We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we picked up the “Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack” on a whim. What we got was fast-paced, rank-based, 2D action, coupled with beautifully detailed sprite work, and a surprisingly gripping narrative. Now, more than 100+ hours in for both games, we want to tell you all about it. Originally released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016 respectively, the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack, has made its way onto the Nintendo Switch and PS4. The individual games of this two-pack are also available on PC via Steam.
What is Azure Striker Gunvolt about?
In the near future, super-powered people known as “Adepts” are rounded up by the conglomerate “The Sumeragi Group” who are secretly experimenting on their “Septima” power. The first “Azure Striker Gunvolt” revolves around Gunvolt, GV for short, a highly skilled resistance agent with powerful electrical abilities and his battles against The Sumeragi Group, all the while growing a bond with a mysterious but innocent girl, Joule, and her humanoid Septima, Lumen. “Azure Striker Gunvolt 2” picks up a few months after the first game. GV and his friends battling against the pro-Adept group known as “Eden” who plan to wipe out the human race. Complicating matters even more is his anti-adept rival from the first game, Copen, getting involved to cure his mute sister, Mytyl.
While plots in platformers are usually regarded as tertiary at best, Gunvolt has a certain amount of emphasis done on its plot. With numerous voiced lines during the stages, tons of optional conversations between characters, and an entertaining amount of cutscenes, building up the world and characters of Gunvolt to a much more layered and interesting matter. While the plot and characters don’t get too complicated, the numerous bits of plot and characters give much more life into them making it a much more worthwhile investment for anybody interested in exploring the lore.
Electrifying Gameplay
Much like the Mega Man series, you select stages that ends with an encounter of a challenging and thematically relevant boss. The 2D action seems like the typical “run-and-gun” style that you may have come to expect from the genre, but the big difference here is in the seemingly unorthodox playstyles.
GV’s playstyle revolves around his electrical powers. Unlike a certain “Blue Bomber” (Mega Man), the “Azure Striker” Gunvolt’s main form of attack isn’t the shots from his dart gun, but from his Septima powers giving him an electric “Flashfield.” Zapping enemies, protecting him from projectiles, and slowing his descent when in the air. By shooting at enemies, you “tag” them up to 3 times with a dart that’ll draw the electric current from his Flashfield into the enemy, quickly roasting them into a crisp. So while he can destroy enemies with his regular shots, proper use of the Flashfield mechanics is key to a simple, yet awesome way of combat. Coupled with level designs that challenge you to be efficient and creative with his electricity, such as stages with magnetism, water, and color puzzles, this nets you a surprisingly fast-paced yet tactical platformer.
In 2, Copen joins as a playable character with a different, yet equally satisfying combat style. Copen playstyle revolves around him dashing into enemies, tagging them like GV, and unleashing his homing pistol that quickly eats up the enemies health bar in a matter of seconds. After attacking, Copen can hover for a bit, and airdash into another enemy and continue the combo chain of attack. He can angle his dashes to bounce off walls and quickly zip across the stage, maintaining his air time. Adding to that, just like a certain “Blue Bomber”, Copen can copy boss abilities after defeating them, adding more to his impressively packed arsenal.
All of this combined makes for gameplay that, once you get the hang of it, is all about flow. Chaining combos together, quickly dodging enemy attacks, and zipping and zapping through stages in less time than before.
Getting Top Ranks
At the end of the stage you are graded, from S+ to D, based on the time you’ve spent and points you gained during the level. Point multipliers, known as “Kudos”, are earned during stages from performing certain actions, mainly damaging enemies and, to get the most, destroying multiple enemies at once, and then cashing it in for points when you reach a checkpoint or perform an offensive special Skill. The catch however is that getting hit, a minimum of 3 hits in the “Normal” difficulty, reduces your kudos to 0, making it harder to reach a high rank without those bonus points. So while you can easily just power through the stages, reaching the coveted S+ ranks will require a lot of technical know-how and almost speedrunner-like optimization.
That doesn’t mean the more easygoing players will be left out, as the games have certain mechanics that make its surprising difficulty manageable. Both characters come with a “Prevasion” mechanic, allowing them to automatically dodge enemy attacks to prevent their HP from taking a hit as long as they have the energy to spare. For an extra dose of help, upon losing all their HP, the “Anthem” mechanic will sometimes activate. A vocal song will start playing in the background, and your character will instantly revive with unlimited energy, making clearing the rest of the stage a breeze, if you don’t mind not earning any more Kudos for the rest of the stage. If you still want the challenge, you’re free to disable it. It’s a game that caters to all kinds of players with its ‘low skill floor, high skill ceiling’ style, and allows you to play however you like and still rewards you with amazingly satisfying gameplay.
A Song from the Heart
The music is a standout factor for the Gunvolt series. With electric tunes that complement the already frantic pace and high-speed action, while also allowing more somber, emotional songs to take the stage. The most notable thing is the numerous Japanese vocal songs that play during the game. As soon you start up the games, you’re greeted with a powerful J-Pop song, which sets up the tone of the game. Gaining 1000 Kudos you are cheered on by even more J-Pop, with the vocal track playing through the stage, empowering you to do your best to keep the points up and the song playing, until you lose the Kudos, of course. More than a dozen vocal tracks are in the game, and they are all charming with the amount of dedication put into them, which is why the series has had a lot of music releases and concerts over the years.
Inti Creates, known for being the developers for the Mega Man Zero and ZX series, struck out on their own in 2014 to create their first, independently produced game franchise with Azure Striker Gunvolt. You can tell by how much Inti Creates has made Gunvolt into their crown jewel by putting him onto almost every game they’ve developed since, alongside copious crossover cameos in other games, media tie-ins such as an OVA for the first Gunvolt game and concert appearances, it just goes to show how much they treasure the Gunvolt franchise. As of now, the franchise has two spinoffs with Copen, a third game, and even GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle, a rhythm game!
A fully charged Striker Pack
The “Striker Pack” comes with all the content available from the original games, even the bonus content from the Shovel Knight Amiibo! The beautiful sprite work has been given an upgraded resolution and now runs at a smooth 60 fps, allowing even more lightning fast action.
Though the games can be cleared in less than 10 hours, it’s the challenge and spectacle that makes you want to keep coming back, keep playing, and keep getting better, adding to the playtime. When you stare in awe when you realize you’ve reached perfect play and those high ranks for the first time, you’ll feel that jolt of excitement and satisfaction that truly makes “Azure Striker Gunvolt” one of the best 2D platformers ever made.
