Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes.
Are you ready for the package deal for the Azure Striker spin-offs before the third title in the spinoff series drops? Do you love the Megaman X games but want something fresh and musical? Do you wanna feel totally inadequate when you get a crappy score rating after beating what you thought was a tough fight? Well, look no further than Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection.
If you
aren’t familiar with the Gunvolt series of games, I’ll tell you right now
you’re probably going to be rather confused by the first game in this package
deal, and while I totally recommend playing the first two Gunvolt games, they
aren’t, strictly speaking, required before going into Luminous Avenger iX. So,
what does Luminous Avenger entail? Well, you take on the role of Copen, a
researcher turned vigilante fighting against the Sumeragi Institute, a group
that has some rather negative history with Copen. Together with his AI partner
Lola, he aims to take on Sumeragi. Well, at least in the first game. In the
second he is involved in a portal that sucks him into another world and he’s
trying to escape.
Both
Luminous Avenger iX 1 and 2 behave rather similarly, although they do have a
few key differences. Both games involve a 2D side-scrolling adventure through
different stages culminating in a boss fight. Making your way though a stage
you have a midair dash, a lock-on mechanism to fire homing shots at enemies,
different weapons you can earn from bosses, and various upgrades you can
purchase if you earn enough currency. You will be making your way through
stages by dashing over pits, defeating enemies in your way, and interacting
with the environment such as pushing blocks or destroying walls. Each stage
culminates in a boss fight where the boss is generally weak to a special weapon
earned from another boss.
Stages also
have bonus emblems to collect that you may have to replay a stage once you
have a new special weapon, and collecting them all may reward you with another special something! In addition to the bonus emblems, you are also scored based
on your performance. There are some slight differences between the two games,
but for the most part defeating enemies and not getting hit are the keys to
getting good scores. In the first title, getting hit too much when not on the
easiest difficulty will get rid of your score, called Kudos. There are also
checkpoints which record your current score to add to your total that can’t be
removed. Getting a piece of a bonus emblem also nets you a decent score. If
your score hits 1000, you enter an overdrive mode where your abilities are
enhanced. Losing your score gets rid of this overdrive mode. In the second game
you are given a healing ability which also cashes out your score when used.
Largely
speaking, the Gunvolt games, Luminous Avenger iX titles inclusive, are an
interesting take on the traditional Megaman format. There are lots of abilities
to help newer players or those struggling, such as the prevasion system in iX1
that negates damage in exchange for two bullits which you can reload, or the
healing system in iX2 since the bullits are done away with. That being the
case, if you rely on those too heavily your score will be poor. While getting a
good score isn’t necessarily required, it does actually present a lot of
benefits in the form of overdrive. As mentioned earlier, upon hitting 1000 Kudos
Lola will get a new form to join you, singing to buff Copen but losing this
mode upon losing score. Playing well lets you keep this mode activated and can
make boss fights or even stage completion a lot easier.
If you can’t
keep a good score, no need to worry. While I wouldn’t say I’m particularly bad
at this style of game, I definitely wouldn’t say I’m the best. I scraped by
most stages with an adequate to poor rating most of the time, and still managed
to clear almost all of the content provided, barring one bonus stage and DLC
fight from iX1 and the endless battle mode
from iX2. Clearing the iX2 unlockable mode was certainly rough, and while you
do have an assist mode you can activate it that doesn’t decrease the
difficulty, just increases survivability, so any content you want to do is
relatively well manageable. As an additional deal, sometimes when you die Lola
will resurrect you with Anthem mode, so a death isn’t always the end, although
it is a little random when it happens.
On the
subject of content I didn’t clear, let’s talk about the DLC fights and endless battle
mode. The DLC fights are bonuses that were DLC in the originally released games
included in the Dual Collection to start. You can basically do those fights
right from the start after the tutorial stage, and iX2’s bonus fights will give
you some new abilities you can toggle on or off while iX1’s bonus fight will
make you cry. The iX2 fights are pretty fun though. In terms of the endless
battle mode, it’s basically just a sort of boss roulette that keeps going until
you quit or die. Chances are if you’ve cleared the extra stages in either game
these won’t be particularly difficult if you go for free play. The restricted
mode may be a little more challenging.
So, let’s discuss
some of the differences between iX1 and iX2. First up, in iX1 you can midair
dash as long as you had bullits. In iX2 there are no bullets, and you can only
midair dash once as long as you aren’t in overdrive. Also in iX2, your default
blaster attack has been replaced with a melee buzzsaw, which is certainly a
choice I wouldn’t have made. It was cool for a little while, but it quickly got
a little annoying. In addition a ground-based dash doesn’t lock on to enemies
unlike in iX1, so you have to jump and dash into enemies a lot, which also
tends to eat any other dashes since you can’t chain them unless you’re in
overdrive mode. Both modes have the same point requirement for overdrive and
general gameplay for the most part.
Both titles
share in an art and sound direction, featuring some interesting locations to
explore and a number of songs that Lola can sing when you enter overdrive mode.
The songs are catchy, the graphics are retro but not bad retro, and the
background music is pretty good. The gameplay is a fun mix of accessible for
newer players but still allowing for the more veteran players of the genre to
have fun with advanced challenges and score missions. So, should you get the
Luminous Avenger iX1+2 Dual Collection? Well, if you’ve played Gunvolt and want
to play Luminous Avenger iX, have played iX1 and not iX2, or want a megaman X
style game with very little world building or story explanation, I’d definitely
say give it a shot. Those who already own both titles probably won't find much different enough to warrant picking up this collection, although there are a few balance adjustments that have been done based on the original releases.
While I did
quite enjoy my time with iX1 and 2, there are a few issues that can be seen in
both titles. First up is the lack of any real world building. It seems the
developers have assumed you either played or remember the story from Azure
Striker Gunvolt. Unfortunately I don’t really remember much, so while I could
pick up on the key notes, a lot was also going over my head. And then iX2 feels
almost like a spin-off to the spin-offs, with a general outline and then very
little of anything else substantive. Don’t go expecting any big in-depth
storytelling here, gotta play the main-line games for that. My second complaint
is that some of the bosses have some pretty arse movesets. More of an issue in
iX2 since you can heal, but good god man the special move for the last boss of
iX1 took me a long time to learn and figure out how to perfectly dodge! In iX2
there are some moves I just flat out had to take to the face because I couldn’t
figure out how to dodge. Final thing to note is that the additional content can
be very challenging, so if you aren’t up for it you’re probably going to be
very frustrated. While this isn’t an issue if you want the challenge, just be
aware if you’re going in wanting the 100% completion that it might get pretty
rough at some points.
Overall Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 1+2 Dual Collection is a nice combination of two good side-scrolling action games complete with DLC included from the original releases. A good combination of games and content that will give you fun for a while. With some good game tracks and solid gameplay, 2D side-scrolling action fans will be interested to give this a try. While it may be confusing jumping into this spin-off series if you haven’t played the main Azure Striker Gunvolt series, you’ll probably still be able to enjoy the gameplay.
