By Adam Riley
29.09.2014
Whilst Azure Striker Gunvolt was merely a name that had been given no more than passing glance up until now, the hands-on with Inti Creates' Nintendo 3DS eShop title at EGX 2014 transformed it from a backburner release to one that cannot come soon enough. The folk that helped with the Mega Man series for Capcom previously now appears to have worked its magic on this solo project.
Clearly Inti Creates is not shying away from its Mega Man heritage with even Nintendo's booth attendants at EGX 2014 stating right from the off that this is 'from those guys that did Mega Man before'! Fair enough, since this does not pale in comparison to the venerable Capcom line of platform action shooters in any way.
The early stages started off very slow, easing players into the experience and introducing the main lightning bolt feature that can be used to zap enemies from anywhere on the screen. At first it seemed like the radius of the energy ball around Gunvolt needed to actually touch any oncoming threats, but it quickly became apparent that this was indeed not the case, something that came in very handy when eventually reaching a large boss battle where getting within a close proximity was almost impossible. A balance must be struck, though, between dodging incoming fire, shooting back and using the lightning ability, though, or else Gunvolt will overheat.
![Screenshot for Azure Striker Gunvolt (Hands-On) on Nintendo 3DS](/media/2014/August/gunvolt1.jpg)
Although the Nintendo attendant could not comment, Azure Striker Gunvolt definitely has the feel of a game that requires online leaderboards, since it actively encourages repeated playthroughs of stages in order to rack up the highest score possible. Sure, this is an action platform outing akin to Mega Man, but it also rewards gamers with more points for combination kills and ramping up levels of attack by stunning enemies with a pistol a few times first (changing the colour of the target circle around a foe) before unleashing the lethal voltage strike. Miss something or forget to level-up an attack? A quick replay of a stage is not tiresome at all, since each one is jam-packed with action.
Story details have since been revealed in an official trailer, but sadly the story elements needed to be skipped over in this hands-on due to time constraints. However, for the purposes of the demo, the story was not actually required to get a feel of how good this is turning out to be. It was merely enjoyable enough to get into the swing of blasting bad guys in groups and then frying them all at once with the lightning ability for the maximum score. This certainly has the makings of a must-have eShop download, if the first taste is anything to go by.
![Screenshot for Azure Striker Gunvolt (Hands-On) on Nintendo 3DS](/media/2014/August/gunvolt2.jpg)
Final Thoughts
The intense action that was already building up in the early parts and the scope for levelling-up moves and gaining new abilities makes Azure Striker Gunvolt a very intriguing prospect indeed, and one that definitely gives Capcom something to think about regarding its Mega Man series. Could Inti Creates have outdone the classic here? All shall be revealed soon enough, but early signs point to a definite yes!
C3 Score
9/10
Reader Score
0
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Great preview but would love them to release an actual date. It's also a shame that this is probably going to be well overpriced in the eShop considering it's already in the "busy" games season. I'm hoping it will get overlooked a little and force them to discount it a bit!
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