Despite not being the most technically impressive or mechanically complex, Gungrave manages to be captivating, enjoyable and stylish, it's short runtime hides some of it's flaws and at the same time creates a cohesive, concentrated experience that might not be as memorable as some of it's contemporaries, but it's fun nonetheless.

I believe the biggest strengths of this game are it's presentation. Graphics have this stylized cel-shaded look to them, making the game almost timeless in terms of pure visuals, UIs follow suit and fit the overall tone of the game. The cutscenes may not have the strongest direction, some of them do feel really stiff, but I would not say that they look uninteresting, with a personal favorite of mine being the scene where Grave and Harry talk -- well, Harry talks, it's very one-sided -- while being atop the city. It's a game that really feels very cinematic, but not in a way that distracts the player from the action.

Gameplay is simple but not in a bad way, it is genuinely just running around shooting people, almost like Max Payne but without bullet time, you feel like a tank slogging through hallways while spray-painting the walls with lead, jumping and throwing yourself around to dodge bullets while rapid-firing at enemies. There's a chaining mechanic, killing enemies constantly builds up Beat, which fills up a bar that you can use for healing and special attacks, and a shield that depletes with time and makes your actual health bar exposed once it runs out. I don't really know if this game has routing akin to what you would see on Shinobi (PS2) for example, but maybe I have to replay it to get a feel for it.

Chaining is mostly for fun and style points honestly, building up meters is good only for healing, because the special moves don't extend your Beat -- like popping a bomb would extend a chain like in Blue Revolver, for example -- so using them throws off your chain, so your meter would be best spent on healing. Being able to heal at any time also somewhat trivializes what is an already easy game, you deliberately have to not use healing to get a challenge (at least in Normal diff.) and even then, you can consistently output hitscan damage as long as you are close enough, so bossfights in this game are a joke. I almost wish I played it in a higher difficulty because the boss felt really disappointing in that regard.

I don't mind the slow movement, really, but I think a way to do a 180° turn would be nice, not only you can hit enemies behind you when you move, but the level design would be more inventive as well, with enemies popping up from everywhere. I think the last stage is the only one that doesn't work too well with the movement, since jumping backwards can result in falling down and the slow walk speed ends up making the process of getting back to where you were quite miserable.

Story-wise it's Gungrave, read the manga or watch the anime to see a more complete thing, I think it's a great story and I love the characters, but if your only contact with Gungrave was through this game I think you won't really care for it.

Also I wish this was longer, I guess it's replayable, and you do have some extra content and things to work for, but I still wish it had longer stages, or a bit more of them, but it's alright.

Overall, Gungrave is a competent, stylish and fun game, despite some minor flaws, I think it's underrated, more people should talk about it, and I quite enjoyed it despite the short runtime and the lack of difficulty. Another good find from the PS2's library.