GunGrave: Overdose is the sequel to the slightly successful GunGrave,
released for the PS2 a couple of years ago or so. While the squeal does improve
on the original, that really isn’t saying too much. Basically what we have here
is another anime type game where the style and look of the game is more fun than
playing the game. Overdose is a pure action game where all you need to know is
if it moves, shoot it.
Yea, I guess there’s a story and if you are really interested we can go over it.
See there is this drug called Seed and it’s a mean drug…yet people want to take
it. That seems to happen a lot with the nastier drugs. If people would learn to
Just Say No they would not have to worry about anything! Oh well. Anyway, an
evil crime syndicate controls Seed. Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to
find out who is behind the distribution of Seed and stop them. This will roughly
take you through 9 levels with lots of cutscenes and dramatic anime stills.
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This is where you come in. You will play three different characters throughout
the game: Beyond the Grave (OK, that’s a pretty cool name), Rocketbilly
Redcadillac (trying just a bit too hard with that one), and Juji Kabane.
Naturally each of our heroes has special abilities. Grave, as his friends call
him, carries a serious set of guns called Cerberus. Not only that he has a
coffin filled with heavy weapons slung over his back. Sure he’s dead, but
couldn’t he have left his old house behind! But it does come in handy for a
shield. Our man Rocketbilly, who the ladies adore, travels around with a guitar
that just happens to shoots energy bolts out of it. And, finally, Juji is the
fastest of the three and uses swords that are also guns…oh, he’s also blind.
As I mentioned this is a shoot first ask questions later game. Each of the three
playable characters have the same basic attacks, they just look a little
different because of their particular weapon. But they all have in common the
ability to have a “charge” shot which means hold down the attack button a second
or two longer but getting bigger results. Another common thread throughout the
game is that you will always be outnumbered in a big way. However the bad guys
don’t respawn so once you’ve cleared a section, it’s cleared. This is nice
because you can recharge your health by just quietly standing around without
getting shot. One neat part is that the environments, while not totally
destroyable, can be shoot up pretty good and shows a decent amount of damage.
The more style you can kill with the better on Overdose. You can unlock better
weapons and move special moves by timing your attacks. As the game goes on you
will find that the same button combo will start yield different and more
powerful results. There is also the “Beat Counter” where once you build this up
you get up to four “Demolition Shots.” These are special attacks that will be
able to take out an entire room of evildoers!
Visually the game is nice to look at even if at times it’s hard to figure out
what’s going on because of all the destruction! But a big drawback is the
camera. Gosh, how many times have I written that about a game? The game does
ooze style and certainly has the overall feel of an anime game. Unfortunately
the repetitiveness of each level is just too much to overlook. I was almost
wishing for a lever to pull to unlock a secret door somewhere! But all you need
to do is repeatedly press a couple of attack buttons and you’ll be good.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
61%. GunGrave: Overdose is an accurate title where you will OD on the
repetitive action and the all too common bad camera control. But on the bright
side, it’s only about $15.
