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.