Gungrave

From the opening stab of jazz in the titles to the metal coffin chained to our hero's arms, Gungrave roils in hard-boiled cell-shaded.50-calibur style. The gameplay is the heir to many button-masher arcade games. It is an instantly gratifying game experience. Twin guns, Cerberos, pound destruction to swarms of "syndicate" enemies and many objects in your environment. The coffin can be swung around to hammer foes at close range. The shots from Cerberos can ring singly or as a spinning fountain in Grave's "bullet dance." If you can keep a steady stream of destruction, your "beat count" goes up and you generate "demolition shot" special attacks and abilities which can restore life to Grave or serve damage like piping-hot hellfire to his enemies.

Gungrave has been inaccurately compared to Devil May Cry. The games share some style points but otherwise have nothing in common. Grave's controls only permit him the most cursory of acrobatics. He can dive a la Max Payne but his normal gait is the shuffle of a zombie. In an original twist on controller schemes, he can move at regular walking speed via the L3 button (pressing down on the analog stick). Unfortunately this kink quickly loses its novelty as it is difficult to hold and feels as if it's damaging the controller. Unfortunately, the instant gratification this game brings is short lived. At about two hours of play it clocks in as one of the shortest, as well as most repetitive, games out there. --Ashley Pond V

"A short-but-sweet, ultra-violent, super-stylish, manga-inspired blast. 7/10."

Gungrave casts you in the role of Grave, a long-dead assassin sent to annihilate a mysterious criminal organisation. The tools at your disposal: a gun in each hand and a coffin full of hardware strapped to your back. The game features an intuitive control system that lets you perform a variety of graceful moves while unloading more bullets than in a John Woo flick.

Lead Grave through huge environments ranging from the bowels of the criminal underworld to graceful towers stretching toward heaven, all filled with relentless foes and insane power-ups. In these stages, there's no such thing as window dressing--everything you see on the screen can be perforated with your firearms. This includes the myriad enemies and boss characters foolish enough to stand in front of your gun barrels. If simply shooting your enemies isn't enough, there are devastating special attacks to unleash and secrets to be found.