I can see where Tim is coming from in regard to Gungrave G.O.R.E and Bullet Witch. Cavia had a long legacy of designing many video games whereas the latest Gungrave was developed by Iggymob, a relatively new team. That being said, I think that G.O.R.E has a lot of heart and reminds me a great deal of the 6th Gen in all the best and worst ways and I wouldn’t have it any different.
You alluded to one of the reasons I don’t much care for Evil West Brandon. The combat is solid yet world traversal is so incredibly linear and context sensitive that it takes the fun out of exploring for me. With the new Gungrave, you can jump around all over the place and it looks goofy but is fun all the same. You can actually jump atop objects you wouldn’t outright assume you could and it’s VERY Balan Wonderworld. This of course leads way to some janky platforming sequences where you are expected to make death-defying jumps, but it appears that the developers patched quite a few of them to be a little easier.
Also, I’m fully willing to admit that one reason I like this game so much is that I get to type G.O.R.E all caps and it stands for a ridiculous but amazing acronym.