That's interesting to hear about EGM/Gamespot/gamepro, because IGN gave it a 9.0 and several Xbox websites gave it a lot of praise at the time. I mean, the thing is [as seen in our live stream from earlier today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCKNvL4CMQ] the game's stages can be very long. Sometimes you may be playing a single stage for up to 30 mins. However, there are not that many stages, so its one of those games where you will be playing it for long stretches but you won't be playing it for long given the amount of stages. Also, the way the game is set up is quite basic, something one wouldn't expect from a team like Smilebit. But I think these long stages and simplistic progression work in the games favor as the controls are quite unique and you want the player to spend a lot of time in the game to get a handle of the controls and to utilize them.
I also kind of felt like I was playing PSO, with the maps and multiple enemies and simple objectives, but obviously the controls are far better.
Gunvalkyrie is one of those games that has its share of problems, but its just so damn unique and fun to run around in that I can't knock it.