You get rated on each mission in a variety of categories like number of enemies defeated, clear time and boost technique. The ratings go from Superior (S) all the way to Needs Improvement (D). The ratings add up to your overall rating for the level and you get compensation in the form of GUNVALKYRIE points that can be spent at the power up shop. There are only a handful of weapons in the game but they can all be upgraded for a cost. Kelly can carry her basic heat blaster and her D-gun, which she finds in the first mission. Saburouta just gets his big blaster but both character carry a plasma grappling hook that can be used in certain areas very much like Link\'s hookshot in Ocarina of Time. You can also buy upgrades for your character\'s gearskin like better shields and more booster power. Some of the upgrades are cheap like 5000 points, others cost more than 80000 GVPs. Buying stuff in GV feels less like a RPG and more like an old school action game where you know the upgrade you\'re buying is only going to help a little bit.
The subtlety of GUNVALKYRIE\'s mechanics is where it gets its replay value. For example, Kelly\'s Drive Gun has two settings: pinpoint and spread that you toggle on and off with the X button. The catch is there\'s no visible indication on your heads up display to tell you which setting you\'ve selected. The only way to tell is to shoot and watch where the bullets land. This isn\'t an omission by Smilebit, it\'s an indication of how you\'re supposed to approach GUNVALKYRIE. That and the fact that on the save game screen, there are several indicators that light up if you accomplish certain goals and you\'re given no clue as to what they are. Oh and how could we forget the "Cleared Game" meter that measures how many times you\'ve cleared GUNVALKYRIE? Anything other than 0 on that meter is a badge of honor. Old school gaming indeed.
Graphics
The gameplay mechanics could\'ve been done on the PS2 or GameCube but GUNVALKYRIE has a look that feels so right on Xbox. The stylized look of GV combines so many futuristic, retro, anime, sci-fi elements that it doesn\'t resemble any of one of them for more than a split second. Take the aforementioned Starship Troopers, throw in some MDK2, add a dash of Star Trek, sprinkle in a little Robotech and top off with a generous helping of what Metroid would look like if updated for the 21st century and you get half an idea of what GUNVALKYRIE looks like. That\'s just the artistic side of the game too, the animation, textures and lighting are pure technological delights.
The animation of Kelly and Saburouta is impressive because of the intricacies of their moves and the fact that they wear such cumbersome ornate armor. How difficult is it to get a character to hold a rifle under their arm and squeeze a trigger? That\' s no problem, but GUNVALKYRIE has spent shells flying out of the guns, the characters shaking and shimmying as they try to hold the weapons under their control and Kelly and Saburouta actually get into firing positions and brace their bodies for the kickback of each shot. All of the boosting, dashing and turning moves are animated beautifully because they\'re such integral parts of the game. Kelly and Sabs flip and rotate with a little boost from the jetpack and leaning their weight in the appropriate direction but all happens in the blink of an eye when you hit the right analog stick and click for a snap turn. Legs dangle while jet boosting around and react to the ground upon landings. Watching the animations is the only way we figured out that moving the left stick controls the character\'s body and the right stick controls the arms holding the weapon.
One of our favorite animations comes when one of the nastier bugs grabs your hero with its pinchers and slams them up and down into the ground three or four times as punishment for being too sucky. You see the pinchers wrapping around the midsection and the green blood collecting on the bug\'s face as you blast him at close range trying to get away. That\'s the kind of stuff the Xbox was made to do.
The textures of the characters and the worlds in general are outstanding. You can see the differences between Kelly\'s original gearskin and the upgraded one she earns later on. The veins on the jetpack wings are different, you see. Some of the interior walls look normal until you get close to them then their silky, slimy sheen reminds you of bugs and make you want to stay away from them. Nothing, repeat nothing, looks creepier than the animated "living" vegetation on the Canyon levels. They look so fancy and scary that you\'ll swear they\'re enemies when you first see them wobbling and flailing in place like those old black and white cartoon characters from the 1920s. One of the more difficult levels in the game is the Nafalgar\'s Pit with all of its floating white dots and weird underwater look. There\'s no doubt that hallucinogens and late night episodes of Star Trek inspired the lighting and texture work on that level in particular. Functional lens flare that will blind you at the most inopportune times isn\'t seen in many games these days, but GUNVALKYRIE uses it.
Sound
Audio is put to good use in GUNVALKYRIE thanks to the Dolby Digital Surround Sound. You can imagine how effective the echo effects are in indoor levels and canyons and whatnot. But you\'ll really appreciate it with all of those spiders creeping up behind you and long range attacks from behind draining your health.
The monster sounds themselves are decent but not quite as gruesome or terrifying as the way they look. I\'ve never heard a spider make a noise louder than a "squish" but I would think a giant 10 foot tall monster crawler would have something quite disgusting or frightening to say when it\'s up close and about to chomp your character\'s head off.
There can be quite a bit of sound layering when you get multiple enemies firing at you from all angles, you firing back as quickly as possible and your jetpacks going at full power. Your warning beep that keep you aware of danger goes off so often that you\'ll think it\'s part of the soundtrack.
Speaking of soundtrack, the Japanese pop style tunes help lean this game towards the anime side of things and they\'re barely tolerable if you\'re not into that kind of music. It\'s the kind of music that\'s fitting for a game like this, but something that evokes a sense of struggle against overwhelming odds would\'ve been better.
There\'s one level where you have to find your way to the top of the area where there\'s an enemy broadcasting the voice of Dr. Hebble Gate. The combination of the good doctor babbling very clearly in the background and the bizarre music box type tunes of the level will drive you insane but in a very good way. It\'s actually the Naflgar\'s Pit level, so the weird visual effects going on along with the crazy music and Gate\'s gibberish is what will drive you nuts, but it\'s all intentional. That level requires quite a bit of concentration and it\'s nice to see that Smilebit added some extra distractions besides enemies.
Closing Comments
I have a deep appreciation for GUNVALKYRIE in the same way that a boxer respects an opponent that he just KO\'d in the 12th round. It\'s about respect. It\'s a game that will test your skill as a gamer because it\'s so unforgiving and requires you to learn its deep and sophisticated philosophies. If you come into GV thinking you know how to handle it, you\'ll spend a lot of time spinning your wheels playing the same levels over and over again. I like how GUNVALKYRIE smacks you down time and time again if you don\'t learn the proper techniques that it\'s trying to teach you and then perfect them. That\'s immersion in a game at it\'s finest.
Also, I don\'t know what Metroid Prime on GameCube is going to be when all is said and done, but GUNVALKYRIE brings an awful lot of what made the old NES and SNES Metroid games fun into this 21st century Xbox adventure.
I don\'t want to be overly critical of GUNVALKYRIE\'s steep learning curve because all of the answers are right there in front of you, somewhere, while you\'re playing and it all makes sense once you get the hang of it. But, in fact, that is the game\'s one shortcoming: just an overall feeling of making things difficult for you. Even though it\'s done on purpose and with good reason, I can easily see how this can turn off many gamers these days. With so many easy choices out there and so many instant gratification games on all systems, gamers have no reason to bang their heads against this Xbox game.
But, kiddies, I say think about how Super Mario Bros, with its truly sketchy control on the NES and the tons of hidden stuff not even hinted at in the manual kept us in front of the TV for hours on end, determined to finish "just this next part." GUNVALKYRIE doesn\'t compare to SMB in anyway, except they both present the same kind of challenge to our competitive natures. You\'re going to keep playing because you know Smilebit put the work into this game to make it challenging and you\'ll be damned if you\'re going to let them get the best of you. Give it a rent please and see if you\'re up to the challenge.
For the rest of you out there, go pick up this outstanding Xbox game.
-- Aaron Boulding
