![]() ![]() Funnily enough, there’s a little too much on the screen if one doesn’t turn off the Story Mode + option in the settings and I recommend doing so. While the gameplay is certainly the biggest appeal of Gunvolt 3, the presentation is all anime-style action and flair. I hope that more modes and ways to play are added through updates and considering Inti Creates’ past work on the franchise that seems likely. Although, I still found myself enjoying the general gameplay enough to the point that I want to go back to the other Gunvolt games that I have missed. There are more Image Pulses to collect, scores to beat, and times to surpass but it felt like I had seen everything that Gunvolt 3 had to offer. This might feel way different in harder difficulty modes but since those were locked until finishing the game, I had little reason to play again. By comparison, learning some of the fights in Mega Man Zero felt like elegant dances that took immense focus. This, alongside a couple of other ways to give oneself invincibility, results in a lot of fights boiling down to spamming reload when a boss throws out huge moves. One of the first ones received is Lumen, who enables the player to avoid damage provided they have enough talisman ammo. The main way the gameplay is altered is through Skill and Passive Image Pulses which are the memories of other characters, resulting in this gacha-inspired system for power-ups. Unfortunately, many of the boss battles feel the same and the general difficulty is a cakewalk with little reason aside from curiosity to push through the harder difficulties. The levels and environments are secondary to the character art, presentation, and boss battles. This is I believe the biggest weakness of the Gunvolt series as compared to Mega Man X or even Mega Man Zero. Yet, there are few levels outside of those two that I even remember the layout. There are a few interesting set pieces like one level on a choppy body of water and another where Kirin has to run along missiles as they fly. Much like how I felt while playing HunterX, getting good at Gunvolt 3 feels awesome but I couldn’t help but feel like the game’s levels were a little too simple. Of course, by the fifth stage or so, I spent less time worrying about accuracy and focused on chaining dash attacks and moving forward as fast as possible. ![]() Starting out in Gunvolt 3, I felt abnormally overwhelmed by the number of systems in place. If things get dicey (after building up a gauge) switching to Gunvolt’s true form is a simple way to turn the tides. Gunvolt has seemingly infinite jumps and extreme damage output, creating a way to skip or blaze through most levels. The game’s action revolves around quickly tagging foes with a ranged attack, slashing them away with Kirin’s sword, dashing to enemies and objects for aerial movement, and maintaining combos for bigger power buffs. GV follows Kirin around as a dog, assisting with special screen-clearing attacks but GV’s original form can be summoned temporarily, unleashing extreme power and movement, making much of the game’s levels feel trivial at times. While previous entries in the franchise offered other playable characters, Gunvolt 3 focuses on Kirin and Gunvolt as a team. Together the two must seal the other dragons and put an end to the world-ending machinations of other shadowy organizations. After a battle, Kirin succeeds, changing Gunvolt into a dog-like creature but not before other Primal Dragons awaken, causing chaos throughout the world. ![]() Gunvolt’s Septima powers have erupted to an extreme degree, resulting in him transforming into a terrifying Primal Dragon. Picking up decades after where Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 left off, a new hero named Kirin is tasked by Shadow Yakumo to seal Gunvolt for good using her Septima (powers wielded by Adepts) Radiant Fetters which are essentially Shinto ofuda talismans. Now the mainline story is moving forward with Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 but it is not the genre-pushing release I was hoping to see. While there have been plenty of games from Inti Creates in the last few years, such as the stellar Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon games, Gunvolt’s story has shifted to side games, primarily the two Luminous Avenger iX starring Copen. Years after that franchise, the development team charted their own path with the Gunvolt franchise which has been around for about as long and is considered by many to be the main series carrying the torch of classic action platformers. Some of the masters of the era, in my opinion, were the Mega Man Zero games from Inti Creates. Pixel art, especially that which echoes the feel of GBA titles, has always fascinated me. An Explosive Return to Gunvolt’s Story that Could’ve Shined Brighter ![]()
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