GV is old, can it still be powered? Review of "Blue Thunder Gunvolt 3 Lock Ring"

The horizontal scrolling action game Gunvolt (hereinafter referred to as Gunvolt) series was first released on the 3DS platform and is often regarded as a spiritual sequel to the Rockman series. Developer Inti Create has previously developed multiple authentic works of The Rock, including the Zero series, and has also produced many original games and collaborative works.

The story of the first generation takes place in the fictional near future, where the long-standing wealthy "emperor god" controls the lifeline of a country while secretly managing and studying the superpowers (known as the "seventh wave" in the game).

Gunvolt (GV), the ace of the resistance organization "Flying Feather", was also a subject of experimentation for the Emperor. Therefore, when he discovered that the virtual idol Flash Butterfly, who was required to be destroyed by the mission, was actually the seventh wave wielder named Xi'an, he was determined to protect this girl who, like him before, was not free.

  However, harboring guilt, the girl's power is too strong& nbsp;

In Gunvolt 2 (hereinafter referred to as Claw), due to the chaos of the Emperor, a new enemy, the Eden organization, takes advantage of the situation. Eden stole a large amount of technology from the Emperor God and also took away most of Xi'an's power. In this game, GV attacks the reckless members of Eden while reclaiming Xi'an's "Mirror Fragments".

On the other hand, as the second protagonist, the scientist boy Ajola, who harbors hatred towards the capable, is also taking and studying the fragments of the mirror for the recovery of his sister Meizhiliu.

  "Claw" has a BGM called "Dragon Tiger Intersection"& nbsp;

Now, in the third installment of the series, Gunvolt3 Lock Ring (hereinafter referred to as "Lock Ring"), it has overcome countless difficulties in GV. After losing control in the seventh wave, it voluntarily surrenders and is suppressed by the Emperor. Decades later, the new protagonist Kirin from the hidden organization "Dark Eight Clouds" used his seventh wave "Lock Ring" to break into the research institute and successfully seal his power when GV lost control again.

Because GV unintentionally transmitted the "dragon radiation" that would turn capable individuals into dragons while generating electricity for the whole country, the "Dragon Control Bureau" composed of the two main characters began to deal with this crisis of group mutation.

A mature and innovative action system

As the third installment in the series, "The Lock Ring" continues its solid yet non sloppy feel.

Jumping can distinguish between big jumps and small jumps, and jumping during sprints can also jump faster and farther. In response to the needs of nostalgic players, Sprint supports directional key command input. On the other hand, during sprinting, one can freely turn around, and pressing the sprint button during sprinting can refresh the time; Climbing the wall only requires moving towards the wall and then jumping in a row, while jumping far from the wall only requires pressing the sprint, jump, and direction together, without the need to pay attention to character orientation changes or button order like some similar games.

These basic actions that can be quickly and correctly fed back with just a press are smooth and reassuring.

In terms of attack, the series has always adopted a distinctive "locking" mechanism, rather than directly using weapons for killing.

In the previous game, GV usually first hit the lightning rod onto the enemy, and then held down the lightning strike scale to continuously shock the enemy. An enemy can be stabbed up to three times, and the more they are stabbed, the more painful it becomes. Although Akula in Claw has many secondary weapons and the locking method is significantly different from GV, the locking mechanism is also important to him.

  The feel of a Qilin bears many similarities to that of Aqiula& nbsp;

Lock Ring continues to use and develop the "locking" mechanism. Kirin can quickly fly talismans towards the front, diagonally up, and diagonally down. Kirin's attack will retrieve the talismans from the enemy's body and cause additional damage based on the amount retrieved. The new skill in this game, Thunder Refining Lock, allows the protagonist to instantly teleport to or behind the locked target, causing damage and refreshing the second jump.

  As long as you react quickly or become familiar with the enemy's position in the scene, you can use Thunder Refining Lock to start a lightning like "air battle"& nbsp; 

The talisman mechanism has many small details that are friendly to both beginners and veterans: enemy health bars will change color with the number of talismans applied, visually displaying the damage that players can inflict. The remaining number of talismans will be displayed in the bottom left corner, and even crooked talismans can be quickly and automatically recycled. Players will not collide with enemies covered with talismans, and thrown talismans will not be attached additionally. Basically, if you stick it, it's useful, but if you can't stick it, it's okay.

Apart from the significant difference in locking methods, the protagonist Kirin in this game no longer uses firearms like GV, but instead uses close range slashing. Although it is not possible to protect oneself with lightning strikes like GV, slashing attacks can also split open with live ammunition. After gradually defeating the bosses in each level, the Qilin will also learn displacement skills with additional attack effects such as "Heavenly Ascending Blade", "Fierce Rotating Blade", and "Sprint Flash", further enhancing its mobility.

  623  

However, the strength of the boss also rose with the improvement of the protagonist's mobility. Every boss often comes with half screen or almost full screen skills, which cannot be dodged solely by sprinting and jumping, and must be used to refine locks with Thunder. Some moves need to be split, while others cannot be split, making people feel flustered. In addition, the Qilin's slash has a certain degree of rigidity, further exacerbating the level of chaos.

After reaching high difficulty, the difficulty of boss battles becomes even more exaggerated. To be harmless, players need to use all their skills to stabilize and dodge the Kirin while performing free fall movements. When the final boss magnifies the move, the entire outer circle has damage judgment, and then the boss's 180 ° semicircle attack rotates around the center twice and a half inside

  This is only the first time the boss has been closed in two weeks. If there is electricity below, it cannot be stepped on& nbsp;

PS: The reason why we emphasize the difficulty of boss battles is because both the "Blue Thunder" series and the spin off "Silver Steel Ix" series emphasize the concept of "no damage".

Higher ratings and more thoughtful protection

The Blue Thunder series will evaluate the performance of this level after passing, and both the first generation and Claw have relevant achievement/trophy requirements. The basic score mainly depends on the effective damage caused. In addition, there are bonus points such as simultaneous damage, aerial damage, and continuous damage. When passing the level, the total score is then multiplied by the corresponding multiplier based on the time spent.

The most crucial part of the scoring system is the "honor value" mechanism. As long as a regular attack causes damage to the enemy, honor points will accumulate on the left side of the screen. Because as the honor value accumulates, its settlement rate will also increase, so the score obtained through honor value will increase exponentially.

When the honor value reaches 1000, the beloved "electronic ballad spirit" will suddenly appear, singing for the excellent performance of the player. The singing not only covers the BGM of all scenes, giving players a feeling of controlling the entire scene, but also continues to play on the menu interface.

After the honor value reaches 3000 or above, the cumulative panel effects will become more prominent, and the tracks will also change.

  Electronic music essence is my wings& nbsp; 

The unique rating system encourages players to move towards faster, more beautiful, and more lifeless self challenges, while virtual idols silently watch players, ready to showcase their singing skills at any time. No matter what, they must perform the most handsome moves!

Compared to its predecessor, Lock Ring provides more comprehensive services for this type of player. In the first two games, honor points will be settled and cleared when touching a level's memory level or playing a must kill skill, and being attacked (except in "calm" mode) will directly reset honor points to zero. Players always give up their previous efforts when striving for high scores due to fragile honors, and are forced to repeatedly replay the entire level, wasting a lot of time in a meaningless way.

The honor value in Lock Ring is much stronger. Honor points will not be cleared unless death occurs. Attacking will still affect honor points, but it is no longer about clearing, but locking honor points. When obtaining honor points, the number of locked levels will be subtracted first and then added to the total value.

On the basis of encouraging harmless passing, the protection of honor values makes the score increase smoother and also stabilizes the player's blood pressure.

By the way, after completing the level, players can unlock even higher levels of difficulty. Players who enjoy challenging themselves can go ahead and suffer. We also prepared individual challenge levels for each boss, making it easy to practice without any damage.

Superpower assistance for light players

Lock Ring not only has a combat system and rating system for hardcore players, but also provides careful care for the storyline for players.

The first is the passive skill "yang inflammation". When a Qilin is attacked, it will automatically consume talismans to counteract it, and only when there are no available talismans will it truly take damage. In fact, because there is a brief invincibility time after each attack, the Kirin can even stand on the spike and press ↓ to infinitely restore the talisman without taking any damage. When facing an elusive boss, you can also give up the operation and use this method to get by.

In Lock Ring, falling into a deep valley and the ocean no longer causes immediate damage, only a portion of health will be deducted. In some troublesome platform jumps, you can switch characters and shout out GV to take over. The GV power of Lock Ring is unlimited, and it can also jump and sprint in the air indefinitely. BOSS battles can also be helped by GV, relying on the advantage of "health bar leader" to be tough.

  Can take off in place& nbsp;

If this continues to cause death in the level, it's not a big deal. The electronic ballad spirit has a certain chance of resurrecting the player into a GV with almost uncontrollable power. At this time, the GV can fly in the air without falling to death, with extremely high damage and no harm received. If you want to increase the chance of triggering resurrection, you can chat with your partners before starting the mission to deepen the bond.

Although there are basically no checkpoints, relying on auxiliary means to pass the level may result in a lack of honor in the final evaluation:

Yang inflammation offset will result in higher honor penalties for damage than normal. Moreover, talismans are a resource that integrates attack and defense, and those consumed by yang inflammation will not be automatically recycled. Relying on this ability can easily lead to a vicious cycle of insufficient output due to the consumption of talismans, and increased output errors after prolonged battles. If resurrection is triggered, the honor value will still be cleared and will no longer accumulate.

Powerful audio-visual performance

Thanks to the functionality and capacity of the NS, the pixel graphics of Lock Ring have a far ahead clarity and overall performance.

In this work, the background scene has rich details. For example, in the underground of the first level of Future Technology Research Institute, there are many rocks in the nearby background, and patterns are carved on the pillars. In the distance, there are many candles scattered on the small mountains. In the dim yellow candlelight, there was a mysterious and eerie atmosphere throughout the ground. Even for the surface of the research institute with little detail, different colors were used to make the scene less monotonous.

  Dune scenes. I feel like a romantic old joke, but unfortunately I couldn't find its source& nbsp; 

This work slightly widens the perspective and highlights the overall atmosphere of the scene. There are over ten levels in total, each with one or two changes to the background design and enemy configuration midway, totaling dozens of scenes, but rarely bringing a sense of similarity. There are also hidden collectibles in the scene, and finding one's own visual blind spots is also one of the fun of this series.

  On the left is "Lock Ring", on the right is the previous work, "Lock Ring" looks even further away& nbsp; 

The beautiful background did not dominate this high-speed action game. Kirin's yellow clothes always stand out at the center of the player's attention, making it difficult to follow. The little monster has a blood bar on its head, and there will be obvious physical movements before attacking, so it will definitely not be overlooked.

Enemies of the same type will have different color schemes in different scenes, and try to distinguish them from the background as much as possible. The floor used for standing is often intentionally thickened, while the lock lights used for displacement are deliberately fitted with a prominent aperture. These details ensure that players will not overlook the key information of enemies and platforms during the clearance process.

  But this design seems to be limited to small soldiers. It seems that many boss moves are difficult to see clearly because the color scheme is too close to the environment& nbsp; 

The performance effect is also cool. The boss battle goes without saying that in order to maintain honor, he moves around the field, giving people a feeling of dancing with the boss. In the battle between the boss and the protagonist, the 2D to 3D technology adds a touch of liveliness to the handsome original painting. Although the plot is still mainly presented through avatars and text, there have been careful performances of key scenes.

It is worth mentioning that there are three lines with unclear meanings at the beginning of each level. Every kill will have a fleeting explanatory text. It is impossible to understand everything at once, and once you start to wonder what it is saying, you fall into the trap of repeated play.

In normal combat, all actions will immediately receive sound feedback, and all operations require speed. When using Thunder Lock Refining, there will actually be a still scene for players to enjoy the remnants and burst effects of their recent flash kill of enemies. This technique of contrasting movement and stillness not only provides a sense of pleasure, but also ensures that most players have enough time to take the next action.

  The Kirin's knife remained stationary in the air for a while& nbsp;

An excellent "spin off" of selling emotions

In terms of plot, Lock Ring has a consistent style throughout the series. In the third installment, within seven years, the Blue Thunder series also accumulated a lot of emotions.

During normal levels and boss battles, there will be lengthy conversations between teammates or between the protagonist and the boss. This not only fills the boring time, but also showcases the personalities of each character. When playing for the first time, the ears cannot stop, the text and battle scenes cannot be read, and the entire process will be very enriching. When repeatedly hitting high scores, text transparency can also be adjusted or dialogue can be directly disabled.

  Xilong: Mr. Lexus, that kind of self questioning and self answering is a dead flag! Lexus: Nani& nbsp; 

  Suddenly, Armed Blue！  

In the plot dialogue and daily conversations, there is a lively atmosphere of persecution of GV in the Dragon Bureau, where the second tier character is currently playing BB, the cute boy Xilong, the social figure Lexus, the muscular demon god Xiongwu, and the stubborn director Qilin have distinct personalities. Different thoughts collide fiercely, and the Dragon Bureau is always filled with a joyful atmosphere of persecution of GV. Of course, don't forget to play with various strange jokes and promote your own products.

Lock Ring integrates the equipment and secondary weapons from the previous installment into an impression pulse system. Passive impression pulse provides passive gain for the protagonist, while skill type impression pulse can summon the character in the impression. Activate their abilities. The honor value of "Dian Song" has also been integrated into Impression Pulse and supports playlist playback. These cards are all made by extracting profound impressions from GV's memory, and watching all the familiar characters from the previous game appear, it can be said that they are full of emotions.

  Why is the card drawing so flashy& nbsp;

Not to mention anything else, Asimov's "Good Luck" is truly captivating. In addition, some of the bosses from previous games will surprise players by allowing them to challenge themselves again and fill their emotional cards.

  Nothing is guarding it& nbsp;

But! The "Blue Thunder" series should be a story of young people fighting bravely for the freedom of young girls, a story of young girls who have lost their bodies and fly together, and a story of fighting against an unjust fate. Simply put, it's the story of GV and Xi'an.

First generation

Second generation

In "The Lock Ring," GV's dream lasts for decades, and everything in the past is in vain, ultimately without any protection. Electronic ballads are squeezed out of the main storyline, but they also have to draw impression cards to sing and sell. Even due to translation reasons, Xi'an became Xi'an, and Shandie became Mu'erfu, showing even more vicissitudes of life.

The setting of the story background is equivalent to hammering the worst ending of the second generation, and a large number of foreshadowings are sealed in memories and no longer opened. In terms of gameplay, the iconic lightning strike scales have also been replaced by talismans and thunder locks.

GV is like an elderly blue dog, holding his memories and taking a nap in the corner of the Dragon Control Bureau. It feels like watching Superman but the protagonist is Spider Man, playing Locke X but operating ZERO. It feels strange, but I can still accept it.

However, the ending! Ah, the unfolding of the ending!

After the explosive liver on the day of release and the true ending, the author still finds it difficult to calm down.

To avoid blurring of spoiler images, friends who have completed the game should understand

The plot and process experience of "The Lock Ring" are both familiar and unfamiliar, almost like a spin off. That's right, the spin off work, "Blue Thunder 3" has not been released yet! It's a spin off! It's a spin off, spin off, spin off, Aaaaa...

epilogue

(With a sigh)

The feel of Gunvolt 3 Lock Ring is solid and refreshing, with a simple and in-depth system to get started. On top of its exquisite pixel graphics and numerous level scenes, there is also a cool performance effect. It has both a playable side such as drawing cards and scoring, a hardcore side that prepares difficult challenges for hardcore players, and a friendly side for players who are not good at horizontal board movements.

If you only watch this work, the plot has basically come back to life, with many emotional elements. However, the only downside is that the gameplay changes and plot arrangement make the overall impression not like a series original, but rather like a spin off.