Bolverk

"Call of Duty meets Devil May Cry"
Bolverk is a science-fiction hack-n-slash game released by Morandal Games in 2016. It is considered to be Call of Duty meets Devil May Cry due to the fact it plays like Devil May Cry except the enemies are instead consist of military and robots.
The game has been noted to be part of an experiment on what if we take an popular action game and give a type of feature that's never been implemented, and they chose character action X military action (Call of Duty for example) and fuse it.
==Gameplay==
The game plays more like Devil May Cry, where you have a plasma sword that is used for melee combat. Unlike other games this genre, you have a shield with you to block and reflect attacks. You can also pick up various guns, but they can run out of ammo unlike most games this genre and you can only hold 2.
Unlike Morandal Blade, this does not run on pure skill. (where there's no customization): Bolverk, the warbot sent by PhophyTech Laboratories, can have armor upgrades and weapon upgrades. The challenge is, although most enemies do minor to moderate damage to you, is that your health never regenerates, and there are no pickups except for guns and ammo. The sword does the most damage aside from the grenade launcher and the plasma rifle. All robots are very resistant to regular gunfire and are best destroyed with combos, plasma, or explosive attacks. Enemies appear much more often in this game. You can get an S in destruction, S in time, and S for finesse. 
You can parry against robots to do heavy damage to them. You can't parry ranged machine gun attacks or rockets. You cannot parry the following things:
*Any type of gunfire
*Corrosive melee weapons (cannot be blocked with a shield either)
*Explosive bombs that would hit you
There is multiplayer involving players playing as Bolverk androids fighting each other in various matches such as deathmatch, capture the flag, zone domination..
There are four special pickups for Bolverk to grab; including the following;
*RAM Chip: Increases the amount of health Bolverk has, up to a maximum of 5000. (you start with 1000)
*Sword Augment: Used to augment Bolverk's sword blade which would add more combos, power, etc.
*Rifle Parts: Used to build a special battle rifle that unlike the other guns do not run out of ammo. Requires 5 pieces.
*Carmilla Parts: Used to build a secret plasma whip sword. Requires 6 pieces.
Guns can be fired by using the RB button. The D-Pad alternates your weapons/guns. The Battle Rifle (since it has infinite ammo is fixed on the down button.)
==Plot==
Timothy Grahams and Sam Ramton went to Los Angeles Elementary School together, until one time Ramton started to bully Grahams, saying he isn't that smart in science and only believes in himself. He even said that he'll some day become a master professor of science. In high school. Ramton constantly takes science classes while Grahams goes to take engineering and robotics, which as a kid he wanted to learn how to make robots to change the world...
===20 Years Later===
A team known as the Chronos Phoenix, has discovered a rare mineral. The mineral's powers were able to empower the one who uses those weapons. The Chronos Phoenix's goal is to use that mineral to plan out world domination.
PhophyTech Laboratories, a company located in California had discovered that one of their buildings overseas had been raided and the mineral had been stolen. PhophyTech Laboratories only had one weapon against them, an battle android called the Bolverk which is armed with heavy armor and a plasma sword along with a plasma shield.
Timothy Grahams, the master engineer, had built Bolverk a spyship that now has the ability to reverse engineer Chronos Phoenix technology. Using it, they can spy on the Chronos Phoenix's missions.
Nearing the end of the proxy war. Bolverk and PhophyTech enter Chronos Phoenix HQ, and discover that they had managed to reverse engineer their own Bolverk to fight for them. That doesn't stop PhophyTech, as Jack Green uses a scanner to override it and self-destruct, making a barricade in the HQ.
Professor Sam Ramton is revealed to be working on PhophyTech. Timothy Grahams, who's been following Bolverk on the last battle, had realized that Sam Ramton isn't any ordinary mad scientist, he's also the classmate who had bullied others and only cared about himself when it comes to ideas and determination. After Bolverk destroys Ramton's war tank, Ramton is taken, but as he learns how to care about others and aim to cooperate with others when it comes to big things, Grahams forgives him.
==Operations==
Operations are like the "chapters" of this game. There are twenty-one operations in total. The game is in entire open-world, but operations are like the stages and the world is the hub/field.
Operation 	Description 	Location
Prologue 	Bolverk gets ready for it's training for PhophyTech Labs. 	PhophyTech training facility
First Mission 	Bolverk is sent on his first mission to search for clues. 	Naval Chronos Phoenix hideout
Barrier of Steel 	Chronos Phoenix has to collect it's data from the hideout. Bolverk has to defend the data from the hands of the Chronos Phoenix. 	Naval Chronos Phoenix hideout
Chronos Fortress 	Bolverk is sent into the Chronos Fortress, and has to take over the fortress. 	Chronos Fortress
Secret Plans 	According to Timothy, he had discovered the secret plans in the Fortress. Bolverk has to take them before they can take it back. 	Chronos Fortress
Chronos Chase 	Captain Gregor, the 3rd in command of the Chronos Phoenix, had taken the plans. Bolverk has to chase him with the PhophyBike. 	Vacant highway by Chronos Phoenix
Confrontation 	Bolverk, along with the PhopyTech officers, has to fight against Team Chronos Phoenix. 	Dark alley conquered by the Chronos Phoenix
Rescue Steven 	Bolverk has to explore the alley to search for Steven, who had spied on Chronos Phoenix's plans. 	Alley buildings
Fuel Strike 	PhophyTech has to stop fuel runs from the Chronos Phoenix so they can't train more aviation. 	Chronos Phoenix fuel grounds
Breaking Point 	Chronos Phoenix is going underground. Phophytech has to fortify Lizium so Chronos Phoenix can't do a underground strike. 	Lizium, California
Sabotage Mission 	PhophyTech discovers that their regular Spectres are being overridden, and then a Rift Device is used. Bolverk has to sabotage the device.	Lizium, California on the roofs.
Tool of Destruction	Bolverk had salvaged the Rift Device. Bolverk has to deliver it before the Chronos Phoenix would bring it back. 	Cityscape in  Lizium.
Defense 2020 	The Chronos Phoenix knows the Rift Device had been stolen toward PhophyTech, Bolverk has to defend the Rift Device. 	PhophyTech Laboratories (exterior)
Spy 2020 	Bolverk has to use the Rift Device to spy on Chronos Phoenix by overriding a King's signal. 	Chronos Phoenix's robot factory
Domain of Power 	Chronos Phoenix has captured the city of Lizium. Bolverk has been called to take them out. 	Lizium, California
Bomb Squad 	Chronos Phoenix has to plot bombs to wreck out the PhophyTech. Bolverk has to hijack the plans. 	Chronos Phoenix's bomb warehouse
Sky Dogfight 	Bolverk has to fly in a space fighter to find a way inside the Chronos Phoenix battleship 	Sky
Data Mining 	The search for the coordinates begin. 	Chronos Phoenix's battleship
Raid 2020 	With the coordinates of Chronos Phoenix, the raid begins. 	Chronos Phoenix HQ.
Mimicry 	PhophyTech officers find out that they have been mimicking their technology to make their own Bolverk battle android. 	Chronos Phoenix laboratories
Last Stop 	Professor Ramton, the leader of the Chronos Phoenix, is engaging in a duel. 	Chronos Phoenix's battlegrounds
==Weapons==
There are only nine guns in total that Bolverk can pick up and use.
Name 	Type 	Attack Type 	Ammo 	Shots to beat a Robot with "High" level  armor	Rarity
ZP49 	Bolt Pistol 	Energy bullets 	32 	6 shots 	Common
RX72 	Assault Rifle 	Rapid fire bullets 	96 	30 shots 	Uncommon
ARD84 	LMG 	Rapid fire bullets 	150 	24 shots 	Rare
TB38 	Shotgun 	Spread shot 	15 	1 shot 	Very rare
AR55 	Battle Magnum 	Anti-robot mags 	20 	3 shots 	Uncommon
MOR40 	Plasma Rifle 	Charged plasma blasts	12 	1 shot 	Rare
VIX24GL 	Grenade Launcher	Explosive arc blasts 	6 	1 shot (AoE) 	Super rare (only found in 2 specific operations)
HASLA-VP	Battle Rifle 	Rapid fire bullets 	Infinite	36 shots 	Unlockable
===Carmilla===
The Carmilla, aka the Doombringer, is a secret weapon owned by Chronos Phoenix. It is an upgrade to Bolverk's plasma sword (although the player can alternate). The Carmilla is a plasma chain-sword that extends very long and hits dozens of times.
Not much is known about this chainblade except it was used by Chronos to issue a proxy war against PhophyTech.
==Enemy Types==
===Military===
Name 	Attacks 	Armor 	Rank
Grunt 	Burst rifle 	Low 	*
Guard 	Magnum 	Low 	*
Ace 	Burst rifle 	Medium	**
Soldier 	Assault rifle 	Medium	***
Sniper 	Sniper rifle 	Medium	***
Engineer	Android constructing, magnum	High 	****
===Phoenix Androids===
Name 	Attacks 	Armor 	Rank
Spectre 	Burst rifle 	Medium	**
Riflebot	Semi rifle 	Medium	**
Paladin 	Shield and burst rifle	Medium	***
Crusader	Assault rifle 	Medium	***
Apollo 	Sniper rifle 	Medium	***
Bomber 	Grenade launcher 	Medium	***
Sarge 	Assault rifle, shield 	High 	****
Captain 	Plasma rifle, shield, 	High 	****
Kingpin 	Gauss magnum, cannon 	High 	*****
===Special Forces===
Name 	Attacks 	Armor 	Rank
Avenger 	War minigun 	High 	*****
Battle Android 	Plasma sword, shields 	Very high	*****
Phoenix Warrior	Autogun, plasma rod 	High 	*****
Bouncer 	Plasma claws, grenades	Very high	******
==Reception==
Bolverk got mixed to positive reviews, while reviews criticized for the sword-n-gun combat style, due to the fact that the sword does high damage and the guns (mostly machine guns) must be used to get high scores due to the fact they mostly do scratch damage to common robot enemies, (and the sword can be upgraded to oneshot some enemies) while some reviews compared it to PlatinumGames's NieR Automata. Wolken stated that Bolverk is more military-themed and NieR is more dystopia-themed. While Bolverk is much more warlike (Bolverk is more of a military warbot while 2B and 9S are humanoid lolita androids) NieR Automata focuses more on irony, life and death and tragedy.
It got around 70's on Metacritic, a 7/10 on GameSpot, and a 7.6 on IGN.
==Achievements==
(TBA)
==Trivia==
*The Carmilla chainblade was inspired by Castlevania's Lords of Shadows 1's main weapon; the cross-whip which functioned like a really long sword with chains. The sword is basically an dagger with an electric hilt with a red button that if you were to press on it; it unleashes a 50ft long plasma chain that you can swing around with.
*This was Morandal's second topic and genre fusion. The topic was military, and the genre was character action. The first one was Sakura Strikers which was an oriental action RPG set in feudal Japan.
Category:Hack and Slash Games
Category:Action Adventure Games
Category:2016
Category:Xbox One Games
Category:Rated M Games