Azure Striker Gunvolt as a series is one that I have fond memories with. It was one of the first games I ever bought, and I remember spending countless hours playing through the demo before I had boughten it. I’ve played, and beaten this game numerous times before, I replayed both it and Gunvolt 2 some time last year. I’ve had Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 in my library for quite some time now, but since it’s been so long I feel the need to refresh myself on what Gunvolt 1 and 2 were like. And I’ll say, I still really like Azure Striker Gunvolt.
Now, obviously with the game’s structure and how you proceed through the game, it’s hard not to immediately compare it to Mega Man. Inti Creates has worked on Mega Man titles before, specifically Mega Man Zero, so it makes sense that they would eventually create a series that is like Mega Man. But in the case of Gunvolt, I really love how it doesn’t feel like I’m playing as Mega Man, I feel like I’m playing more like a Robot Master. Gunvolt’s abilities (aside from his guns) are all tied to electricity, and how the game mechanically, both in combat and level design expertly shows it off. In one level, you have to use electricity to see in a dark environment, in a different level, it’s used to pull magnetized objects toward you. In practically every level, you can use electricity to either deflect or destroy projectiles. While there’s a lot to be said about each level, I really think the best aspect of the game’s level design is how well it incorporates Gunvolt’s mechanics into them.
And further onto Gunvolt’s mechanics, I already briefly discussed the electricity, but I swear, it’s super fun. There’s so many options using electricity, particularly the flashfield alone. It does all of the items I previously listed, but it damages enemies if they’re inside of it, and it can also be used to slow your fall, which is definitely useful in some later levels. Though it is good that Gunvolt can only use his electricity as long as he has a charge, it’s a really good way of balancing it out. If you deplete your charge fully, Gunvolt overheats, and is unable to use electricity until the charge reaches 100%. And though it only lasts for a brief moment, that moment is very tense which I love. Gunvolt also has specials he can use as long as a special meter is filled, and this can be really helpful too. There’s offensive ones, defensive ones, and the ones that I find the most important, the healing ones. While they’re nice to have of course, I really only found myself using the offensive ones for style points, and healing ones whenever needed. There’s other aspects of Gunvolt’s move set that feel really well to pull off as well! They’re sort of basic movement options, but Gunvolt’s dash and wall jumping feel great the execute. Gunvolt’s movement overall is extremely satisfying, and combined with level layout, makes Azure Striker Gunvolt just an absolute blast to play.
I’m not even done talking about Gunvolt as well. I briefly mentioned it earlier, but Gunvolt has an assortment of guns he can use. You get more as you complete each level, but I found myself using only the starting one, and one that you get near the end of the game. I’m uncertain if that’s a critique of the game or not though, it may just be my playstyle being the reason here. And guns get into one of the major mechanics of the game, being tagging. Depending on the gun you equip, you have a certain number of tags you can use. The starting gun gives you 3 tags, some give you 1, and one gives you 8 tags total. Whenever you shoot an enemy, they get tagged, and they can get tagged up to 3 times maximum. If you use the flashfield while around a tagged enemy, the flashfield will send a bolt of electricity to the enemy, dealing damage rapidly to the enemy. And of course, you can tag multiple enemies at the same time, which can take say, 3 enemies out at the same time. The more tagged an enemy is, the faster the damage, of course. Yet again, I must say, this all combined with everything I listed prior makes Gunvolt such a fun character to play as. While it may sound a bit too much, especially with how wordy I am with things, these mechanics really blend well with each other.
And I’m almost done talking about Gunvolt himself here. Almost. Particularly, when you’re not in a level, you’ll be in Gunvolt’s apartment where you can have some options to do before starting the next level. The one I’m talking about here is the crafting mode, where, with items you find after the end of each level, you can craft equipment to put on Gunvolt. I’ll be honest here, the crafting system is quite lacking, and you’ll barely have to use it. While you barely have to use it, you will still find yourself having to use it slightly in order to unlock the true ending (I’ll get to that later). While most of what the crafting system gives you isn’t that important, the most important stuff comes from the Jump and Traction Rings. Depending on the level of them you craft, it gives Gunvolt additional jumps, or air dashes, which are just extremely useful. While the levels of the game aren’t crafted with them in mind, some levels definitely become more manageable once you have a double jump or air dashes. I think part of why the crafting system isn’t as useful is because Gunvolt already has useful equipment as is. The Prevasion Ring you get at the start of the game is too busted, allowing you to dodge most attacks as long as you have charge. While it does make the game a lot easier, I just find it makes more sense to have it on than off.
Now alright, I’m finally done talking about mechanics that tie to Gunvolt himself. And moving forward, I think it bears repeating how well crafted I think the game’s level design is. That too goes for how replayable they are as well. While in isolation, you only really need to play through a level once, but after you beat the level for the first time, you unlock challenges for it. And of course, these are super fun to try and do, getting a better rank, better time, or doing specific tasks within a level. It makes it all really fun to try and improve your abilities in each level, as well as getting rewards for clearing challenges. This does come with one small caveat though, as you can only equip three challenges at a time, so even if you would’ve cleared a challenge, if you don’t have it equipped, it wouldn’t be cleared. While it’s not the worse issue to ever exist in a game, I do find the design of it a bit flawed.
On a separate note however, rank and the game’s scoring system is really addicting. Every attack you do to an enemy is added up into a combo overtime. The further the combo grows, the larger the score modifier becomes, and the better the score you get at the end of the stage. At 1000 combo or higher, the song in the level changes to a special vocal track which I believe changes based on the level. Though, depending on what you do the combo isn’t permanent. If you use an offensive skill, activate a checkpoint, take damage (though this may not happen depending on the style you’re on), or resurrect (a mechanic I’ll touch on later), your combo will go down to zero. And this aspect of the combo is so cool, as things that would make levels easier must be avoided in order to get a better score. It means that combo isn’t just skill centric, but risk centric as well, as if you die in a level you’ll go back to the start of the level. But at the end of each stage, your score is multiplied depending on how quickly you beat a level. All in all the scoring system makes the game that much more fun to play, as you try to get a better score each time.
And with stuff that I mentioned earlier, I think it’s really interesting how the game can help the player still either beat a difficult level, or keep a score chain going. If you die in a level, there’s a chance that you get resurrected with a power boost, where your charge won’t deplete, and you can infinitely double jump and air dash. Though this of course comes with the factor that you can’t form a combo after resurrection. As well, you can choose a style option that changes how taking damage effects combos, either taking damage doesn’t effect combos (though the score multiplier is lessened), it removes the combo after taking damage immediately, or taking damage three times. It’s a nice way to accommodate for players who may not be as good at certain levels, or getting high scores, but still pushing them to try and improve.
I also really love the boss fights in the game as well. Though without a doubt I have to say part of it is nostalgia. When the bosses are fun, they’re really fun, though I do think one boss particularly isn’t as fun as the others to fight. Though that’s just because that one constantly teleports around, and isn’t around when their attacks are. Either way, another aspect I really like is how each of the 7 main bosses are themed after the seven deadly sins in some way. Though some are more on the nose than others. Another aspect I really love about each major boss is that once they drop to their final segment of health, they use their own special moves. I love the presentation of them, and how you deal with this is really fun too. Sometimes you can attack a boss, sometimes you can’t and sometimes you can but should you? All of the bosses are really unique because of this, and they’re super fun to fight.
One thing I mentioned a lot earlier and now finally getting to is that true ending which I mentioned prior. In order to unlock the true ending, you have to find jewels in each of the 7 main levels, which is honestly a lot easier than it sounds. The only problem is that one jewel requires the use of the crafting system, and another requires a very specific order of actions to be done, which isn’t easy to figure out. Though I will say, that’s only the first requirement of the true ending, however. You also have to equip an item before starting the final stage of the game, and I wish the game was more specific on when you were supposed to equip it. With this all though, the true ending is worth doing, though if you’re like me and used the Prevasion Ring through the rest of the game, that final stage is easily the hardest part of the game. Though the true final boss of the game is a lot easier than I remember when I first played this game back on the 3DS. I’m uncertain if that’s because the boss is actually easy, or if I’ve just improved.
And I’ll say, the rating of this game is in part due to certain flaws I’ve mentioned prior, but as well, I just wish there was more game here. Either longer levels, more levels, etc, I’m left wanting more and there just sort of isn’t any more. The game is really short, and due to that I feel like the game ends a tad bit too soon, as I was able to beat this game easily under four hours. While a good short game is definitely fine, I’m still left just wanting more.
With that in mind though I still really enjoy Azure Striker Gunvolt. I know I like the sequel more, and I definitely can’t wait to play it, but I’m not going to jump into it immediately. Gunvolt plays amazingly well, and the levels and bosses both help to support that. While some mechanics could be better fleshed out such as crafting, and I still wish the game was maybe an hour or so longer, what’s given here is still a fun game. I know I’ll be replaying it again sometime in the future.
Now, obviously with the game’s structure and how you proceed through the game, it’s hard not to immediately compare it to Mega Man. Inti Creates has worked on Mega Man titles before, specifically Mega Man Zero, so it makes sense that they would eventually create a series that is like Mega Man. But in the case of Gunvolt, I really love how it doesn’t feel like I’m playing as Mega Man, I feel like I’m playing more like a Robot Master. Gunvolt’s abilities (aside from his guns) are all tied to electricity, and how the game mechanically, both in combat and level design expertly shows it off. In one level, you have to use electricity to see in a dark environment, in a different level, it’s used to pull magnetized objects toward you. In practically every level, you can use electricity to either deflect or destroy projectiles. While there’s a lot to be said about each level, I really think the best aspect of the game’s level design is how well it incorporates Gunvolt’s mechanics into them.
And further onto Gunvolt’s mechanics, I already briefly discussed the electricity, but I swear, it’s super fun. There’s so many options using electricity, particularly the flashfield alone. It does all of the items I previously listed, but it damages enemies if they’re inside of it, and it can also be used to slow your fall, which is definitely useful in some later levels. Though it is good that Gunvolt can only use his electricity as long as he has a charge, it’s a really good way of balancing it out. If you deplete your charge fully, Gunvolt overheats, and is unable to use electricity until the charge reaches 100%. And though it only lasts for a brief moment, that moment is very tense which I love. Gunvolt also has specials he can use as long as a special meter is filled, and this can be really helpful too. There’s offensive ones, defensive ones, and the ones that I find the most important, the healing ones. While they’re nice to have of course, I really only found myself using the offensive ones for style points, and healing ones whenever needed. There’s other aspects of Gunvolt’s move set that feel really well to pull off as well! They’re sort of basic movement options, but Gunvolt’s dash and wall jumping feel great the execute. Gunvolt’s movement overall is extremely satisfying, and combined with level layout, makes Azure Striker Gunvolt just an absolute blast to play.
I’m not even done talking about Gunvolt as well. I briefly mentioned it earlier, but Gunvolt has an assortment of guns he can use. You get more as you complete each level, but I found myself using only the starting one, and one that you get near the end of the game. I’m uncertain if that’s a critique of the game or not though, it may just be my playstyle being the reason here. And guns get into one of the major mechanics of the game, being tagging. Depending on the gun you equip, you have a certain number of tags you can use. The starting gun gives you 3 tags, some give you 1, and one gives you 8 tags total. Whenever you shoot an enemy, they get tagged, and they can get tagged up to 3 times maximum. If you use the flashfield while around a tagged enemy, the flashfield will send a bolt of electricity to the enemy, dealing damage rapidly to the enemy. And of course, you can tag multiple enemies at the same time, which can take say, 3 enemies out at the same time. The more tagged an enemy is, the faster the damage, of course. Yet again, I must say, this all combined with everything I listed prior makes Gunvolt such a fun character to play as. While it may sound a bit too much, especially with how wordy I am with things, these mechanics really blend well with each other.
And I’m almost done talking about Gunvolt himself here. Almost. Particularly, when you’re not in a level, you’ll be in Gunvolt’s apartment where you can have some options to do before starting the next level. The one I’m talking about here is the crafting mode, where, with items you find after the end of each level, you can craft equipment to put on Gunvolt. I’ll be honest here, the crafting system is quite lacking, and you’ll barely have to use it. While you barely have to use it, you will still find yourself having to use it slightly in order to unlock the true ending (I’ll get to that later). While most of what the crafting system gives you isn’t that important, the most important stuff comes from the Jump and Traction Rings. Depending on the level of them you craft, it gives Gunvolt additional jumps, or air dashes, which are just extremely useful. While the levels of the game aren’t crafted with them in mind, some levels definitely become more manageable once you have a double jump or air dashes. I think part of why the crafting system isn’t as useful is because Gunvolt already has useful equipment as is. The Prevasion Ring you get at the start of the game is too busted, allowing you to dodge most attacks as long as you have charge. While it does make the game a lot easier, I just find it makes more sense to have it on than off.
Now alright, I’m finally done talking about mechanics that tie to Gunvolt himself. And moving forward, I think it bears repeating how well crafted I think the game’s level design is. That too goes for how replayable they are as well. While in isolation, you only really need to play through a level once, but after you beat the level for the first time, you unlock challenges for it. And of course, these are super fun to try and do, getting a better rank, better time, or doing specific tasks within a level. It makes it all really fun to try and improve your abilities in each level, as well as getting rewards for clearing challenges. This does come with one small caveat though, as you can only equip three challenges at a time, so even if you would’ve cleared a challenge, if you don’t have it equipped, it wouldn’t be cleared. While it’s not the worse issue to ever exist in a game, I do find the design of it a bit flawed.
On a separate note however, rank and the game’s scoring system is really addicting. Every attack you do to an enemy is added up into a combo overtime. The further the combo grows, the larger the score modifier becomes, and the better the score you get at the end of the stage. At 1000 combo or higher, the song in the level changes to a special vocal track which I believe changes based on the level. Though, depending on what you do the combo isn’t permanent. If you use an offensive skill, activate a checkpoint, take damage (though this may not happen depending on the style you’re on), or resurrect (a mechanic I’ll touch on later), your combo will go down to zero. And this aspect of the combo is so cool, as things that would make levels easier must be avoided in order to get a better score. It means that combo isn’t just skill centric, but risk centric as well, as if you die in a level you’ll go back to the start of the level. But at the end of each stage, your score is multiplied depending on how quickly you beat a level. All in all the scoring system makes the game that much more fun to play, as you try to get a better score each time.
And with stuff that I mentioned earlier, I think it’s really interesting how the game can help the player still either beat a difficult level, or keep a score chain going. If you die in a level, there’s a chance that you get resurrected with a power boost, where your charge won’t deplete, and you can infinitely double jump and air dash. Though this of course comes with the factor that you can’t form a combo after resurrection. As well, you can choose a style option that changes how taking damage effects combos, either taking damage doesn’t effect combos (though the score multiplier is lessened), it removes the combo after taking damage immediately, or taking damage three times. It’s a nice way to accommodate for players who may not be as good at certain levels, or getting high scores, but still pushing them to try and improve.
I also really love the boss fights in the game as well. Though without a doubt I have to say part of it is nostalgia. When the bosses are fun, they’re really fun, though I do think one boss particularly isn’t as fun as the others to fight. Though that’s just because that one constantly teleports around, and isn’t around when their attacks are. Either way, another aspect I really like is how each of the 7 main bosses are themed after the seven deadly sins in some way. Though some are more on the nose than others. Another aspect I really love about each major boss is that once they drop to their final segment of health, they use their own special moves. I love the presentation of them, and how you deal with this is really fun too. Sometimes you can attack a boss, sometimes you can’t and sometimes you can but should you? All of the bosses are really unique because of this, and they’re super fun to fight.
One thing I mentioned a lot earlier and now finally getting to is that true ending which I mentioned prior. In order to unlock the true ending, you have to find jewels in each of the 7 main levels, which is honestly a lot easier than it sounds. The only problem is that one jewel requires the use of the crafting system, and another requires a very specific order of actions to be done, which isn’t easy to figure out. Though I will say, that’s only the first requirement of the true ending, however. You also have to equip an item before starting the final stage of the game, and I wish the game was more specific on when you were supposed to equip it. With this all though, the true ending is worth doing, though if you’re like me and used the Prevasion Ring through the rest of the game, that final stage is easily the hardest part of the game. Though the true final boss of the game is a lot easier than I remember when I first played this game back on the 3DS. I’m uncertain if that’s because the boss is actually easy, or if I’ve just improved.
And I’ll say, the rating of this game is in part due to certain flaws I’ve mentioned prior, but as well, I just wish there was more game here. Either longer levels, more levels, etc, I’m left wanting more and there just sort of isn’t any more. The game is really short, and due to that I feel like the game ends a tad bit too soon, as I was able to beat this game easily under four hours. While a good short game is definitely fine, I’m still left just wanting more.
With that in mind though I still really enjoy Azure Striker Gunvolt. I know I like the sequel more, and I definitely can’t wait to play it, but I’m not going to jump into it immediately. Gunvolt plays amazingly well, and the levels and bosses both help to support that. While some mechanics could be better fleshed out such as crafting, and I still wish the game was maybe an hour or so longer, what’s given here is still a fun game. I know I’ll be replaying it again sometime in the future.