Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 (Switch) Review

An Explosive Return to Gunvolt’s Story that Could’ve Shined Brighter

Pixel art, especially that which echoes the feel of GBA titles, has always fascinated me. Some of the masters of the era, in my opinion, were the Mega Man Zero games from Inti Creates. Years after that franchise, the development team charted their own path with the Gunvolt franchise which has been around for about as long and is considered by many to be the main series carrying the torch of classic action platformers. While there have been plenty of games from Inti Creates in the last few years, such as the stellar Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon games, Gunvolt’s story has shifted to side games, primarily the two Luminous Avenger iX starring Copen. Now the mainline story is moving forward with Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 but it is not the genre-pushing release I was hoping to see. 

Picking up decades after where Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 left off, a new hero named Kirin is tasked by Shadow Yakumo to seal Gunvolt for good using her Septima (powers wielded by Adepts) Radiant Fetters which are essentially Shinto ofuda talismans. Gunvolt’s Septima powers have erupted to an extreme degree, resulting in him transforming into a terrifying Primal Dragon. After a battle, Kirin succeeds, changing Gunvolt into a dog-like creature but not before other Primal Dragons awaken, causing chaos throughout the world. Together the two must seal the other dragons and put an end to the world-ending machinations of other shadowy organizations. 

While previous entries in the franchise offered other playable characters, Gunvolt 3 focuses on Kirin and Gunvolt as a team. GV follows Kirin around as a dog, assisting with special screen-clearing attacks but GV’s original form can be summoned temporarily, unleashing extreme power and movement, making much of the game’s levels feel trivial at times. The game’s action revolves around quickly tagging foes with a ranged attack, slashing them away with Kirin’s sword, dashing to enemies and objects for aerial movement, and maintaining combos for bigger power buffs. If things get dicey (after building up a gauge) switching to Gunvolt’s true form is a simple way to turn the tides. Gunvolt has seemingly infinite jumps and extreme damage output, creating a way to skip or blaze through most levels.

Starting out in Gunvolt 3, I felt abnormally overwhelmed by the number of systems in place. Of course, by the fifth stage or so, I spent less time worrying about accuracy and focused on chaining dash attacks and moving forward as fast as possible. Much like how I felt while playing HunterX, getting good at Gunvolt 3 feels awesome but I couldn’t help but feel like the game’s levels were a little too simple. There are a few interesting set pieces like one level on a choppy body of water and another where Kirin has to run along missiles as they fly. Yet, there are few levels outside of those two that I even remember the layout. 

Additional levels like this could have made Gunvolt 3 more interesting.

This is I believe the biggest weakness of the Gunvolt series as compared to Mega Man X or even Mega Man Zero. The levels and environments are secondary to the character art, presentation, and boss battles. Unfortunately, many of the boss battles feel the same and the general difficulty is a cakewalk with little reason aside from curiosity to push through the harder difficulties. The main way the gameplay is altered is through Skill and Passive Image Pulses which are the memories of other characters, resulting in this gacha-inspired system for power-ups. One of the first ones received is Lumen, who enables the player to avoid damage provided they have enough talisman ammo. This, alongside a couple of other ways to give oneself invincibility, results in a lot of fights boiling down to spamming reload when a boss throws out huge moves. By comparison, learning some of the fights in Mega Man Zero felt like elegant dances that took immense focus. 

This might feel way different in harder difficulty modes but since those were locked until finishing the game, I had little reason to play again. There are more Image Pulses to collect, scores to beat, and times to surpass but it felt like I had seen everything that Gunvolt 3 had to offer. Although, I still found myself enjoying the general gameplay enough to the point that I want to go back to the other Gunvolt games that I have missed. I hope that more modes and ways to play are added through updates and considering Inti Creates’ past work on the franchise that seems likely. 

Most character growth is done through active or passive Image Pulses featuring characters from throughout the Gunvolt series.

While the gameplay is certainly the biggest appeal of Gunvolt 3, the presentation is all anime-style action and flair. Funnily enough, there’s a little too much on the screen if one doesn’t turn off the Story Mode + option in the settings and I recommend doing so. Keeping the game in its default play mode results in little screen space to see what’s going on. There might be more story details in the base game mode but it didn’t feel like I was missing much with it off and I could actually see the action.

Additional story beats are shared in quick chats and scenes with the other members of the task force assigned to seal the Primal Dragons, which are bosses themselves but transformed back into humans. These scenes add a little personality to the cast and each time it's done “bonds with comrades are deepened” but it’s unclear how these scenes affect the game, if at all. I wish there had been a bar or levels to increase for each character with character-specific rewards. The characters do often reference gaming culture though and I found the talks after getting a new move to be helpful, as they often reference things like hitboxes or invincibility frames. The voice acting is solid but nothing out of the ordinary for an anime-style game, often leaning on overused character tropes.

I recommend turning off Story Mode + in the settings which removes the character dialogue scenes during gameplay.

The action is fun and the pixel art is awesome but I still don’t feel as excited about Gunvolt 3 as I would have hoped. I love the fact that the franchise continues to expand and the new character Kirin is a lot of fun to master but I feel like more structure or side-tasks could have been added to make the game more rewarding. Obviously, these sorts of games challenge players through replaying for speed and optimization but I just wish there was a bigger carrot to follow at the end of the metaphorical stick. 

All things considered, the Azure Striker Gunvolt series is a lot of fun for those that enjoy action platformers, particularly games like Mega Man Zero. The developers clearly love this style of play but I would have liked to see more genre exploration for this entry of their flagship series. Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 has a lot of fascinating ideas, features often gorgeous pixel art, and is full of fun character design, but the game doesn’t push the series forward by much. Some sort of roguelike mode or endless levels to grind out new Image Pulses would have really elevated the game for me. 

Criticisms aside, Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 is another entry in a large franchise of titles that will surely be enjoyed by fans. Playing Gunvolt 3 alongside the other titles is recommended but not required. Just don’t expect much outside of the core gameplay loop. 

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Gunvolt 3 but I do want to play through more of these games in hopes that one really lands with me; I have played a few when they were on 3DS and reviewed Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 when it first launched. I love the cyberpunk-style characters and setting. The gameplay is fast and demands mastery. The music is a fantastic blend of Japanese pop and rock. The story has enough depth across the franchise to appeal to those that explore it. Really my main complaint is that I want more which is not a bad thing for a franchise. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 8.5/10

VISUALS - 9/10

SOUND - 8/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 5/10

OVERALL - 7.7/10

More information about Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 can be found on the official website. A digital Nintendo Switch copy was provided for the purpose of review; the game is also available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles with a Steam release planned for later this year. Screenshots were captured with native Switch features.