izigame.me

Well, I'm reluctant to call this game an underrated gem.
It's not exactly the most polished tool in the box. It's not innovative, particularly well-executed, or visually impressive. And I was able to understand in the first few minutes of the game why the reception was so poor, even after many of the problems reported during launch had been fixed.
This is a perfect embodiment of what people would call "one note". A premise and execution so simple and so absurdly distilled, it would pass through the eye of a needle.
You walk through generic corridors of varying sizes and concepts, while wading through a tidal wave of bullets and enemies, shooting your ridiculous anime hand cannons with infinite ammo at everything in sight.
From the beginning to the end of each level, and the game as a whole, you do the exact same thing, in the exact same way, with very minimal variations and almost without any kind of break in pace.
There is no satisfying progression or interesting narrative here. Just the endless hell and noise of the shooting.
Level design? Memorable surprises? Just a distant suggestion.
You start shooting and don't stop until the end.
You shoot even when there are no enemies to shoot.
And the more you shoot, the faster you shoot.
Serious Sam doesn't hold a candle to this guy.
In the end of levels you are judged by a series of criteria involving every action you take during combat, narrowing the playstyle almost perfectly into what I believe the developers were aiming for.
And this is undoubtedly a process that can become exhausting very quickly.
So since the combat doesn't have much depth and isn't exactly at the ideal point of polish to be satisfying to master, the game is at the mercy of repetition that can easily swallow up the experience.
It's a pretty long run for the genre (8+ hours). I can easily imagine someone going to play this, having fun for half an hour and then getting tired of it.
In the case of professional reviewers, forced to play games as quickly as possible, the experience of playing hours of this at a time seems terrible.
But... If it clicks with you, i believe there is a good deal of fun here.
This isn't some super complex and deep stylish shooter, with a huge skill ceiling, which will deliver engaging challenges and reward you a lot for the time invested.
It's pure and simple an arcade grind that will deliver an insane dose of heavy metal/techno infused mindless bombastic unbridled action, whose objective is to replay the same levels over and over again in search of that perfect golden ranking.
And that's it.
The game's appeal is certainly limited, but it's still there.
It has a sense of style and its distilled action formula is at least consistent and exciting.
If you're one of those who every now and then wants to play something different and more casual in the middle of a bigger game, Gungrave G.O.R.E is a perfect fit.
The game is organized into short missions, generally lasting less than 10 minutes, optimized to be replayed multiple times and ideal for short sessions.
It requires zero commitment, is easy to pick up and is simple enough not to distract you too much from the main game.
I had a blast over several days. And I'm going to keep playing for a while, 20~30 minutes at a time, until I get S Rank in all the missions.
Do I recommend it? Yes (with a good discount).
Do I think this game is some kind of hidden gem? Not really.
But it's good, try it.
P.S: There is a good dose of cutscenes in the game serving as links between the stages. Frankly, I would tell you to skip them all. Most of them have zero content and the story is pure nonsense.
P.S.2: This is definitely a game where you can't get the feel of it simply by watching someone play. Trust me, it's a lot more fun than it looks.