Inti Creates mitigates this somewhat by inserting some items and systems to make each level replayable. Depending on your skill level you could beat the main campaign in three hours, which makes this entry one of the shortest in the Gunvolt franchise. Outside of some bland levels and an uneven story, the biggest drawback to Luminous Avenger iX is that it's over so quickly. Your trusty robot sidekick Lola will let you know if a particular EX weapon is doing massive or minimal damage. In true Mega Man fashion, each Adept boss, once vanquished, bequeaths a powerful EX weapon that can then be deployed against past and future bosses. There's a bit of a difficulty spike with the final two-stage boss-it might take you as many tries to topple it as the previous eleven combined-but with enough patience you'll persevere. Where Azure Striker Gunvolt and its sequel struggled at times to find a suitable difficulty level for its collection of boss fights, Luminous Avenger iX hits the right balance. There are a few interesting stages, including a tower where Copen jumps between hover-cars and a facility where he must dash past rotating saw blades, but in general stages are simple vessels for high-octane action they're not especially memorable by themselves.Īt the end of each stage sits a boss, far more formidable than the rank-and-file enemies beforehand. The only downside-and it's something that's troubled the series for a while-is this action takes place in several unimaginative levels. This system of Bullit expenditure and recharge turns the action in Luminous Avenger iX into an aerial ballet. So, you could dash upward, downward, and sideways, bouncing off bad guys, recharging Bullits, and spraying photon lasers from the beginning to end of each level-ostensibly without ever touching the ground. Each dash expends one segment of the Bullit gauge, but the gauge is refilled by one every time you make contact with an enemy. Rather the best way to dispatch opponents is to first dash into them and "mark" them, allowing each photon laser to curve from anywhere on screen directly into them. As in Azure Striker Gunvolt, you won't be simply taking shots at the myriad enemies in each map you could fire Copen's photon laser gun but it won't make much of a dent. It builds off Copen's playable sections in Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, making the moment-to-moment gameplay more fluid and breathless than ever. Strictly in terms of battle mechanics, this is the series' strongest entry. This is a title, like others in the Gunvolt canon, about fast-paced arcade action. Story is not the priority for Luminous Avenger iX, anyway. Fortunately, the story picks in the final chapter, with a surprising reveal of the big bad and a poetic ending. This is Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, multiplied. There's also a tonal imbalance between the violent subject matter, high stakes, and Copen's hard edge on one hand and the peppy ensemble of children on the other. The kids are all thinly-sketched and fall into several cliched buckets: the plucky leader, the brain, the reserved little one. As Copen searches for the "Butterly Effect", a Sumeragi instrument of awesome power, he falls in league with a group of orphaned Minos children hiding from Adepts. The premise of Luminous Avenger iX, essentially an inverse of the X-Men movies, is fascinating. Whispered among the dwindling Minos population is the name Luminous Avenger iX, a code-name for the anti-hero Copen, who has made it his life's mission to eradicate Sumeragi and prevent its genocidal plans. The shadowy Adept organization Sumeragi, also known as the Institute for the Promotion of Human Evolution, is targeting and executing Minos, who live in hiding. Those without Septimas, known as Minos, are second-class citizens, or worse. The world is now populated mostly with Adepts, people with superhuman powers called "Septimas". Luminous Avenger iX takes place in the near future in an unknown nation. It suffers from some forgettable level layouts, an uneven story, and a short running time, but in mechanical terms this is a huge win for developer Inti Creates. Altogether, this is one of the best installments of the franchise, with gorgeous visuals, challenging boss fights, and smooth, entertaining gameplay. It earned a sequel, a sub-series called Mighty Gunvolt, several cameos in games like Blade Strangers and Runbow, and, now, a spin-off called Luminous Avenger iX. The Gunvolt series has enjoyed quite a run since it debuted in 2014 with Azure Striker Gunvolt. By Evan Norris, posted on 06 October 2019 / 4,254 Views
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