Initially frustrating, eventually rewarding
When you first boot up Gunvalkyrie, you’ll find that its controls are very awkward . This fast-paced arcade style third-person shooter uses tank controls and an aiming system akin to FPS’ on N64. It’s all very stiff to a new player. Enemies will fly around and surround you as you try to orient yourself to even see what they’re hitting you with.
I started to question this games’ cult status. Gunvalkyrie isn’t fun when you don’t know how to play. But eventually, you slowly start to uncover the mechanics that make this game so special.
The boost combo gauge was my first hint on the intended way to play. Boosting in any direction while in the air fills the gauge by one. Touching the ground, taking damage (sometimes?), or hovering resets the gauge to zero. Left and right dodges have more frames, while forward and backward can be cancelled instantaneously with another dodge. Mashing the stick in random directions without any timing causes you to get disoriented and accidentally hover causing the gauge to reset. But if you calmly time your boosts, you can quickly power up your weapon to the max.
It can be quite technical to do this during gameplay. Enemies have various attack that must be dodged with good timing, and knowing where the enemies are can be challenging do to the camera. Much like Clover Studios’ God Hand, player positioning and camera orientation is paramount to successfully dealing with foes. Clicking the right stick enables the player to turn in 90° or 180°. Sometimes taking your time to reset with these moves is better than just hoping the enemy doesn’t hit you.
These mechanics are quite technical. Putting all these techniques together isn’t easy. Your first playthrough will marred by just getting Kelly to do what you want her to do, but it all comes together.
The floor is lava in Gunvalkyrie. Staying above the enemies combining boosts to power up while simultaneously dodging foes is the name of the game. Calmly navigating the arena with boost combos and then dispatching all foes with the coveted ♾️ gauge never gets old.
The arcade style rating system ensures that playing the most fun way is also the most effective way. This is really important in my opinion. You could stand in one place and blast everything with the drive gun, but you’ll be met with a terrible rating and a difficulty spike in the second half of the game. The rating system also gives a lot of replay value. GV keeps track of just about everything.
Even when firmly in GV’s “fun zone”, there are still some minor issues:
- Later platforming-focused stages are still annoying. These levels have extremely far jumps and falling results in effectively restarting the level. They also do not intertwine well with the combo boost combat. I don’t believe these few levels play to Gunvalkyrie’s strengths.
- Aiming while flying is still cumbersome, even with all the praise I’ve given this games’ combat
- In the levels where you must eliminate all enemies, map usage is paramount. Opening the map every 5 seconds is inconvenient and breaks the flow.
- The addition of a second playable character is odd to me. It’s suggested and advertised to play as Kelly, the female protagonist. You can’t even use Sab in boss battles. It feels a bit forced.
- There’s no frame rate issues, but there’s slowdown issues. Slowdown changes the timing of boost combos which can result in dropping combos unfairly. This only occurs on two boss fights
The poor player conveyance is unforgivable. Even with the manual, it’s significantly below acceptable levels for a game with mechanics like these. That aside, Gunvalkyrie is the very definition of a hidden gem. It’s satisfying. It’s rewarding. It’s technical. You get out what you put in.
8/10
I’d also like to shoutout @gsifdgs for their review. It helped me understand some of the mechanics better. Thanks.
When you first boot up Gunvalkyrie, you’ll find that its controls are very awkward . This fast-paced arcade style third-person shooter uses tank controls and an aiming system akin to FPS’ on N64. It’s all very stiff to a new player. Enemies will fly around and surround you as you try to orient yourself to even see what they’re hitting you with.
I started to question this games’ cult status. Gunvalkyrie isn’t fun when you don’t know how to play. But eventually, you slowly start to uncover the mechanics that make this game so special.
The boost combo gauge was my first hint on the intended way to play. Boosting in any direction while in the air fills the gauge by one. Touching the ground, taking damage (sometimes?), or hovering resets the gauge to zero. Left and right dodges have more frames, while forward and backward can be cancelled instantaneously with another dodge. Mashing the stick in random directions without any timing causes you to get disoriented and accidentally hover causing the gauge to reset. But if you calmly time your boosts, you can quickly power up your weapon to the max.
It can be quite technical to do this during gameplay. Enemies have various attack that must be dodged with good timing, and knowing where the enemies are can be challenging do to the camera. Much like Clover Studios’ God Hand, player positioning and camera orientation is paramount to successfully dealing with foes. Clicking the right stick enables the player to turn in 90° or 180°. Sometimes taking your time to reset with these moves is better than just hoping the enemy doesn’t hit you.
These mechanics are quite technical. Putting all these techniques together isn’t easy. Your first playthrough will marred by just getting Kelly to do what you want her to do, but it all comes together.
The floor is lava in Gunvalkyrie. Staying above the enemies combining boosts to power up while simultaneously dodging foes is the name of the game. Calmly navigating the arena with boost combos and then dispatching all foes with the coveted ♾️ gauge never gets old.
The arcade style rating system ensures that playing the most fun way is also the most effective way. This is really important in my opinion. You could stand in one place and blast everything with the drive gun, but you’ll be met with a terrible rating and a difficulty spike in the second half of the game. The rating system also gives a lot of replay value. GV keeps track of just about everything.
Even when firmly in GV’s “fun zone”, there are still some minor issues:
- Later platforming-focused stages are still annoying. These levels have extremely far jumps and falling results in effectively restarting the level. They also do not intertwine well with the combo boost combat. I don’t believe these few levels play to Gunvalkyrie’s strengths.
- Aiming while flying is still cumbersome, even with all the praise I’ve given this games’ combat
- In the levels where you must eliminate all enemies, map usage is paramount. Opening the map every 5 seconds is inconvenient and breaks the flow.
- The addition of a second playable character is odd to me. It’s suggested and advertised to play as Kelly, the female protagonist. You can’t even use Sab in boss battles. It feels a bit forced.
- There’s no frame rate issues, but there’s slowdown issues. Slowdown changes the timing of boost combos which can result in dropping combos unfairly. This only occurs on two boss fights
The poor player conveyance is unforgivable. Even with the manual, it’s significantly below acceptable levels for a game with mechanics like these. That aside, Gunvalkyrie is the very definition of a hidden gem. It’s satisfying. It’s rewarding. It’s technical. You get out what you put in.
8/10
I’d also like to shoutout @gsifdgs for their review. It helped me understand some of the mechanics better. Thanks.
gsifdgs
11 months ago