Luminous Avenger iX2 foi um tanto decepcionante mas é entendível, eu vim nesse jogo atrás da gameplay do Copen dos outros jogos e acabou que não era oque eu esperava.

Copen agora é basicamente o Zero do Mega man com um pequeno nerf no seu Air dash que agora é apenas um, foi algo que eu tive que me acostumar de primeira e eu acabei morrendo muito pra buracos porque eu jurava que poderia usar o Air Dash de novo pra poder sair dele quando eu não podia, esse é meu único problema com o jogo, eu vim esperando o Copen do iX1 mas me deparei com o Zero do Mega man, mesmo assim ainda me diverti com os chefes do jogo.

Só não vou zerar ele de novo pra pegar um final bom que tem que coletar item em mapa e em dificuldade especifica.

I didn't like this game as much as the first one, but that doesn't mean I thought it was bad. I thought iX1 was a great game while this is just an okay game.

I think my biggest issue is the gameplay changes they made to Copen himself. I've heard the argument that the previous system made it too easy to zoom around levels, thereby making players not pay attention to the level design, but still, I don't like the change. The new weapon is also cool (and a sort-of throwback to MM Zero) but it just isn't as effective or as easy to use as Copen's original blaster. I loved the entire system of flying into enemies, locking-on, floating and then doing the same to the next enemy. But the way it's done now just feels clunky. Locking Copen's old play style to Overdrive is a reasonable compromise I guess, but I wish it was like that all the time.

Story is pretty meh. English voice acting ranges from good, competent, to not-so-great. I assume some of them had bad directing or something. Locking the true ending behind hard mode is FUCKING STUPID. I HATE IT SO MUCH. Especially when you make hard mode brutally difficult compared to the base game, which was a little too easy at points. Not exactly a great balance.

Level design is good. Much more variety than iX1. EX Weapons interacting with stages in unique ways is also nice. Probably the only thing I think this game does better than the first one.

So yeah, I don’t think the game is bad but I'm not a fan of the direction they went in here. Maybe if I replay the game I'll learn to appreciate it more, but for now, I like this less.

Beat it on a Windows PC via Steam; did Hard Mode, too. I'm pretty mixed on iX2. On one hand, it's probably the most interesting score system in the series. You can take as many hits as you want. But if you die or use the infinite heal skill, it resets. Get over 1000 points and you get an infinite dash. This is probably the most fun the game gets. However, what if you don't care about kudos and want to get through the game easily? Literally just spam the infinite heal and you'll experience the easiest platformer ever. There could've been a cooldown or something, but NO. Furthermore, the movement is generally unfun at the start. For example: The dash-tag from GV2 no longer works; now it's a shop upgrade. This completely threw off the flow of the gameplay and made it annoying to control. This sounds cool until HARD MODE. Hard Mode takes the shop away, and your kudos now disappear in one hit. Inti Creates made it easier in a patch, giving you infinite heals, but either way, Hard Mode SUCKS. And you need to do it for the "true" ending. Hard Mode isn't even that much harder; Gunvolt 1 nailed Hard Mode. It didn't limit the player's mobility. But because iX2 has movement upgrades in the shop, it's completely unfun to control. I can't recommend this game. While the platforming is solid, the bosses are amazing, and it looks great, but of the mentioned issues, I can't recommend iX2. Play iX1 instead if you want a better version of this game.

contradictory in how they seem to wanna make the gameplay a little less thoughtless by nerfing the willy-nilly air dashing of the previous games, but will then give you a zero-cooldown infinite heal technique and make it so you now never lose your score combo upon taking damage - thus incentivizing thoughtless gameplay just the same. Oh, Inti...

After a certain point I just stopped caring about playing well. Sure, Gunvolt games have always had casual baby mode elements to help the light novel gamers along (though this isn't even 'light novel gunvolt' anymore...), and you can go and just ignore the healing move outright, I suppose. Even still - I don't think the now more stop-and-go pace of the airdash tagging gameplay and less interesting buildup to getting a good score make it as fun to engage with like the previous ones; even ignoring the fundamental lunacy behind giving the player free healing whenever they want seriously what the GACK

at lEAST they had the idea to try and better motivate good play in this one by rewarding you with that wilder air dash from Copen's other outings as prize for attaining 1000 kudos. A good idea! But in execution I would have preferred to just have that better mobility ALL THE TIME considering enemy interactions end up proceeding a hella lot slower now because of the more limited movement you're stuck with without it. And because Copen can only tag and damage one enemy at a time, it really kinda sucks just repeating the same single tagging and killing routine while being so often stuck on the ground; always waiting for one guy to die so you can go and orderly take out the next in an unfortunate new variety of thoughtless, overly linear gameplay.

I really hope none of these ideas stick around. I mean - I applaud the effort in them pushing you to engage with the score system by having it grant more immediate, gameplay altering effects. Just a shame they chose to gut your moveset to pull it off. Maybe they'll think up a better solution next time, because as it stands - this attempt just made the whole act an inevitable chore with how predictably you deal with enemies.

And with no wacky extra things of note like the true LIGHT NOVEL/ACTION Gunvolt games bothered to include, like the classic ability-synthing grind, optional challenges, the badass haikus, or even just the original appeal of juggling to read lengthy dialogue boxes alongside doing the gameplay - I don't see much here that I actually love about the series beyond another basic bitch anime platformer.

story sucks too. more funny tragic inti women and inconsequential copen shit. I just want to see GV again, man.

This is the best Megaman game released ever since Megaman Zero 3. If you're a fan of Megaman X/Zero/ZX you owe it to yourself to play this game, even if you disliked the first two Gunvolts and the first Luminous Avenger like I did, as it plays very differently from those games, for the better.

I highly recommend disabling Anthem in the pause menu and not using the healing skill altogether. Doing that will make for a very satisfying experience with a good level of difficulty on Normal mode.

I've got nothing to say about the story as I skipped all of it, I'm only interested in the gameplay in these types of games.

Basically, if you're an older fan of MMX/MMZ and came into the Gunvolt series looking for a spiritual successor to those games only to be disappointed by how fundamentally different they were, then this is the game you've been looking for. This game is for you, not for people who actually like what the previous Gunvolt games were doing.

I'd also recommend looking into Gunvolt 3 if you enjoy this game. It's not quite as good as this one, but it's still a great Megaman-like that is very much worth playing, and waaaaaaaaaaay better than the first two Gunvolts.

This game feels like a gift, made specifically for me and everyone who loved Megaman Zero and ZX/ZXA. Thank you Inti Creates, from the bottom of my heart.

Over the years, Inti Creates has solidified their place as one of my favorite 2D action platformer developers of all time. From the classic Mega Man Zero series, to the modern Gunvolt series, they have continued to refine and evolve their craft. You simply won't find their brand of high octane, arcadey, mastery-focused gameplay anywhere else.

I played iX1 on a whim a few years ago, and to my surprise, I loved it so much that it not only made me go back and play the other Gunvolt games, but it also ultimately led to me rethinking how I view rank, score, and other mastery-focused systems in other games, including the Zero games and their S-ranks. Copen's aerial based gameplay was just that great; bouncing off walls and enemies at breakneck speeds while maintaining my air combo to score as high as possible was so exhilarating.

So imagine my shock when iX2 was initially announced, and Copen's gameplay was revealed to be reworked. Gone are the days of dashing all around the level from the get-go, as he only has one air dash (outside of Overdrive). Now he has the Razor Wheel, complete with a 3-hit combo and other melee shenanigans. While I still had faith in Inti Creates' ability, I couldn't shake that feeling of apprehension. Yeah, it kinda reminded me of Mega Man Zero, and you could still access Copen's old gameplay with Overdrive, but the huge changes worried me. Fast forward to release; the moment of truth has arrived, so how is it?

It's a lot to digest, that's for sure.

First things first, Copen's new gameplay. As I said before, dashing around and cutting up enemies with the Razor Wheel in Copen's Breakshift really did remind me of Mega Man Zero, though not nearly as fluid as that or iX1/GV2's gameplay. The wheel doesn't do enough damage to kill most things in less than 2 slashes, so you almost have to stop and full combo every enemy, even the smaller ones. It's no biggie, since going from enemy to enemy as fast as you can to maintain your Quick Break combo for kudos is enjoyable enough, and you can even weave in Bullitshift and EX weapons.

However, that "weaving" is actually my biggest issue with the game. There isn't a cohesive marriage of the Breakshift and Bullitshift gameplay, at least not in scoreplay. You use Breakshift (and a little Bullitshift) to hit 1000 kudos as fast as you can to hit Overdrive, and from there you just rack up aerial combos like in iX1 since it's FAR more lucrative kudos-wise. It's still pretty fun, especially in Normal mode where emblems let you hit 1k kudos quickly anyway, but it just screams "missed potential". It was a really cool idea, and I REALLY hope they expand on it in the future.

What makes it even more disappointing is the fact that pretty much everything else about the game feels like a step-up from iX1. Thanks to consideration for the Breakshift system (I assume), iX2 actually has some of the best level design I've seen in a Gunvolt game thus far. Not only do they still facilitate that feeling of flow that we all know and love, but they individually have stronger identities, thanks to improved enemy variety and great level gimmicks. In addition, the presentation has noticeably improved as well. The soundtrack quality has gotten even better, with particularly strong normal level themes (an area where the series historically lacked), alongside some other great tunes like Ypsilon's boss theme. The visuals are also a lot more varied from level to level (especially compared to iX1, where levels would often visually blend together), further aiding that sense of identity I was talking about. This game's EX weapon selection blows previous games out of the water too. Unlike GV2 and iX1 where you'd be using Hailstorm Blade/Orbital Edge 99% of the time, you can find a useful niche for most of them. Rolling Ripper is the go-to aerial enemy killer, Cryo Flash for slowing down time, Whirling Chopper is great for animation-cancelling and gaining vertical height, and Optic Barrier is useful in quite a few boss fights. Speaking of boss fights, they're still as great as ever. Hell, at this point, it's hard to NOT take notice of how consistently good Inti is at designing bosses. There's not much to be said; patterns are fun to learn, and are hard enough to actually require learning. It almost feels like performing a well-choreographed dance, honestly, especially in the context of the scoring.

And then there's the difficulty.

The Gunvolt series' approach to difficulty has always been a point of contention. In stark contrast to the Mega Man Zero games, it opts to start you off with extreme power, and instead give you a plethora of tools to modulate the difficulty. At default, the previous games would make you immune to 99% of damage at the cost of an easily refillable resource, alongside a free auto-revive, a potentially large health pool, infinite lives, and so on and so forth. If you're an average player, and use all of these to the fullest, you're left with a comically easy game. Perfect for people that want to revel in the power fantasy and enjoy the charming, chuuni writing stress-free, but pretty boring for everyone else. However, as I've alluded to throughout the review, the games have consistently made it very clear that the REAL draw is embracing the arcade-style of old, and doing score runs. As in, running through levels as fast as possible, while racking up kudos by pulling off methodical combos; all without getting so much as a scratch. It's a difficult, but very rewarding road. All of the games' mechanics will truly come into play, your personal idol will sing J-Pop bangers for you, and you'll get a shiny S+ rank to show for it, but those are all secondary to the greatest reward of all: the fun.

But what about the people in the middle? What of the folks that don't want to bother with some silly ranking system or some self-imposed challenges and just want to run through the game once like a Mega Man game? Unfortunately, they're out of luck. Even if you disable all of the extra options that makes the games effortless, you're still left with a fairly easy game with seemingly milquetoast level design. This is where many fundamental misconceptions about the series arise, and it serves as a major stumbling block for many people.

In response, Inti Creates appeared to have doubled down. The default mode, Normal, has two major changes; an unlimited source of healing at the push of a button (with the only caveat being that it banks your kudos), along with Gutless as the sole kudos mode. The healing option didn't matter to me honestly. I just treated it like Prevasion and Anthem in previous games and simply never used it, and it actually resulted in a fairly decent difficulty curve in casual play. The forced Gutless mode was far more concerning, but in practice it actually worked out better than I thought, especially since there's an upgrade that boosts your damage in exchange for losing all kudos on hit. But that's not all.

Now when I say Inti Creates doubled down, I mean they DOUBLED down. For the first time in the series since the later releases of GV1, iX2 also has a Hard mode, complete with a multitude of changes. It removes the healing mode, disables all upgrades, capps your max HP, makes you lose all kudos on-hit (like Fearless mode in previous games), greatly buffs boss patterns, removes the emblems, and, most interestingly, introduces a lives system. There is little room (or no room when scoring) for error in boss fights, and mistakes are far more punishing, as losing all your lives will boot you out of the level. They even pulled a ballsy move and locked the true ending behind its completion. As you can imagine, this mode lies on the complete opposite side of the difficulty spectrum, and it's brutal, and it's easily the hardest Gunvolt has ever been. The final boss alone took me 40+ tries and almost 3 hours.

But you know what? This may be a hot take, but it was a WONDERFUL addition. THIS is, more or less, how hard Gunvolt should be. The Breakshift system works a lot better here than in Normal mode too, and Inti-Creates intended vision for it became a bit clearer, although it also makes the messy union between it and Bulletshift more apparent. My only gripe with it is that they didn't alter the level design at all. That's fine for scoreplay, but in casual runs the levels are still far too easy. It'd be better for casual AND scoreplay if the level design was slightly remixed (in the same vein as the special missions in iX1) and some checkpoints were removed, especially considering the lives system and the fact that you have to beat Normal mode first to unlock it. But beyond that, I hope they expand on this mode and include it in future games.

If you look at iX2's individual parts, you'll find that although it expanded on and improved many aspects of the previous games, the most important one--the Breakshift system and the related changes to Copen's gameplay--fell a bit short. Though ambitious, it's nowhere near as cohesive as the focused endeavors of iX1 and GV2. With that being said, however, when I reflect on my experience holistically, I can't deny the fact that I had a ton of fun, which probably speaks to how strong and unique the series' core design philosophy is. I can't wait for GV3, and I hope it doesn't take 4 years to get ported.

After playing through this game 4 times (2 on normal, 2 on hard) I can finally say that this is a great, albeit very experimental, Gunvolt game.

I can't help but use superlatives to describe iX2. It has the best music, the best visual presentation, and the most fun challenge thanks to hard mode, but it also has the weakest story in the series and normal mode is pretty boring.

I'm interested to see which elements of the core gameplay Inti will keep and which ones they will scrap, since this game is very divisive already. Personally, I think the Razor Wheel is a cool idea but I wouldn't be sad to see it go if iX3 ever happens. If anything, give the core idea of the mechanic to Blade and make her a playable character.

If nothing else, PLEASE listen to this game's soundtrack. Ippo Yamada and the rest of III seriously never disappoint.

Honestly the best game in the series primarily because you can make it not piss easy from the get-go and it plays the most like mmz while making copen's busted gv2 and ix1 gameplay a 1000 kudos requirement (which isn't hard to get considering emblems), making gameplay both dynamic and rewarding you for doing well or finding secrets. Hard mode and subsequently the true ending being locked behind 100%ing normal mode is dumb but the changes it makes seem overkill and I found not spamming the heal skill in stages and turning off hp on level up and anthem challenging enough. Almost perfect boss design and all the boss weapons have some use or niche. Bonus points for the new character not being an underage girl but the story unfortunately was kinda whatever. Not at all bad or anything, just a bit lacking after ix1 had some genuinely raw moments. I hear gunvolt 3's story shits itself so at this point I think I've realised I should only really care about the gameplay in these games. Considering this is inti incorporating everything they've learned both during and after mmz I've got high hopes that gunvolt 3 will be the apeX of 2d platforming.

Being a fan of the Azure Striker Gunvolt fan since the very beginning, I was understandably hyped when this game was announced. It was a completely unexpected announcement, especially since Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 has yet to come out and the fact that we would've gotten two of these Gunvolt Chronicles games before the proper third installment would've surprised anyone. It's clear that this game was meant to tide us over until Gunvolt 3 came out but the question is, is the game good or is it a rare Inti Creates L? Well, it's good but it's....kinda weird.

Normally in my reviews, i like to start with what i liked and then proceed with what i didn't like but i need to address the White Tiger in the room: Inti Creates completely overhauled Copen's gameplay in this game. In both Gunvolt 2 and Luminous Avenger 1, Copen was characterized as an aerial mobility character. He had a number of air dashes that you could use at any time and colliding with an enemy during these air dashes (or just normal dashes too) would lock-on to them, allowing your attacks to home in. The key to Copen's gameplay in those games was to dash around the level, ideally chaining as many kills as you can without touching the ground. This was extremely satisfying to do and seeing my score go up with each kill light up the neurons in my brain. In Luminous Avenger iX 2, this style of gameplay is gone....sort of. You can do it while in Overdrive, which is obtained by gaining 1000 Kudos (points) or more during any level, or by activating Anthem, which has a chance of happening if you die. Obviously conditions need to be met here so how does Copen play when you're not in either of those two states? He has one air dash. One. No way to increase it, no way to do multiple air dashes without being in Overdrive or Anthem. This massive change tremendously fucked me up, this is not how Copen is supposed to play. In addition to those changes, Copen now has a three-hit melee attack, which is admittedly pretty cool as we haven't really had melee options in these games before (i can't believe Copen robbed Kirin of being the first melee Gunvolt character). Outside of skills and collecting each of the emblems in each stage, this three-hit attack is what'll net you the most Kudos. And while attacking with that buzzsaw is really neat, the changes to Copen's gameplay style as a whole kinda made me wish that this was just a completely different character. Idk, make Blade be the main character here, we haven't had an Azure Striker be playable since Gunvolt 2 in 2016. These changes also mean a complete rehaul of the Kudos system. In previous games, you had the ability to choose how you wanted Kudos to be handled. You had options between: not losing them at all, losing them all after taking three hits or losing them all after taking one hit. In this game, those options are gone and you effectively are on that first option always. This means that it's much easier to obtain Overdrive but that means getting Overdrive isn't as satisfying. That rush of getting the most points possible or risk losing them all isn't here. The closest thing is Lola's new heal ability, which completely heals you in exchange for banking your Kudos and resetting the counter to zero. Using this during Overdrive means you lose Overdrive but besides that, there's no limit to that heal ability. That definitely does make the game easy but you can also just not use it, much like how you can choose to not use the damage-negating Prevasion of the previous games.

Thankfully, Copen still keeps his signature EX Abilities, which allows him to copy the powers he gets from bosses Mega Man style and as i unlocked more, i got more and more used to Copen's changes. Once i found ways to just tear through enemies and get that satisfying feeling that i've loved about these games, i became ok with these changes, though I still prefer how Copen plays in the previous games.

As for the things that didn't leave me in a conflicted state, i've got to say, this is probably the best looking Inti Creates game so far. The decision to Isekai Copen away from the traditional Gunvolt setting of futuristic city was a perfect breath of fresh air, as it allowed the background visuals to be much more varied. The sprites themselves are also the best yet, i've got to say. The music has also received a buff. While the vocal songs in Gunvolt have always been great, the regular tunes have always been overshadowed. In this game, the regular tunes are quite good and i wouldn't say they've been overshadowed at all. Overall, the presentation is good. If there's on critique i have to make here, it's the special attack cut-ins. The previous games would have a little haiku show up before the character calls out their special attack, which is 1000% anime and i loved it. In this game, that's completely gone, instead being replaced by a more animated cut-in. While there's nothing wrong with this cut-in, i miss the anime corniness that came with the cut-ins of the previous games.

Sadly, the mid-stage dialogue is still missing and it kinda ends up feeling like the Gunvolt Chronicles subseries isn't as character-focused as the mainline series, which is a bit of a bummer. I still like the characters but Copen, Lola, and Kohaku are carried by the fact that we've met them before. The new character, Null, is alright but she's probably the weakest heroine character in this entire series. But the one affected by the lack of mid-stage dialogue the most are the bosses, as i hardly get any personality from them outside of their pre-battle dialogue. This was an issue in the first Luminous Avenger as well but Gunvolt 1 and 2 didn't have this issue so hopefully this is just a Gunvolt Chronicles thing and Gunvolt 3 will have mid-stage dialogue when it finally rolls around.

When i consider all things, i can definitely see this game being more divisive among fans. In my opinion, this game is an 8/10........had it not been for a decision so unlike Inti Creates that i had to take off a whole point: the decision to lock the true ending behind a stupidly difficult Hard Mode. Unlocking Hard Mode in this game is already kind of obscure but to get the true ending, you have to beat the whole game on Hard Mode. That sounds straight-forward except, completely out of the blue, Inti Creates introduced a lives system to this series. Yes that's right, you have lives in Hard Mode and if you lose them all, it's back to the beginning of the stage for you, checkpoints be damned. Add in the fact that Hard Mode also removes the ability to heal or upgrade or even level up and Inti Creates is basically asking for a flawless playthrough if you want to see the full story. Inti Creates is no stranger to very difficult boss fights in order to see the true ending (Gunvolt 1, Gunvolt-route Gunvolt 2, Blaster Master Zero 3) but that's just it: in those instances, it was one boss fight that was very difficult, not the entire game. And none of those games had a lives system anyway. None of those games forced you to play on Hard Mode if you wanted to see everything. And because i knew trying to master iX 2's Hard Mode on a lives system would eat away at my sanity, i simply looked up the true ending on YouTube. It is a nice ending, a shame it's locked behind such a dumb decision.

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 is, in my opinion, the weakest entry in the series. Weakest, however, does not mean bad. Inti Creates is one of the very few game developers that has completely earned my trust and, in my opinion, the only L they've taken so far is Dragon: Marked for Death. Luminous Avenger iX 2, despite being the weakest Gunvolt game, is still a very solid 7/10. I would not recommend it as your first Gunvolt game (really, this entire subseries is better enjoyed after playing mainline Gunvolt) but if you're looking for a solid action platformer, put this game (and this series) on your radar.

So, I came back to this one more recently to commit to Hard Mode. I enjoyed my first playthrough, but I didn't really "get" the new mechanics and the balance of them- while I definitely had the initial highs of more surface-level stuff like, say;
"Holy shit I have a chainsaw gun!"
"Holy shit, you can shoulder check the bosses too???"
"Oh my god I got a MOTHER FUCKING GATLING GUN"

I knew I wasn't good at the game, and I wasn't sure how much of it was really an improvement over the previous games. Most people weren't happy with the changes from the previous games, because 1 airdash as opposed to 3 is, well, limiting. And I can see how that'd be frustrating if the new mechanics to replace it don't offer much depth to make up for it.

Now that I've gotten a few X ranks though, I dunno. I'm singing a different tune. Copen doesn't feel nerfed at all.

I think.... he's simply just been rebalanced into a character whose strengths have to be earned. They realized that the airdash mechanic was a little bit excessive, and they wanted to encourage more aggressive play.
GV2 and IX1 Copen have a very passive playstyle where you can kinda just bounce your way around the arena and float just out of harm's way. You were always locked on to the opponent, and always capable of stacking on extra layers of damage with your EX weapons. Stellar Spark gave you that reliably from the start, but bosses granted you even more ridiculous shit like the twin sabers in GV2 or... well, literally anything in IX1, really.

IX2 sidesteps that in favor of the Razor Wheel. Racking up points requires that you get in an enemy's face and slash them up. Whether that's through your triple slash combo, bashing them out of their attack animations, or locking on for safer homing shots; you HAVE to find a safe angle to approach, and you need to find a way to focus your damage before an enemy can hit you. Damage output is high, and you're rewarded for your efficiency- every quick kill nets you 30 points, so if anything, you're scoring HIGHER than in previous games as long as you're just careful about spacing.

It's when you finally get 1000 and go into Overdrive that the game opens up. While Copen starts with 1 airdash, once he enters Overdrive.... he has a meter that grants him infinite airdashes for a set amount of time. The amount of flexibility he has in Overdrive is absolutely NUTS, and when paired with the significantly higher damage output of both your Razor Wheel and this game's EX weapons... it's really a treat to breeze through levels ripping through enemies like nothing. Infinite Anchor Nexus + Whirling Chopper covers so much ground that it doesn't even feel fair anymore. But with the way the levels are designed and how much more capable some enemies are, you still have that routing aspect, so nothing's really been lost.

I get that it kind of sucks that you have to earn it now, but I feel like the game gave you all of the tools necessary to succeed. You just have to apply them.

This is my favorite of Inti's new games. The plotline is absolute nonsense and I don't... really think I care about Gunvolt lore anymore? But the gameplay, the graphics, the music and the stage / boss design all feel top notch, better than anything that they've offered in previous games... or even in GV3.

Really looking forward to an eventual IX3. I HOPE they build on the Razor Wheel, but I'm not sure if they'll go in that direction after the reception they got...

The worst GV game so far, both in story and gameplay. Nothing happens, characters are at their dullest, Razor Wheel as a weapon isn't as fun as the previous games. Requiring to beat the entire game twice to unlock the true ending is dumb. Even the first two GV games at least only require beating the final level twice.

Speaking of second playthru, Hard Mode also sucks. The change so that you can't chain Bullit Dashes until you hit overdrive is made even worse, and probably was suppose to give more attention to Razor Wheel and the EX weapons, which admittedly is the best set among all 3 games. But despite that, as a 2D platformer its still pretty good. It's just the preceding games already set a high bar.

Also, Vespa is cute I guess. Makes up for the disappointment that is Null.

So, I gave the first game a lower score, I felt it was a decently fun game but was a bit of the short side, so it this game any better?

Well, honestly it feels just as short, actually it feels a bit short, BUT the gameplay feels much faster and a bit more refined. Copen feels a bit smoother to play as now, and his new Break Shift form feels really nice to just go through enemies however you like. I was kinda shocked how many options there was on the Options menu to adjust how you play with stuff like auto Hover just as an example.

The story honestly was decent for what it was, not saying it was bad, but I don't feel like it really continued the story of the series any, but I guess I won't know for sure until Luminous Avenger iX3 or maybe Gunvolt 3, though I gotta say, there's sooo much humor with the easter eggs in this game if you've been following Inti Creates games of the past.

The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, I thought Mega Man Zero had the best, but this one matches up with it very well, if anything give it a listen.

I think where this game suffers slightly is the customization of skills you can buy as you play, a few of them kinda break the game, although you can turn them off, it feels like they didn't have an answer for certain skills that or they wanted to make it more casual friendly...which makes little sense to do that to the second game, but eh.

Otherwise it's a great game and was fun, could have used a bit more length, BUT the DLC definitely fixes that with extra boss fights and then an in-game hard mode, so there's plenty to do after, but an initial playthrough is kinda short but fun.

My honest favorite of the series so far. Stages are thematically varied and have actual gimmicks to them, enemy design is engaging, boss design is great as always and I feel like limiting what Copen can and can't do really goes miles into making the gameplay more engaging.

If you enjoy the Gunvolt series for how over the top broken you are then this definitely isn't the game for you, but if that was the ONE thing you disliked about it, like me, then this game is a god send.

Something to me still feels off, like most of Inti's stuff, some sense of identity is missing that I can't exactly put my finger into right now, but overall, a great game that really puts to show Inti's greatest strengths when it comes to game design as a whole.