is a PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

 third-person shooter

Third-person shooter

Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...

 video game developed by Ikusabune and published by Red Entertainment

Red Entertainment

is a video game developer based in Japan. Formerly known as since is foundation in 1976 , it was reorganized under its current moniker on December 4, 2000...

 in Japan and by Mastiff

Mastiff (company)

Mastiff is an American publisher of video games, with offices located in both Tokyo and San Francisco. The executive staff includes Bill Swartz, Mika Hayashi, Danny Hammett and Charles Van.-Game Boy Advance:*Dr...

 in North America. The game was released on March 4, 2004 in Japan, September 15, 2004 in North America and October 7, 2005 in the PAL region

PAL region

The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...

s. Gungrave: Overdose picks up where its predecessor left off, follows its main character through a variety of stages on a path of revenge.

Two years after the original, Gungrave

Gungrave

is a PlayStation 2 third-person shooter video game developed by Red Entertainment and published by Sega. The game debuted on July 17, 2002 in Japan, September 16, 2002 in North America and November 29, 2002 in the United Kingdom...

, and just approaching of that game's anime spinoff

Gungrave (anime)

is a Japanese animated television series based on the video game of the same name, created by Yasuhiro Nightow. The series is directed by Toshiyuki Tsuru, from a screenplay by Yousuke Kuroda, and produced by Madhouse Studios....

, Gungrave: Overdose was released. Preserving Yasuhiro Nightow

Yasuhiro Nightow

is a Japanese manga artist and game creator who created the anime and manga Trigun. Nightow was born on April 8, 1967 in Yokohama, Japan. He moved to Yokosuka when he was in elementary school, and spent the junior high and high school years in Shizuoka....

's flair and artistic style, this outing adds new playable characters to the series and a new story, in which Grave resumes his tale as an unlikely anti-hero tracking down the sadistic son of a Mafia boss who has struck a deal with a symbiotic seed bent on taking over the Earth.

Beyond the Grave

The main protagonist of the story, Grave is reawakened by an older Mika Asagi. Sporting a new outfit, a new Coffin, and even more firepower than before, Grave silently goes forth to destroy the Seed narcotics empire controlled by the Corisione family. Before his disappearance, he breaks his "silent protagonist" character by making only one sentence, "You must live, Mika".

In gameplay terms, Beyond The Grave is the most rounded of the three protagonists, possessing damaging ranged and melee attacks. He is also able to dive forward, backwards, or to either side while rapidly firing both pistols, as well as charge his pistol shots or melee hits to deliver powerful single attacks.

Jyuji Kabane

A foul-mouthed, irritable man with a superhuman sense of smell, Jyuji and his partner Rocketbilly Redcadillac joins Grave early on to fight Seed. Seemingly cursed with a spectral flame that burns on his back, Jyuji employs a pair of semi-automatic gunblades

Pistol sword

A pistol sword is a sword with a pistol or revolver attached, usually alongside the blade. It differs from a rifle with a bayonet in that the weapon is designed primarily for use as a sword, and the firearm component is typically considered a secondary weapon designed to be an addition to the...

and a control over fire in combat. He's blind, but the mask he wears on his face also serves another purpose - to hide the skin that's gnarled by Seed beneath. However, despite his edged exterior, he seems to know more than he's wishes to reveal. He was returned into a deadman and experimented on by Garino before injecting him with Seed and leaving him to die, with only a meditation technique saving him from dying again. This effectively makes him part Seed part Deadman with a precarious balance; allowing him to survive without blood transfusions but if the balance is disrupted, something grave may happen.

Jyuji is a close-range specialist, with the weakest firearms of the three. At close range, however, his blades are able to quickly dispatch multiple foes with great ease. He is able to dive in the same manner as Grave, but can only charge his melee attacks.

(In the English dubs of the games, Jyuji's name is spelt Juji.)

Rocketbilly Redcadillac

Juji's partner, "Billy" is a ghost haunting an electric guitar. Unlike Juji, Billy is a laid back ladies man, though bizarre enough, he considers his own grandmother to be the ideal woman. In combat, he employs the same guitar he haunts, using the dynamo attached onto it to deliver lightning strikes as he plays.

Billy excels at long range combat, quickly clearing rooms of henchmen with arcs of electricity. His melee skills are sub-par compared to his comrades, but he can charge his electric guitar to deliver powerful shocks.

He bears a passing resemblance to Vash the Stampede, of Nightow's earlier work Trigun.

Mika Asagi

Being three years since the last game, Mika Asagi has matured and dedicated herself to fighting problems created by the Necrolyzation process, leading her into the conflict with Seed and the Corisione Family. Far from the helpless girl in the last game, she capably demonstrated her fighting prowess early on when she defended the location Grave was stored from Corisione hit men while Grave's awakening process was still counting down. Later in the story it is revealed that she has been giving Grave his required full-blood transfusions using her own blood, taking a heavy physical toll on her which she bears without complaint. Along with Spike, she coordinates and communicates with the others from the Trailer that transports the protagonists about the city. She is later injected with seed by Spike in order to save her life after she is fatally wounded by Fangoram, but her strong will prevents her body from mutating, and is given an antidote to it by Garino.

Spike Hubie

An orphan that Mika picked up during the three years before the game, Spike also helps in tracking down the source of the Seed distribution. A genius, Spike constructs a strange creature that reacts to Seed, helping the group follow the trail. Unfortunately, his forgotten past intertwines with that of the Corisione Family. He is later revealed to be a clone of Garino, and had long been plotting the death of the original out of a sense of inferiority at being a copy of him. Garino later kills him after revealing that Spike's senses and body are connected with Garino's

Don Corisione

The ruthless Don, or head, of the Corisione Family, Denito Corisione appears to be the cause behind the Seed distribution. However, his arrogance leads to his downfall when he fails to estimate his son's betrayal.

Garino Creale Corisione

Don Corisione's obedient adopted son and second in command. Cool and manipulative, he holds greater plans for Seed beyond mere drugs. Jyuji bears a grudge against him for experimenting on him when he'd just became a dead man. His true goal is to travel throughout space on an alien spaceship in order to end his own boredom, the Seed has promised him this in exchange for his help in dominating the planet.

Fangoram

A towering prototype Deadman that has survived till now, Fangoram serves as the Corisiones strongest fighter. Though his speech is awkward, it does not fail to express his hatred for Beyond The Grave for "killing his friends" (The other prototypes). Backing this up, Fangoram is the only one that can wield the powerful Cerberus Centerhead, the final gun that completes Dr. T's Cerberus series, and vastly more powerful than even Grave's own Lefthead and Righthead. Though under the Corisione's employ, Fangoram seems more loyal to Garino himself than the empire.

Zell Condorbrave

A mercenary under the employ of the Corisiones, Zell's army is one dedicated to the specialty of killing Deadmen like Grave.

Sherry Macdowell-Walken

Bear Walken's daughter and Harry's wife, Sherry joins the Corisione drug empire in hopes of avenging the deaths of her loved ones by killing Grave.

Bunji Kugashira

Though killed in the previous game, Bunji's skills seems to be valuable enough to be resurrected as well by Necrolyzation for the Corisiones. Though none the too happy about being forced to continued to exist as a Deadman, Bunji still decides to work for the Corisiones, hoping for one more shot at Grave to prove who's the better of the two. He is also the brother of Jyuji Kabane and also a playable character.