GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle Review

An adept genre shift for the series, the Azure Striker Gunvolt series of side-scrollers pivots to the rhythm genre with the release of Inti Creates’ GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle. Should players join Lumen, Lola, and Luxia, or is this lot a little lost?

GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle Review

For those who have joined other divas like Hatsune Miku and The Idolmaster crew, GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle features some familiar beats – right down to the focus on combos and netting those sweet, sweet perfects. The chance to pull off a Full Combo is the name of the game, complete with the high skill ceiling and sparkly rankings that come from practice.

However, as they say, the devil – or idol, in this case – is in the details.

For one, button presses are divided up into two separate lanes – think Rock Band or Guitar Hero and you wouldn’t be too far off. With the L and R buttons serving a major role, players will be hitting notes as they line up and holding down the occasional string. The left and right analog sticks also come into play, with players flicking them and doing arcs with its Slide Notes. For those old enough to remember Elite Beat Agents (has it really been that long?), they’ll know the name of the game.

However, rhythm games live and die by their music. Thankfully, GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle brings fantastic J-Pop bops to the world. The earworms in this title will get stuck on your head from the get-go; while they won’t appeal to all audiences, those who gravitate toward the medium will love what’s on display.

Each of the songs can be played on Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert, with the latter difficulties providing a serious challenge. Of course, to make things exactly how one wants it, one can adjust the note speed, timing window, and other options – Dance Dance Revolution fans will no doubt feel right at home. The notes most certainly fly at a fast pace in its default settings, so we appreciate the functionality for those more acclimated to the series’ more platforming-based background. If anything, its harder modes provide quite the sight!

Just be warned that the song list in GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle a bit light on content – for those weaned on the massive selection found in titles like Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+, they’ll be surprised when they see everything sooner rather than later. However, we do realize that the reasonable price point reflects that fact. Besides, GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle has replayability in spades.

There’s some additional content in GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle in the form of Music Videos, Gallery, and full versions of songs. Nothing revolutionary, but still welcome nonetheless.

While a bit light on content, GUNVOLT RECORDS Cychronicle pulls from the greatest rhythm games to create something worthy of The Azure Striker. For those who can’t get enough idols – or catchy bops – this title is all too happy to make sure one’s concert is a big success.

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