{"id":242971,"date":"2019-09-29T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/review-gunvolt-chronicles-luminous-avenger-ix\/"},"modified":"2019-09-29T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T10:00:00","slug":"review-gunvolt-chronicles-luminous-avenger-ix","status":"publish","type":"eg_reviews","link":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/reviews\/review-gunvolt-chronicles-luminous-avenger-ix\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, this series is spinoff worthy<\/h2>

In case you forgot, Inti Creates made their name crafting Mega Man Zero<\/em>: one of the most celebrated subseries in the history of Mega Man<\/em>. Platformers are in the studio’s DNA, so when Inti announced the spiritual successor to the ZX<\/em> series (their Zero<\/em> follow-up), I was ready.<\/p>

Since 2014 the Gunvolt<\/em> franchise has really come into its own, hosting two main entries (1<\/a>, 2<\/a><\/em>) and two retro-themed spinoffs (Mighty Gunvolt<\/a>, Burst<\/a><\/em>). Although it requires a bit of dedication to the story so far, the third<\/strong> spinoff, Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX<\/em>, keeps the five year legacy going strong.<\/p>

\"Gunvolt<\/p>

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX <\/em>(PC, PS4, Switch [reviewed], Xbox One)
Developer: Inti Creates
Publisher: Inti Creates
Released: September 26, 2019
MSRP: $14.99<\/strong><\/p>

Before I go any further, just know that even with prior knowledge of this whole futuristic cyborg and AI-ran landscape, the story is a little all over the place. Oh here’s a strong silent type that speaks in riddles, oh here’s a new mysterious and cryptic object that’s partly explained, oh here’s a secret underground base, join our resistance please! It only sort of<\/em> comes together in the end, but this is an action platformer we’re talking about, so some of those sins of omission can be forgiven.<\/p>

Sporting a name Square Enix would be proud of, Luminous Avenger iX<\/em> deals with Copen, the deuteragonist of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2<\/em>: hence, spinoff. Copen’s personality is less affable than Gunvolt, making him harder to connect with, but mechanically, he holds up. Although Copen can fire a standard repeater pistol round, his real “oomph” comes from dashing into enemies to bring up a lock-on reticle, which significantly powers up your shots and allows for homing fire from your special weapon (think Mega Man<\/em> abilities that you can swap between).<\/p>

The result is a highly mobile playstyle that encourages you to zip around, dashing from foe to foe and taking them out in mid-air. It’s exciting but strategic, thanks to the “bullit” system, which doubles as a mana meter. Basically, everything extra<\/em> in Luminous Avenger<\/em> takes a bullit (or more) to use, which includes the “prevasion” mechanic: a shield that saves you from taking a hit so long as you have the bullits to pay for it.<\/p>

<\/iframe><\/p>

As time goes on you start to take more risks, spending bullits for offensive maneuvers rather than defensive, tactically reloading them when you have a brief moment of sanctuary. If need be you can also rely on a sparing, randomly induced resurrection mechanic, which helps alleviate some frustrating deaths. While Luminious Avenger<\/em> is a challenging game for the most part, Inti Creates has stuffed in concessions to facilitate all skill levels.<\/p>

To really succeed you’ll need to master the bullit dance, and thankfully you can customize pretty much everything, configuring every button, or turning off prevasion\/resurrection. If that’s not enough, players can also buy and toggle an easier or more hardcore mode at the shop. It’s flexible! I love Inti Creates’ whole philosophy surrounding the Gunvolt<\/em> series with the sliding difficulty setting.<\/p>

Speaking of difficulty, multi-phase bosses return, as do their desperation attacks that spring supers right before they die. I had multiple “photo finishes” where a boss and I killed each other at the same time, which speaks to the efficacy of their design. Weapons feel punchy and impactful, and sport the same “weakness” concept from the Mega Man<\/em> series proper. Plus, when a boss hits a desperation ultimate that brings up poetry on the screen like “strut down the runway to deliver your ticket to hell,” you know it’s about to go down.<\/p>

\"Gunvolt<\/p>

That verse pretty much sums up Luminous Avenger<\/em>‘s theme as a whole: silly macabre. The resistance force is mostly made up of cheery Shōjos<\/a> (which looks especially absurd when stone-eyed Copen is on the scene), but there’s a lot of darkness and death wound up tight in the narrative.<\/p>

It’s interesting witnessing the twists and turns despite the varying degrees of success, and to see Inti Creates experiment with a more serious take on what are mostly throwaway platformer stories. A short story for sure, as Luminous Avenger<\/em> will last you a few hours, tops. When you’re done there’s extra missions to tackle as well as high scores to strive for in a separate score attack mode, but don’t expect any major surprises.<\/p>

By virtue of the second main iteration trumpeting both styles of play (Gunvolt, Copen), I prefer it, but Luminous Avenger <\/em>distills so much of what made the series pop in the first place that it’s also worth investing in. My advice? Try Gunvolt 2 <\/em>first to see if you like Copen, then go from there.<\/p>

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]<\/sub><\/span><\/p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":242970,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","categories":[1,105,97,152,101,94,99],"tags":[928,100,114],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX – Destructoid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/reviews\/review-gunvolt-chronicles-luminous-avenger-ix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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