Jumping, shooting, and lemons aplenty… if such words bring fond memories welling in for you, then I have quite the game to discuss today. Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 has recently launched into the world with guns blazing and a laser chainsaw revving alongside, because Lord knows we can never have enough of those in games.

Luminous Avenger iX 2 follows on from the alternate timeline of Azure Striker Gunvolt and sees our broody hero Copen pulled into another world alongside his allies Lola and Kohaku. With a new dimension comes new gameplay, as Copen’s entire kit has been overhauled to take on the new threats that await him within… the tower!

As you can see from the trailer above, you can’t quite approach this game the way you did its predecessor, and while this may be a contentious move, I actually came to enjoy it. Luminous Avenger iX 2 is a 2D action platformer. The game offers a good amount of freedom in the air, and tagging enemies so you can lay into them with a volley of bullets never gets old. The biggest change is on the ground with the aforementioned chainsaw, which grows with each attack and may remind Mega Man X fans of a certain red hero. It’s honestly a very fun dynamic, where you have this balance of classic Copen and new Copen, managing to help this sequel feel fresh without abandoning what made it possible in the first place.

The game also has EX weapons, which all do a great job of complimenting the existing gameplay in their own way. Each weapon you collect is both unique and very useful, be it for destroying certain annoying enemies or collecting hard-to-reach items. Every one you collect really does feel like it was worth the effort, and learning how to best utilise them and where can really add to the experience.

Now it really has to be said, the presentation for Luminous Avenger iX 2 is stellar. Anyone who’s familiar with developer Inti Creates will know that they’ve had plenty of time to perfect their retro aesthetic, and their expertise is on full display here, with the tower giving the artists a chance to show off a wide variety of locales that each shine in their own ways.

You’ll be running and gunning through a beautiful jungle, a harsh volcano, and a blizzard-ridden laboratory just to name a few, and each is drawn wonderfully, complimented by some fantastic music to get you in the mood to kick some metallic rear-end. Then of course you have the anthems, which basically amount to having your own theme music power up as you blaze through enemies like a Triple-A developer blazes through bad workplace decisions. It’s an awesome feeling and an easy recommendation for headphone users especially.

Really, as someone who grew up on Mega Man X and other such action platformers, I would love to just continually sing this game’s praises.

You can no longer level up or buy upgrades in Hard Mode, which would be tolerable, but what becomes outright frustrating is that you now have limited lives and near non-existent invulnerability frames. What was a fun and balanced experience just becomes an exercise in tedium as the smallest mistake ends up costing you huge chunks of your life bar as you try to slowly chip away at bosses that treat your bullets like a fly on a hot day.

By the time I beat the intro boss, which took much longer than it had any right to, I was just… done. If you end up invested in the story like I did, it becomes a really disappointing creative decision to lock the true ending behind this super challenging mode, and one that I hope sees some changes in the future.

The second issue in Luminous Avenger iX 2 is that the DLC feels ungenerous. For the price of some indie games you’re able to fight a crossover boss from COGEN: Sword of Rewind, which when beaten also grants a powerup to one of your EX weapons. The DLC actually costs more than one of Inti Creates’ own titles.

There are more pieces of DLC on the way too, with the next DLC boss set to grant an air dashing move, something players may have missed from the first game. Let’s not ask players to pay for a fun traversal mechanic that should be part of the base experience.

Luminous Avenger iX 2 is a great game, I loved my time with it, but these bizarre decisions just hold it back from being better than what it is.