Azure Striker Gunvolt

 3DS
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 85 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 63 out of 85
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 85
  3. Negative: 8 out of 85

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  1. MARUYAMA
    Apr 9, 2015
    3
    A really bad case of style over substance...

    before you even start the game throws at your face a lot of needlessly complicated plots and names, some of it will only start making snese about halfway through the game the gameplay itself is needlessly complicated too, it could have been much more fun if they stayed true to megaman x, which they're clearly borrowing from. gunvolt has to    A really bad case of style over substance...

    before you even start the game throws at your face a lot of needlessly complicated plots and names, some of it will only start making snese about halfway through the game
    the gameplay itself is needlessly complicated too, it could have been much more fun if they stayed true to megaman x, which they're clearly borrowing from.
    gunvolt has to mark enemies with his gun and then press R to use his magnetic forcefield to hit them and/or float
    a lot of areas in the game end up becoming harder than they should thanks to that gimmick.

    the soundtrack is ok, most of it sounds like filler music from megaman x5

    the level design is ok for a common game, but for inticreates it's pretty bad, they put out some of the best ds games ( in japan/europe ) and even their shinchan games had way better/ more enjoyable level design.
    some of the levels will consist of trial and error, so youll be needing a bit of luck too.

    most of the boss battles are frustrating and at times feel unfair, with the bosses leaving little to no room for maneuver,all boss battles try to be massive flashy set pieces, which would work better if at least one of them wasn't, it's unbalanced.
    speaking of the bosses, each of them is a stereotype, some of them adopting the more modern anime stereotypes, but still being characters with absolutely no depth. as an example of a modern stereotype, there's a lazy teen who says something along the lines of "i could be watching cat videos instead of battling with you"

    SO,
    this is the equivalent of Inafune waving a flashy keychain with blinking lights and treating the player like a baby
    the gameplay is very flawed, even for inticreates
    the music is average, the level design is weak and slow paced with a lot of padding with gimmicky/puzzle segments to make levels seem longer than they really are
    the american version is STILL censored despite people on the internet making an uproar about it before release and inticreates promising it wouldn't be censored here

    this game is just Inafune tryign to go back to making games with Zero from Megaman X
    just as mighty 9 is him getting megaman back, but he's missing on WHY people found Zero cool to begin with, so they spend all their tokens on style and none on making an actual good game or having a decent character development.

    but instead of bringing back exciting new ideas he's showing why the series should remain dead, there's nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing of substance, it's just him trying to emulate what he thinks fans liked about the games.

    and as a final insult, it graduated from the Shantae school of crappy endings
    both the real and fake endings are not only short bad, but is also ends with "this is not the end, it's only the beginning"
    which as the Super Mario Bros movie proved, it's a failproof way to beg people to ask for a sequel.

    he's clearly trying to reproduce megaman X, trying to reboot the franchise, but even the first megaman had a nice satisfying ending that let you sit back and think "wow, this was quite a ride"
    the ending to this made me close my 3ds and think "wow, what a waste of time"
    even later installments like megaman 8 and x7 had a more satisfying ending

    the only reason this game is not worse is because Inticreates had a solid base to work with for the gameplay, otherwise this would have been a much much bigger mess.
    instead of playing this, get an emulator or a R4 cartridge and play their shinchan DS games, I mean it, they're far superior in pretty much every way.
    which is surprising considering the "legendary" inafune is involved in this project and it turned out to be one of the worst from inticreates in years.

    his flame of passion for games clearly was extinguished long ago    … Expand
  2. x2495iiii
    Jun 24, 2015
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game is extremely well made. The art os wonderful, the story is fascinating, and the music is excellent.

    However, the gameplay was clearly not designed with fun in mind.

    In order to do well on a level, you neex points. To get points you need kudos. To get kudos, you need to never take damage. EVER. You can't take the level slowly either, as time limits are also used to determine score. This turns what would otherwise have been a phenominal game into a chore, a job you're not paid to do. Then there's the final boss. If you don't die by falling into one of the pits that together take up about half the floor, or getting pushed into one of those pits, or the LITERALLY unavoidable falling sun that it can summon when its nearly dead, you get treated to the least fair boss fight ever, where you get shot by bullets that are nearly impossible to dodge, take your powers away, and are constantly re-fired, and since you can't double jump with no powers, dodging additional hits is even more unlikely. You also can't attack back until you get your powers back. If you manage to win, your reward is an unskippable cutscene and credits. My reward was the game failing to save my progress at the end of the credits. What a waste of time.

    That's basically what this game is. A waste of time.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

17
#17 Best 3DS Game of 2014
27
#27 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2014
18
#18 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. games(TM)
    Jun 27, 2015
    80
    IT does offer a great time, as well as a chuckle now and again. [Issue#162, p.109]
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  2. SpazioGames
    Jun 8, 2015
    75
    Azure Striker Gunvolt is a delicious appetizer while waiting for the main dish, represented by Mighty No. 9, but the taste would have been much better if the enemy design wasn't so weak and if more levels were included.
    Read full review
  3. FNintendo
    Apr 29, 2015
    80
    While the game's plot is mostly unnecessary and there could be a wider variety of enemies, the top notch production values and the game's overall fluidity are enough to seduce anyone who enjoys action gaming.
    Read full review
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