Developer: IGGYMOB
Publisher: XSEED Games
Platform: PS4 (PS VR)
Tested on: PS4 (PS VR)
Gungrave VR – Review
Gungrave is a game that was first released on the PS2 on the 18th of July 2002 in Japan and then later in the year it came to the US and Europe. The game that has some anime mixed into it, was received pretty well and has now come back. Gungrave VR was released on the 7th of December. Grave is now able to kick ass while you are watching by floating above him. Gungrave VR was developed by IGGYMOB and published by XSEED Games and we got a chance to test it. Hovering over the cool looking Grave’s shoulder we were ready to kick some SEED infected’s ass.
Story
It has been a long time since the war against the drug SEED happened, but now it’s back. South city was nearly destroyed by Orgmen, who are people infected by SEED. Grave, the undead soldier, who was guarded by Mika will have to go back into battle to stop the drug from spreading even more.
The story part of the game is actually only present in the beginning and in small fragments when Mika talks to you. There is one cutscene at the start of Gungrave U.N. but that’s about it. It might have been nice to add more cutscenes and/or story parts because if you’ve never played Gungrave, you don’t really know who is who and what even SEED is.
Graphics
The Graphics are okay but are a bit reminiscent of an arcade game. They also seem a bit outdated certainly if you look up the old PS2 Gungrave which actually had more details for its time then this game. Grave himself is very well designed and has his cool coffin weapon that stands out. Enemies are also pretty well designed; some look a bit better than others. Bosses are the most detailed out of all enemies and even there it feels like they could have used even more detail.
Blood splashes and special attacks are also a bit outdated. Special attacks should normally be something overly spectacular but because the graphics are a bit outdated, it isn’t as spectacular as it could be, certainly not for a VR game.
Sound
Gungrave VR’s music is a sort of rock genre. Even the music makes you think of those arcade shooter games. This might be because this kind of music is used as background music a lot in these types of games. Sound effects in the game are either a bit too loud or you don’t hear it that well because of the background music. There is this kind of dog that attacks you by twirling that makes a very annoying high pitched noise. Having this in your ear surely makes you want to kill it. Even though it is a VR game, the sound doesn’t really feel that VR like. You don’t feel as if you are surrounded by enemies and even though some sounds are adjusted, it could have been done with a bit more detail so it really sounds as if you are there with Grave.
Gameplay
Gungrave VR is a Virtual Reality shooter where you are trying to get rid of the people infected with the SEED drug. You take on the role of Grave, who is a soldier that came back from the dead. He fights with two guns and a coffin for melee. With the PS VR, it is a whole other experience to play a shooter. Gungrave VR’s developers decided to make you aim by looking at the target, which in a way does kind of make sense. However, it is quite difficult to look at each enemy when you are surrounded by enemies. Sometimes it’s hard to aim, when you are trying to be fast to switch over to other enemies. You don’t have to reload Grave’s guns but they can overheat. With some enemies you’ll have to time cooling down your guns quite well, otherwise, you get smacked in the face.
Grave can use his coffin to hit people in the face but he can also use it to return projectiles. This often requires good timing, plus it also requires you to look at the projectile. You can of course also shoot at projectiles but this would only destroy them and not return them. There are different enemies that could shoot at you, including turrets. So often returning one projectile is the easiest. In Gungrave VR you turn around in little bits instead of a smooth turn which might have been a choice from the developers to make it so you don’t get motion sick too fast. However, when you are surrounded by enemies it is quite hard to look at them on time and even though you could technically turn your head it is a bit difficult to walk and aim that way.
The way that the game is divided into little “areas” where enemies spawn, also makes it seem like an arcade game where you only go through when you’ve finished an area. Even though you can free roam the little area, you do feel kind of stuck there but it might be a logical choice to keep the rendering time lower. Gungrave VR has two versions, the regular Gungrave and Gungrave U.N. Gungrave U.N has an extra cutscene at the start and also adds 2D side-scrolling into the action. It’s a bit odd to aim by looking in 2D but you get used to it pretty easily. Gungrave U.N also has some VR headset interaction by for example: making you duck out of the way from lasers.
Enemies from the regular Gungrave VR return to Gungrave U.N but then in a different way, which makes it fun to battle them again. Gungrave U.N feels like a different mode to Gungrave which has more VR aspects but it is actually a separate game which is a bit odd. It might have been better to combine them. If you want to try both games it might be best to buy Gungrave: Loaded Coffin edition which is cheaper than buying both games separately.
Conclusion
Gungrave VR is a pretty fun shooter game but it kind of feels like they just ported the PS2 game to VR while it could be much more spectacular in VR with a bit more work. Gungrave U.N is pretty cool but might have been better as just a different mode to Gungrave instead of a separate game. Gungrave might have also been a good game to add the PS Move controller to since they fit in perfectly with shooter games. If you want to try Gungrave VR, it might be good to wait a bit till it’s on sale.
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