I used to be by no means significantly loopy concerning the Gunvolt character’s gameplay. Utilizing tag markers to lock on to enemies after which holding a button till they died was simply type of boring to me. Issues improved significantly with the second recreation, which launched a personality that spent his time shortly slamming into enemies as a substitute. I used to be much more enthused when Azure Striker Gunvolt 3‘s announcement revealed that it will characteristic one other new protagonist. This time, nonetheless, they’d a sword. Inti Creates made the Mega Man Zero video games, that are simply a few of my favourite 2D motion platformers, so my hopes had been excessive.
Enter Kirin. Suffice to say, whereas she does have a sword and he or she does use it in a approach that’s considerably paying homage to Zero, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 flips the script and refocuses the overall gameplay loop. Anybody who wasn’t keen on Copen zooming his approach by means of levels earlier than most likely isn’t all that jazzed about how issues at the moment are. However as somebody who completely loves impossibly quick motion, I believe the sport is among the quickest, most livid motion video games in existence. I initially beat it in about three hours and 45 minutes, however that point was spent simply annihilating every part in my path with gusto.
As a substitute of following up on the dangling plot threads from the final recreation, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 pivots. Gunvolt has reworked into one thing referred to as a Primal Dragon, so the Shadow Yakumo group sends a battle priestess named Kirin to make use of her fetters to weaken our hero. Gunvolt’s type permits radiation to seep out that’s began turning different Adepts into Primal Dragons, so Kirin returns him to one thing resembling sanity. Oh, however he’s additionally some type of canine factor now for some motive. Then Adepts from one other nation present as much as begin stealing the bindings which might be retaining Primal Dragons and bay and it’s as much as Kirin to cease their plans.
Cease the eight guys once more
It’s type of astonishing that Inti Creates determined to make a Gunvolt recreation the place the titular character isn’t the protagonist. However he’s very a lot round, thoughts you. As Kirin fights, the Fetters Gauge will increase. As soon as it hits 100%, Gunvolt can change again into his regular type and you’ll play as him till he runs out of vitality. He performs the identical as he did earlier than, for essentially the most half. In idea, anyway. Utilizing his prevasion and attacking enemies makes use of up the gauge quicker, however he nonetheless tags enemies and shocks them.
The largest change is what occurs after Kirin and Gunvolt tag enemies. So long as an enemy is tagged even a single time, both character will immediately warp to them with the press of a button. The extra occasions you tag them, the extra harm this warp assault will do. Very like its predecessors, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 goes out of its approach to preserve you from dying, because the supposed “problem” right here is to get excessive scores. However warping utterly adjustments the way in which you go about this in some main methods.
With a purpose to get the best scores, you’ll wish to chain these warp assaults and use them to kill enemies with out touching the bottom. Granted, this isn’t new for the sequence, but it surely feels so completely different that it could as nicely be. Gunvolt can double soar, however Kirin positive aspects one other soar each time she warps to an enemy. When performed as supposed, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 sees you completely tearing by means of ranges by warping from enemy to enemy. It’s hectic and undeniably exhilarating. It takes a little bit of follow at first but it surely quickly turns into second nature. Positive, I initially needed one thing extra like Mega Man Zero at first, however I’m all for this gameplay loop.
Sprint and slash
The construction right here is identical because it’s ever been. You could have a prologue and also you do 4 ranges with a brand new Adept boss every (the primary 4 are Primal Dragons this time round). Then there’s an interlude, 4 extra Adept levels, after which the trek by means of the enemy fortress adopted by the final boss fights. Kirin frequently learns new sword skills as you defeat bosses. Even with out taking the warp shenanigans under consideration, her moveset is flashy, assorted, and fairly spectacular. In fact, you’ll be able to run round and hit enemies together with your sword with solely warping when completely essential and the sport will play simply advantageous that approach.
Kirin has a daily floor combo, a rising assault, a mid-air assault, an upward mid-air assault, and a downward slash. You’ll do extra harm to enemies with talismans connected to them when utilizing the sword, but it surely does sufficient harm which you could take them out fairly shortly simply by wailing on them. The swordplay doesn’t equal Mega Man Zero‘s or something, but it surely’s nonetheless responsive and pleasing. As a substitute of the tracer dart issues Gunvolt makes use of, Kirin has eight talismans. The extra talismans you slap an enemy with, the extra harm your assaults will do.
There are a fantastic many different choices too. Kirin has 4 kinds of particular assaults she will be able to pull off relying on how full the gauge is. You may also equip 4 energetic picture pulses and 4 passive ones. These are random drops you get from beating the levels. Energetic ones are often assaults or therapeutic abilities that you need to use on cooldown. Passive ones grant particular bonuses, reminiscent of growing harm, providing you with the next max Fetters Gauge, or growing how a lot expertise Kirin positive aspects. Acquire sufficient and Kirin ranges up, granting her extra well being and extra passive slots.
Bow down earlier than the grasp
When you make it to the top of every stage, you’ll combat a boss. Boss battles don’t really feel as completely different from previous video games because the levels do. You’ll be able to nonetheless warp slash the bosses, however I truthfully want to only hit them with Kirin’s sword. Bosses have three well being chunks and a wide range of strikes. They’re enjoyable to combat and these battles actually do a fantastic job of illustrating simply how good the common fight feels. Warps are nonetheless extraordinarily helpful in terms of escaping sure enemy assaults and are the one approach you’ll get by means of with out taking harm.
This leads me to the largest difficulty that Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, in addition to its processors, has. Because of the aforementioned emphasis on scoring, Inti Creates has as soon as once more gone out of its approach to make it onerous so that you can fail. I don’t recall really dying even as soon as throughout my playthrough on the usual problem. Not solely are you able to heal with picture pulses, however you’ll be able to swap to Gunvolt when issues get dicey and he’ll typically make brief work of bosses as a result of how blatantly overpowered he’s. He may even do a physique slam transfer to any enemy with three tags in them, together with bosses.
However the largest drawback is Anthem. When Kirin dies, there’s a excessive likelihood for her to instantly swap locations with a good extra overpowered Gunvolt. So far as I can inform, this type is invincible and by no means runs out. That means that, no matter how dangerous you might be at Azure Striker Gunvolt 3, all it is advisable to do is set off an Anthem and your victory towards most powerful bosses is assured. Some earlier video games allowed you to show this characteristic off, however this recreation sadly doesn’t. This can be a disgrace as a result of I’d actually prefer to play a legitimately difficult model of this recreation.
Indestructible
When you beat the ultimate boss and get the true ending, onerous and cruel difficulties are selectable. Even on cruel, although, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 simply isn’t all that difficult as a result of above choices. Positive, you’ll be able to unequip your entire picture pulses, however the second an Anthem triggers, you’ll simply steamroll the opposition. There’s an extra DLC mode you’ll be able to unlock that requires you to play by means of all the degrees as Gunvolt whereas the Fetters Gauge is ticking down, however Kirin doesn’t seem to have something that may push gamers that don’t care about getting excessive ranks.
It’s actually unlucky. Similar to earlier video games, I by no means needed to follow bosses to be taught their patterns so as to greatest them. Even on cruel, you could be fairly careless in the course of the ranges and nonetheless make it by means of a lot of them with out difficulty. Granted, this is a matter that largely impacts all of the video games on this sequence, however Luminous Avenger Ix 2 just about solved this with a tough mode that really had some oomph to it. I actually hope one thing like that is added for Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
Don’t get me fallacious, this recreation is extremely entertaining and I’m having a very good time replaying ranges by warping by means of them at mild pace. The extent design itself will get the job achieved, the controls are wonderful, and the fight is addicting until you merely don’t look after warping. As for the port, it consists of the 120 fps choice we noticed on Xbox not too long ago, however windowed resolutions solely go as much as 1080p and the fullscreen choice (which is actually borderless) seems to solely be 720p, which is slightly vexing. Nonetheless, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 is one hell of an motion recreation so long as you don’t thoughts the disappointing lack of problem.
