Ghost Blade HD (Xbox One) Review

Ghost Blade HD is another bullet hell shmup on home consoles, and I was happy to get my hands on a review code for the game.

There are three different ships, each piloted by a different lady, and each with different shot patterns.  You get the basic shot, which covers more area (some much more than others), but isn't very strong.  Next is a focus shot, which is skinnier than your ship, but packs a mean punch.  Finally, all three ships get a limited bomb attack.  The bomb is the same for all three ladies, and on the whole, the bombs are underwhelming.  They hit an area in front of your ship.  It doesn't even effect the whole screen.  It's not too powerful on bosses, either.  It does make you invincible for a few seconds, so it does have a use, but could be better.

The game has five stages, and three different difficulties.  Easy was nice because there are fewer bullets, but it has auto-bomb.  I'm not a fan of that.  Yes, it makes the game easier, but it also doesn't help you learn timing the bomb for maximum benefit.  There is a lot of stuff going on on the screen at once, which can make it feel a little cluttered, not to mention confusing.  There was an option to turn the background down, so I tried that and it does help a little.  Still, there are several different bullet types and colors flying around with other things, and it can be hard to differentiate the threats from the non-threats quickly.  Practicing does help, though.

Another thing that took some getting used to was the extra point stars.  When you kill some enemies, their shots will turn into extra point stars, which then fly toward you (auto collect).  It took me a bit to get used to that.  Granted, it's nice, but at first it's scary.  You are barely dodging some bullets when all of a sudden, they change their look and zoom toward you.  My initial reaction was a fraction of a second of panic.  Once I had a better grasp of when it would happen (since it's not all enemies, all bullets, or all of the same color/type), it was fine.

Besides the normal modes, Ghost Blade HD has the requisite Score Attack and Practice modes.  Score Attack is nice in that you have infinite lives...although that won't really help you get a high score.  It also has a set stage that has a different enemy configuration from any other.  Practice will let you, well, practice any stage or boss that you have previously encountered.  You can set the number of lives and bombs, too.  I like it for practicing the further out stages and bosses, since that's where I ran into the most trouble.

Ghost Blade HD doesn't do anything new for the genre, but it doesn't have to.  It's a solid, fun, and quick bullet hell game that I would definitely recommend to fans of the genre.


The Good:
Solid and fun shmup action.

The Bad:
The screen can get very busy and hard to make out threats.

The SaHD:
At first, I thought concentrating on the game would make me do better.  Eventually my mind wandered to other things, and that's when I started doing really well.

(Review code for Ghost Blade HD was provided by the publisher)

DoDonPachi Resurrection (PC) Review

Shmups!  I love to play them, and we don't get near enough of them in the US.  DoDonPachi Resurrection was one of those that was released for a home console (Xbox 360), but not in the US.  Therefore, I was happy to jump at the chance to play and review the PC port of the game.

Strangely, the system message are set to Japanese when I first loaded the game.  Thankfully the menu was in English, so I was able to change that quickly.  You are also greeted with a multitude of game types.  There is Ver 1.5, which seems to be the core game.  Next is Ver 1.51, which has some slight changes, plus you can get crazy points, but no achievements, sadly.  Then there is Arrange B, which is like a score attack for a stage, and Arrange L, which doesn't have bombs or allow you to pick a ship, but you can change the position of your options (little satellites that shoot with you).  Too bad this is the only mode that allows you to switch option positions, since I don't like the ship you are stuck with, but really like the position switching mechanic.

Next are the three Black Label choices.  The one just called Black Label is a harder version of the core game, where enemies shoot many more bullets.  Novice is an easier version, and Arrange is, well, slightly arranged.  Also, Arrange doesn't allow you to choose a ship, but instead gives you a unique one to use.  Too bad it's only used in this mode, since I really like this ship.  Besides those, you can do Score Attack or Training versions of any of the aforementioned modes.

Like most bullet-hell shmups, you move your ship around and shoot at lots of enemy crafts while dodging a ton of bullets.  In DoDonPachi Resurrection, tapping the shoot button will fire your shots in more of a spread pattern, perfect for large waves of weak fighters.  If you hold the button down, it concentrates your fire into a narrow laser.  This is much stronger than the normal shot, but more focused, ideal for bosses and other tough enemies.  I actually really like this system, since you can quickly and easily switch your shot type, with only needing one button.  The only real downside is mashing the shot button so much when going through the stages.  It would get really noisy with an arcade stick!  In some of the modes, you can set each shot as a different button if the mechanic doesn't appeal to you.  I only played the game with an Xbox 360 controller, and the stick moved the ship a bit too quickly for my tastes, which resulted in many a crashed ship.  I don't think the keyboard and mouse would fix that problem for me, so I'd have to try out some different controllers to find a perfect fit.

In some of the game modes, you can select bomb style, power style, or strong style (but can you be the king of it?).  Bomb style is just what it sounds like, you have a stock of bombs.  Power allows you to use Hyper mode, but you don't have bombs.  Strong style is a combination of the two.  Personally, I need the bombs more than the hyper mode.  The bombs not only protect you by destroying enemy bullets, but they also do damage and even activate automatically when you are hit (in most of the modes).  Hyper mode requires filling a gauge, but when you activate it, your shots are much bigger and stronger.  Seeing it with the spread is screen-clearingly fun!

As fun as the game is, I did have a few problems with it.  Mostly, it is the numerous little systems in the game that it doesn't explain (or if it doesn't, I haven't found where).  Hyper mode requires filling a meter...sometimes.  Others, it takes from you bomb stock.  I'm not sure which is when.  There's also a Red Gauge in some modes.  I have no real idea what it does or how to fill it.  I assume the enemies fire more bullets when it is full, but that is just a guess on my part.  Black Label has numbered chips to collect.  I don't know how to make them spawn as certain numbers, or exactly how they work.  I only know they are multiplier chips because of the achievement descriptions.  Lastly, many enemies have laser attacks.  These aren't avoidable, so you have to use your laser attack, which shields you from them.  I eventually figured that out, but knowing it ahead of time would have been nice.

Being a shmup, a normal game only lasts about 30 minutes.  Of course, the point of these games is not usually to beat it, but to beat it on one credit.  I'm not sure I ever could beat this particular game on  one credit, as the later levels are really crazy with the shots everywhere.  Plus, the secret boss at the end is beyond ridiculous with its attacks and HP.  I do want to get better at the game, since I think it is fun (except the secret boss).  If you are a stickler for achievements, the game has 100 of them for you to try.  They are spread across the various modes (mostly normal and black label though), but 100 seems like an excessively high number.

DoDonPachi Resurrection is a fun shmup that I would definitely recommend to fans of the genre.  It's not the most clear in terms of mechanics, but it does offer multiple modes to play around in.  For shmup fans, I would say it is worth the price, as you will get your money's worth playing all the modes, getting better at the game, and maybe even trying for the long list of achievements.


The Good:
The two shot type system works surprisingly well, lots of game types.

The Bad:
Even on the default setting, the later levels are crazy.  It can be really easy to lose yourself in all the pretty effects everywhere.

The SaHD:
The secret boss got really boring after fighting him for 20 minutes.  It really needs a lot less health, that is ridiculous.

(Review code for DoDonPachi Resurrection was provided by the publisher)

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet (PS4) Review

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet combines the disparate genres of bullet-hell shmup and fighting games.  It's actually not as strange as it would seem, as this has been done before, if anyone besides me remembers Wartech on the Xbox 360.  Basically, it's a one on one fight where you each launch hails of bullets at each other until one person stands victorious.  The characters in the game are people from the various Touhou games, which have the distinction of being well-known shmups that I somehow haven't played yet.

After booting up the game, I jumped into the story mode, since why not?  That's usually where you start.  Turns out, this was a bad idea.  I got a very basic idea of the controls, but was slowly being outclassed by the computer.  Since it was the first opponent, I realized it was just going to get harder.  So, I quit out and found the tutorial option.  This was a good move, even if the tutorial people are a bit too chatty.

Each character has a main shot, sub shot and charge shot, and even melee attacks if you get close enough.  The main shot is, well, your main attack, mostly aimed at the opponent and the sub shot is usually more focused on covering an area, rather than a direct attack.  You can dash, and even slow your movement to make it easier to dodge between shots.  Shooting any of the three shots while dashing or using slow movement will change the shot, giving you access to 9 different types of shot attacks.  I wish the dashing was only active if you held the button down instead of just activating it, so it would be easier to use its shot variations.  I didn't see any option to change it.  If you narrowly avoid an opponent's shot (called grazing), you build up charge.  Once a charge segment is filled, you can use a charge shot at the cost of some of the charge meter.  However, you can also use this meter for other things, like spells.

Spells cost at least one charge segment and a bomb stock (denoted by the "B"s under your charge meter at the top of the screen.  If you activate a spell, it places you at the top of the screen, and your firing patterns change drastically.  Instead of normal-looking shots, you now have firing patterns like a shmup boss, filling the screen with bullets.  You aren't invincible in the mode.  There is a ring around your character that depletes when you are hit.  If it runs out before time does, you exit the mode prematurely.  The opponent can also use one of their bomb stock for an actual shmup bomb, which will clear out some of the bullets, making their lives easier.  It's really cool, but ultimately not very useful against the computer.  Upon activation, they tear into with their shots, while expertly dodging pretty much all of yours.  It would work against an actual person, since they rarely have mathematically precise movement, and are actually prone to freaking out when a screen full of bullets comes at them.

After learning the basics, I then set about trying out all the characters, seeing who fits my style, and what enemies would be a problem.  I started to get the hang of the game after a few matches, and started doing much better.  Strangely, one thing I found that helped was spamming the main shot button instead of holding it down.  I don't know why that made them actually hit the opponent more often, but it made a big difference.  Even so, the CPU is a tough opponent, and I didn't see a way to tone them back so I could eke out some easy wins in the story mode, or any other mode for that matter.  As a computer, they are very proficient in the pinpoint-accurate dodges necessary to avoid damage when they want to.  They also have full access to the 9 shot types and chaining together shots with frame-perfect accuracy.  Thankfully, they don't do it all the time, so you can actually win matches.

A small sampling of what you face when an opponent activates a spell.

Touhou Genso Rondo features a story mode for each character, arcade mode, boss rush, versus cpu, and versus player, online and off.  Story mode is several battles linked by dialogue, just as you would expect.  Arcade mode is more like a survival mode, since you fight an endless string of opponents, with some life being restored to you in-between matches.  Boss rush is you versus the CPU, but they start off in spell/boss mode.  Thankfully you only have to survive until the time runs out to win a match, since the computer is as adept at filling the screen with inescapable bullcrap as they are at dodging your attempts to do the same in the other modes.  Fights in arcade and boss rush are only 1 round each.  Versus CPU and human are pretty self explanatory.  Early on I used the versus CPU a lot to get the hang of each of the characters.  I'm also nowhere near competent enough in my abilities to go online and get destroyed.

Touhou Genso Rondo is very unique and a fun game.  The merging of shmup and fighting game is pulled off very well, and there is a lot of depth to the fighting.  After playing it for a while I really started to get the hang of the game, and the modes offered are good.  The computer can be a real pain, since their accuracy and dodging ability is as good as they want it to be, with sadly no way I could see to adjust it.  Shmup fans should get a kick out of the game, and fighting game players should give it a whirl, too.  You might be surprised how fun (and difficult) the game can be!


The Good:
A well-made combination of shmup gameplay with fighting game mechanics.

The Bad:
If the computer wants to avoid what you throw at them, there isn't much you can do to stop them.

The SaHD:
For whatever reason, I was best with Sakuya.  It also helps that time-stopping maids with knives are cool.

(Review code for Touhou Genso Rondo was provided by the publisher)