At first glance it looks as if 5pb have come a long way since DOJBLEX. Bullet Soul looks arguably more at home on 360 than any of Cave's games. Its high res 3D graphics look good, it's stylishly presented with nice artwork. Less than a minute of gameplay however and you realise something's gone very wrong.
The game features bullet cancelling, as seen in many Cave STGs, however, 5pb seem to have taken it to its extreme in that all bullets are cancelled when enemies are destroyed. So, despite the game featuring some decent enemy layouts and competent bullet patterns, the reality is the only bullets you're likely to dodge in the first two levels are at the bosses. An odd decision then, perhaps the scoring system will make sense of it? Unfortunately not. Scoring seems to be a simple proximity based affair, laser the enemies at close range, so it's not even as if filling a screen with bullets before cancelling them is the aim.
Granted, things heat up from level 3/4 onwards revealing a somewhat enjoyable, if simple, shmup and if you can one life it there is a supposedly more exciting second loop, but whether it's possible to stay awake that long remains to be seen.
What makes this pill all the harder to swallow is that this is all Bullet Soul has to offer. There's a level based score attack and training and, erm, that's about it. No arrange or omake modes such as the many Cave have spoiled us with.
I also find some of the sound effects grate, and the soundtrack itself is generic tosh.
Overall then, I'd probably be content with this on XBLA, but at full retail with loads of far deeper Cave titles packed with extras to choose from? No thanks.
The game features bullet cancelling, as seen in many Cave STGs, however, 5pb seem to have taken it to its extreme in that all bullets are cancelled when enemies are destroyed. So, despite the game featuring some decent enemy layouts and competent bullet patterns, the reality is the only bullets you're likely to dodge in the first two levels are at the bosses. An odd decision then, perhaps the scoring system will make sense of it? Unfortunately not. Scoring seems to be a simple proximity based affair, laser the enemies at close range, so it's not even as if filling a screen with bullets before cancelling them is the aim.
Granted, things heat up from level 3/4 onwards revealing a somewhat enjoyable, if simple, shmup and if you can one life it there is a supposedly more exciting second loop, but whether it's possible to stay awake that long remains to be seen.
What makes this pill all the harder to swallow is that this is all Bullet Soul has to offer. There's a level based score attack and training and, erm, that's about it. No arrange or omake modes such as the many Cave have spoiled us with.
I also find some of the sound effects grate, and the soundtrack itself is generic tosh.
Overall then, I'd probably be content with this on XBLA, but at full retail with loads of far deeper Cave titles packed with extras to choose from? No thanks.
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