Gameplay Starts at 6:24
Gungriffon (or "GunGriffon") Blaze is the third game in the series (out of four titles currently) developed by Game Arts and published by Working Designs (Swing! Deutschland in Europe), released during the PS2's launch. The game was originally designed for the Sega Saturn by the late Takeshi Miyaji (who passed recently and was best known for Silpheed, Lunar, Gungriffon, and Grandia) in 1996 and was a high-quality 3D Mecha Action/Sim game that sadly gained little commercial success (but was highly rated by review outlets). Being in the vein of "MechWarrior" and a simplified "Armored Core", the series saw a Japan-only sequel for the Sega Saturn in 1998, "Gungriffon Blaze" in 2000, and "Gungriffon: Allied Strike" for Xbox in 2004.
In this game, which takes place one year after GunGriffon (in 2016), the game recounts the events leading up to the current events, from 2012 to 2016. Basically a joint venture between the Japanese and the United States military formed the "MDM Corporation", which led to the development of a new type of all-terrain bipedal armored vehicle called the AWGS (or Armored Walking Gun System) which would later be transformed into the "12 Armored Car" (better known as the "HIGH-MACS"). Over the years, various prototypes to the HIGH-MACS would be made (Heavy types by the "Technology Division" and Light types by "MDM"), and these weapons would eventually be misused, starting World War III. The war eventually ends between 2014 and 2015, and the LIGHT-MACS (which were never actually used during the war) were placed into storage. However, the world is once again in turmoil and a new branch known as the "PKO" has been launched which maintains the peace and lowers hostility from aggressive warring nations. As a member of the PKO, your previously-anonymous male or female pilot (who you must make to play) participates in several large-scale operations in Guam, Cape Canaveral, Tibet, Greece, Ukraine, and Egypt.
Gameplay-wise, the game isn't as full-featured as Gungriffon II, but features superior audio/visuals and a more refined control scheme thanks to the PS2's dual analogs, though it takes some getting used to as the controls are reversed by default (there are other control schemes). The one significant downside to GGB is that the game opted to get rid of the radar and give you this stupid "Mass Energy Detector", almost as if to say that radars have thus been inadequate for locating mission objectives and enemies. It basically acts as a "Metal Detector" where the signal gets stronger as you approach hostile enemies, but just isn't a good substitute for a half-decent radar. The game features a number of (timed) objectives, secret mechs and items which you obtain by simply blowing everything up, clearing missions, and racking up points. In addition to earning items by clearing stages, you have a "Cumulative Score" which lets you advance in the game and earn medals. You can increase you score even faster by playing on higher difficulty levels and though the game is short, it's chock full of arcade-style action and mild sim elements.
The Mechs you can use have different HUDs and function in different ways. Some are highly mobile and can hover or jump, others have advanced sniping (zooming) features, and some are slower but heavily-armed. It's up to you to decide what's best for the mission or your playing style, but be mindful that you can also get a variety of pick-ups on stages to restore ammo, change weapons, repair your mech, and more, so you don't have to change your craft outright if you're accustomed to using certain weapons or parts. While the game would be considered archaic by today's standards, it's still good fun (except for those shots that scramble your controls; they're annoying) and a nice mech action game; if you're into these titles, then you owe it to yourself to give it a try. While we had some data for the game, this is a simple video of the first (non-training) level showing what the game is like. Enjoy.
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Silpheed (HD) - Walkthrough (Part 9/10): Stage 6 (Part 2/3)by KobayashiBR3,227 views
oh man only 2 metals on your stats, its going to take some time to unlock all the playable AWGS but once you get the Jagdpather it starts getting fun.
type 13 is the hardest to get (41 metals) to unlock
ZMEMatchstick 4 months ago
@ZMEMatchstick Lol, I have more than two medals, but that data is on a different memory card (I have six PS2 memory cards currently). Granted, I haven't unlocked everything though :(
Vysethedetermined2 4 months ago
The quality is so clear on this video it looks like you're using pcsx2.
Clesarie 4 months ago
@Clesarie Lol, that's awesome. I just use the Happauge and component cables now versus the Dazzle Platinum and S-Video cables, which makes a huge difference. Truth be told, I could probably get the quality a little higher if I used my AVerMedia instead of the Hauppauge, but I'm too lazy to set it up (as the Hauppauge can capture PSP, so I just leave it hooked up).
Vysethedetermined2 4 months ago