the player had left when he finished the level. This bonus is lost if the game is continued. Finally, “Artistic Bonus” measures the player’s variety of attacks and other such aesthetic qualities. Achieving certain goals in these measurements gives the player skulls. These are used to open up more Demolition Shots.

Also adding to GunGrave’s length are items that can be unlocked at the game’s conclusion. These include a stage select, a slow motion mode, infinite Demolition Shots, and character art. This character art is as stylistic as the rest of the game. Instead of pasting artists’ renditions or development art, the game’s characters are shown in action figure form complete with packaging. This was another very nice touch.

All of these additions clearly do not add up to make GG a long game. That said, Contra is not a long game. Neither is Metal Slug. The games of the action genre are not intended to last hours and hours and days and days. They are intended to provide a challenge to the player every time he returns to their world. In this regard, GunGrave passes with flying colors. Finishing the game without continuing will be a challenge for nearly every gamer. Increasing Artistic Bonus, Kill Rate, and the rest of the measures could last indefinitely.

Bottom Line: GunGrave is a pure 3D action game that has no backtracking, no camera issues, and no pretenses. Considering the frequency with which one can say those things in the same sentence and about the same game, GG is a rare gem and should not be missed by PS2, action, or anime fans.

· · · Yoshi