Let me start this review off by saying that, as a hardcore fan of 2D Action games, nothing irritates me more than people who take one look at literally any 2D Action game and instantly call it a "Mega Man-like," regardless of how differently the game in question actually plays from any Mega Man game. Azure Striker Gunvolt is just one of many unfortunate examples of this.

With that being said - This is a Mega Man Zero clone. Like, 1-to-1. The devs even advertise it as such on the store page, and they're not kidding. Sans the addition of one extremely situational new move, the gameplay is practically ripped straight from MMZ, to the point where the player character's sprite is literally traced over a Mega Man sprite. And quite frankly, I don't have a problem with this. The devs have worked on several Mega Man fangames in the past, so good on them for sticking with what they're good at. If Capcom won't make a new Zero/ZX game, why not let the fans do it?

The problem, however, comes in when the levels are *also* ripped 1-to-1 from Zero/ZX. Not just in terms of aesthetic, but most level gimmicks are basically lifted straight from those games. It gets to the point of "been there, done that," and it only gets worse as the game progresses. Seriously, by the time I reached the final boss, I was audibly groaning at how blatantly unoriginal it was. It doesn't feel like a tribute, it just feels lazy.

TL;DR - The game *is* fun, you'll get your money's worth if you're a fan of Mega Man Zero/ZX. Just don't expect anything new or original from it besides some fun bosses.

On a side note, since I know I'm one of 10 people who actually cares about this crap, it does bother me that, just like the Zero games, you can only attempt an S/V-Rank on each stage once per playthrough. The game has some minor Gunvolt influence in its aesthetic, so I don't see why they couldn't have also taken the page about letting you replay levels out of Gunvolt's book. Fortunately, unlike the Zero games, EX-Skills aren't locked behind rank, so most people won't care, but it still bothers me.

Very good megaman like game with a lot of extra mobility options. Lots of fun!