Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger iX

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just right.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased the normal amount.
• Why I played: I was left wanting after Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
• Recommend to others: Maybe, if someone specifically said "I played Gunvolt, is Luminous Avenger iX any good?" I would say, yeah, if you liked Gunvolt, you should play Luminous Avenger iX.

Luminous Avenger iX is a more or less abridged Gunvolt game. There is less story chatter, less character interactions, and more just right into the game stuff. It's a little easier to follow story wise even though there is much less there, but that's also not saying much considering the convoluted basis. I don't know if I would say it's a better game than Gunvolt 3, but it is a game I appreciated more for what it was. The level design was more built around the mechanics. Maybe not as varied as Gunvolt 3, but somehow seemed more fitting.

 
The combat is also less chaotic even though it still kinda flips what you know about Mega Man style games on their head. You're literally supposed to bounce off enemies to lock onto them so you can spam your homing attack and special movies and spend as much of the game hovering and airdashing as possible. I also want to mention that the power ups/upgrades are much better than Gunvolt 3, going for that more traditional special move based off each boss you can cycle through and each boss having a weakness to one of them(also, a resistance), and while these have energy bars, they auto refill pretty quickly so you can pretty much use them as much as you want without worrying about if you'll lose access to it when you need it. Something I don't entirely love about other similar games.

Overall it felt much better while also being more of a challenge and made for a mostly short and sweet romp.