Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 - S+ Rank Run [Part 1]
23Welcome to part 1 of my Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 S+ rank run. With the experience accrued during the development of the first game, Inti Creates went absolutely ballistic with GV2; it’s a rare thing indeed to see a sequel innovate to the degree this game does. While the essentials are the same, the particulars of Gunvolt’s gameplay are heavily revamped thanks to incisive ideas such as decoupling the tag count from the Bolts and the addition of skills like Dragonsphere and Crashbolt, both of which add a great deal of potential creativity to combos. That’s impressive enough in its own right, but achieving such refinement while simultaneously devising a second playable character, Copen—who has his own unique considerations and scoring mechanics—is almost unthinkable. The result is a game with a buffet’s worth of content. Here are my notes.
-Compared to GV1, the time and score requirements to achieve S+ in this game are far more lenient. The result of this is that players are lent immense liberty in assessing how to approach any given situation. The Seraph Interior illustrates this perfectly; there are numerous opportunities to line enemies up for some highly profitable Crashbolt combos. Striking a balance between speed and score comes down to individual preference, with my approach lying somewhere in the middle. In general, the longer stages mean that enemies aren’t grouped as closely as in GV1, so mechanics like pushing enemies take the spotlight. As an aside, the Mega Man ZX Guardian Airship control room sound effect in the Proto Legion DB arena is a welcome touch.
-Regarding equipment, unless stated otherwise, Gunvolt's loadout is the Ramiel Clip, 2x Lover’s Lens+ and an Audiolocket. Copen’s subroutines are: Hover, Shield Construct, Aerial Sniper, 3x Weapon Compressor, Perfection Protocol and a Song Subroutine. The Shield Construct accelerates Copen’s gameplay by doubling his damage—particularly noticeable when fighting bosses—while the Weapon Compressors reduce the amount of waiting around for the gauge to recharge.
-At times, Copen's gameplay can feel like a bit of a paradox. Ostensibly designed as a foil to GV's clinical approach, Copen's playstyle is generally far more direct with less downtime where movement stalls outright. However, some of the level design Copen engages with, alongside a few of his fundamental mechanics, somewhat belies the seemingly intended speed-focused philosophy. Weapon gauge management and Guard Counters—particularly of the EX variety—can slow the pace considerably. GCEXs, however, are extremely lucrative, so I try to incorporate them when convenient.
-Copen’s laser splashes: depending on the boss you're fighting, this lovely bit of inconsiderate design can obfuscate its sprite to such a degree that visual cues become difficult to parse, or worse, entirely unreadable. The lurid light show only gets worse in LAiX, so count your blessings here.
-The Mysterious Manor is a feature-length stage, home to an eclectic variety of combo opportunities, chiefly provided by the Flying Orbs, which serve as fodder. These fickle spheres are a pain to corral; they're erratic on a good day, at times tracking Gunvolt in odd ways, occasionally stopping short of where you're attempting to guide them.
-The first GCEX is the sticking point of Babel. I fire two unlocked shots at the Grenade Launcher to ensure Stellar Spark immediately destroys it, then I dash toward the shooter drones to ensure they get caught in the lightning's lingering hitbox.
-The two halves of The Sewers contrast each other well: The first is a primarily speed-focused blitz through a lengthy corridor, with a few brief excursions where elaborate tag setups are put to use against oddly-spaced enemy groups. The second half flips the script by dialing up the complexity of navigation; optimizing combos while simultaneously evading water hazards calls for strict memorization of even the most minute details. The stage treats any attempts at improvisation rudely, mainly owing to the several perilous descents teeming with cyclones and high-pressure water "mines".
-The serpentine, conveyor-laden halls within the Isle of Dreams ask for a great deal of meditation in the sense of deeply thought-out routing but also in demanding players to conjure the patience to wait eons for Prism Break to charge repeatedly. The blocks are wholly antithetical to any form of speed, they're unequivocally my least favorite gimmick in the game. That aside, the suffocating nature of the stage is intended to trip you up while navigating, particularly when attempting to clean house, so be mindful and take the extra half-second to organize your thoughts as you trudge through.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Seraph Interior | Proto Legion DB [GV]
03:29 - Downtown | Fazent [C]
06:13 - Downtown | Tenjian [GV]
06:47 - Mysterious Manor | Gibril [GV]
14:06 - Babel | Desna [C]
18:56 - The Sewers | Milas [GV]
25:11 - Isle of Dreams | Asroc [C]
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