Azure Striker Gunvolt Review

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a 2D action platformer that was first released way back in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS developed by INTI CREATES, the same studio behind Mega Man’s revival in 2008 with Mega Man 9 and 10 in 2010. The game garnered a decent 77% average on Metacritic. The game was first considered as a spiritual successor to Capcom’s Zero series, but ended up standing on its own two feet. The game was successful enough to warrant two sequels in 2016 and 2022. After PC and PlayStation players, it’s time for Xbox gamers to finally get a chance to play this platformer.

Azure Striker Gunvolt is set in the future where several people known as adepts have developed septimal powers which allows for superhuman feats such as flight or element manipulation; just to name a few. Gunvolt is tasked into killing Lumen because she has the ability to control other adepts by singing. However, our protagonist learns that Lumen is a simple projection of a girl called Joule. Instead of killing her, he rescues her from the grips of Sumeragi Group. Following these events, Gunvolt is now a freelance and vows to protect Joule at all costs.

Azure Striker Gunvolt is a 2D action platformer similar to the Mega Man games; pick a level, kill enemies that get in your way, reach the boss, take it down. Rinse and repeat. Each level has its own unique theme and pitfalls to over come. You can defend yourself with your default weapon, but you can only shoot in the direction you’re looking, like in Capcom’s flagship franchise.

Where this series differs from the blue bomber is in its arsenal of weaponry. Where as Mega Man earns new weapons after taking down a robot master, in Azure Striker Gunvolt, players need to purchase/craft new weaponry. Along with your default gun, the protagonist also controls the power of electricity. Once you shoot an enemy, a target appears on them meaning pressing LB to use your electrified attack will automatically target the enemy. While your default weapon does reasonable damage, if you want to go fast and survive, killing enemies with the lightning is key.

After each level, depending on the result and the time it took to clear the level, you’re able to pick from a selection of cards which can either give new skills or materials to craft gear that can be equipped to get a leg up on enemies. Gunvolt also has access to stronger attacks that can be equipped. You can assign a special attack to one of four direction from the right joystick. Each attack has a cooldown period meaning you can’t use it willy-nilly and indefinitely.

Boss fights are hectic and as challenging as you’d expect. Each boss as three phases and each one is progressively more difficult than the previous one ensuring a unique challenge where learning a pattern won’t necessarily help you and guarantee victory. It’s all about using your unique attacks and dodging skills to avoid the boss’ latter attacks.

While the overall game looks great in all its pixelated glory, it does look it age and it’s clear that it’s a 3DS game. Each level is uniquely designed to match a proper theme (water, forest, etc…) with its own color palette so no two level look a like. There’s also a surprising amount of details in characters and enemies. Oddly enough, the loading screens look like they were zoomed in compared to its original 2014 version. The soundtrack is definitely anime inspired with each track complementing their respective level’s atmosphere.

The game does suffer from a few nuisance. First being the fact that it lacks a proper tutorial to explain the game’s various mechanics. While it does look like a simple Mega Man clone on the surface, there’s surprising depth here. You can also level up, but health increase aside, the game is horrible at explaining the little things. There’s also an odd lack of Normal difficulty setting; it’s either Easy or Hard. So the game will either be too Easy or a pain in the butt.

While Azure Striker Gunvolt is a great alternative for fans of the Mega Man series, players looking for a high octane, challenging 2D action platformer should definitely look into this series. The controls are fluid and responsive, the action is fast-paced, boss battles are really fun; if you take the time to invest into the game’s intricacies given it’s horrible at guiding you, you’ll find a gem in Azure Striker Gunvolt. Don’t miss out.