Kirin gameplay initially comes off as the best inti has ever crafted but by the time you reach the second set of stages not only does it become apparent there really isn't that much depth to it and it lacks the kind of dynamism that copen's had but the level design also kinda takes a huge dip in quality, opting for annoying gimmicks and the same kind of annoying enemy placement and attack patterns as gunvolt 1, and boss design has taken a huge dip in quality too. Sidelining gunvolt is honestly a good thing because anything inti makes at this point is going to be infinitely more enjoyable than his playstyle to me but I found copen's total absence really weird. Sure he was fresh off of having two spinoff games exclusively dedicated to him but it's kinda like if a megaman x game after x4 just didn't have zero at all. You can't just introduce this cool new playstyle in one game, give him the spotlight in a few games designed around them, then totally remove it. Also going to go back on what I said about not caring about the writing when talking about LAix2 and say wow this sure is a whole lot of nothing and also a really weird kinda change in the status quo. Basically nothing about what potentially happened after gunvolt 2 is addressed and Sumeragi are the good guys now, I guess. Despite having always been portrayed as an evil megacorpororation. Not a fan.