Freedom Finger
The silly and offensive art style is what drew me to this game, not the musicians or voice actors. Despite its cartoony look Freedom Finger is a proper shmup. You have a ship and you shoot enemies with plenty of bullets, enemies and walls to be dodged. The game has two unique game mechanics for a shmup namely grabbing and punching. It’s a bit unusual but it is quite fun. It allows for a lot of different ways to play a level.
Fortunately there’s no shop with upgrades for your ship, you can follow the story but also just hop into any level and start competing for the leaderboard. If you want an upgrade go grab an enemy ship!
– Real player with 38.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Music Games.
Check out my first impressions gameplay video for Freedom Finger here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD1OPbuRzCk
[url]For more game reviews and recommendations make sure to follow my Steam Curator page here[/url]
-QUICK FIRE REVIEW (If you don’t have time to watch the gameplay video)
-Story:
Save the American Lunar base from the Chinese who have taken over!
-Graphics:
Very cartoonish. Kinda of reminds me of the adult cartoons you’d see on Adult Swim.
– Real player with 11.0 hrs in game
Bullet Heaven 2
Disclaimer: I played all of Matt’s games and was a big fan of Bullet Heaven 1.
Bullet Heaven 2 is an incredibly pretty Bullet Hell game full of content, and it comes packed with features to adjust the difficulty for any player. But at the end of the day, it is still a Bullet Hell game. If you don’t derive any enjoyment from moving your tiny hitbox (it’s one pixel) through intricate patterns of near-death, then this will game will quickly wear thin for you. If on the other hand you have even a passing interest in this genre or SHMUPs of any kind, you will definitely enjoy this game.
– Real player with 65.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Difficult Games.
First of all, I played the hell out of the first Bullet Heaven (which, sadly, never made it to Steam), so, needless to say, I’ve been waiting for BH2 with bated breath. And it certainly delivered.
If I were to describe the game with one word, it would be satisfying. It took the very best features of the original and made them even better. More characters, more weapons, more BADA** BOSSES, longer levels and a bigger d**k But let’s look at things in a bit more detail.
We have 8 playable characters, each with a different play style and a bunch of weapons and costumes (those provide some minor bonuses) to boot. My personal favourites are Matt, Phyrnna and NoLegs (that kitty is OP as hell, btw). Making use of their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses is ESSENTIAL for surviving on difficulties other then Normal (though the final set of levels may argue with that - those are quite nightmarish even on Normal).
– Real player with 38.3 hrs in game
eXceed 3rd - Jade Penetrate Black Package
The third in the eXceed series - Jade Penetrate (Black Package) - is a worthwhile and fun bullet-hell shmup. That said, it’s pretty easy on the lower difficulties. I comfortably cleared it on easy on my first playthrough, so I would recommend ramping ‘er up to at least normal on your first run unless you’re completely new to the genre. Unlike the previous game, Vampire, Jade Penetrate uses a more traditional mechanic of either spread fire (with fast movement) or focused fire (with slow movement to avoid projectiles and a homing weapon). You have bombs to avoid dying and you also power up your special weapon by “grazing” enemy bullets. While usually a more advanced technique, in Jade Penetrate this mechanic is used in quite possibly the best way I’ve ever seen it done - many of the shot patterns include very cool circular walls of bullets that you graze as they spin, quickly powering up your special attack to decimate the opponents you face. The visuals are also outstanding, colorful explosions and huge walls of enemy fire - it’s just what you’d want from a game like this. Different colored (yet easily distinguishable) shots, score tokens that are collected automatically, and bullets that you absorb upon an enemy’s death to rack up that high score. That said, the frame rate can suffer a little bit with so many sprites on the screen; however, in games like this the lagging frames may turn out to be an answered prayer, as dodging enemy fire is much easier.
– Real player with 73.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Great Soundtrack Anime Games.
I played this game after watching clips of the 5th boss. Literally only played it due to the hype music. Having good gameplay in addition to that was just a bonus for me.
A lot of the boss attacks have variance due to variance in boss movements. There’s a lot of reaction dodging due to this. At first glance the game appears to be more about skill & reflex than memorization & strategy.
There is still a good amount of strategy and routing available though. Even patterns that seem like pure reflex can be simplified by knowing which bullets to read & keep track of. Dodging 100% of the bullets is harder than completely avoiding the trajectory of 50% of them and dodging the other 50%, after all. Proper planning can make even the most skill intensive patterns more approachable for lower skill players.
– Real player with 57.3 hrs in game
Furi
What will you fight for?
Furi is a top-down, boss rush, indie bullet hell action game hybrid developed by an indie studio named The Game Bakers. The game is about our protagonist, referred to as “The Stranger” by the other characters, trying to escape the jail he’s in for the “bad things” he has done.
The Jailer is the key. Kill him and you’ll be free.
[Detailed Story Analysis] The protagonist after one of his routine torture sessions, is rescued by a man wearing a rabbit mask. He tells him in order to be free, he has to kill the jailer. After this, our protagonist fights the jailers in order to regain his freedom. After each fight, there are small walking sequences, these sequences are accompanied by our rabbit masked friend, The Voice. During these sequences, The Voice tells us about the story and what the upcoming jailer did to us or what we did to him. The walking sequences are great, it builds the tension, you get to see the beautiful landscapes and listen to glorious music also learn a bit about the story.
– Real player with 176.2 hrs in game
What a game. Immediately upon finishing the first boss, I knew I was in for a treat. This game is an emotional rollercoaster, resulting from the player’s own struggles to improve, the design of each fight, and possible unexpected feelings from the plot. Pardon the excessive gushing, but I think it’s proportionate to the crazy ride this has been.
This is the kind of game where you’re going die repeatedly, saying “Aghh, I could have dodged that!” There are no levels, gear, stats, or customization in this game. This might be an instant turn off for some, but this also means that there is no need to grind and that any improvements in your performance can only be attributed to your own growth in skill. There is also no penalty for dying and having to restart a fight, other than a decrease in your performance score, which takes into account the duration of the fight, how many hits you took, and how many times you died. No grind, no resources, just get back in there and try not to suck this time!
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Just Shapes & Beats
When I first played this game it was just to impress my big brother on a like $500 vacation but now iv’e gotten pretty addicted. The games really good amazing story line and a very hard set of songs. And now that iv’e played the lost chapter the story makes a lot more sense. The ending blew my mind not giving any spoilers but some people may know what I mean. Also Annihilation is insane. But when it comes to making a game using square as the main character I was not expecting this much work and progress put into this. If you haven’t played this game yet and are just reviewing it play it know you won’t be disappointed. Well that’s all I have to say can’t wait for the next update!
– Real player with 76.4 hrs in game
GAMING GAMING GAMING GAMING GAMING GAMING
– Real player with 72.0 hrs in game
Mushihimesama
Mushihimesama is a game that I went back and forth over buying for quite some time. I’d heard stories of CAVE’s arcade shmups (especially DoDonPachi, Espgaluda, and Ketsui) for years, but had never actually had the opportunity to play any of them. Upon seeing Mushihimesama on Steam I was excited, but after watching the trailer I decided to hold off on it. I’m not sure exactly what it was about the trailer, but it failed to sell me the game. I’m sure the rumors I heard that it wasn’t a very good port didn’t help matters either. Eventually I decided to pick it up anyway, and I’m really glad that I did. Perhaps you shouldn’t always judge a game by its trailer.
– Real player with 111.4 hrs in game
Mushihimesama is a brilliant CAVE shooter that is a direct port of the 360 version, available for people on PC for the first time. Mushihimesama sets a standard in terms of modern STGs and cave games in general that we can get a taste for and is absolutely worth your time.
Gameplay
Vertical shooter, you control 1 ship called Reco and you have a choice of 3 different shot types they are :
M-Power (best all round shot type)
W-Power (wide shot type for clearing large groups of enemies in stages, low mobility)
– Real player with 30.7 hrs in game
Pixel Galaxy
This game is ridiculously fun and bursting with creativity. I’ve never even played a bullet hell game before this one and I love it! The local co-op is also really fun to play and it lets you laugh at your ridiculous deaths with your friends! It’s got a bit of a difficulty spike but there are many modes to play and I still think it’s fun even when I do suck at it. It’s a great game whether you’re playing casually or seriously. The soundtrack is amazing, the graphics are sleek and colorful, and the gameplay is interesting, simple to learn, and challenging without being too frustrating. The ton of achievements also add a lot of humor and replay value to this game.
– Real player with 35.6 hrs in game
Tags: Shootemup & Bullet Hell
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library
TLDR: One-screen endless wave survival bullet hell in which you collect pixels and evade others. Hard to tell which is which aas they are not consistently color coded. Game balance is iffy.
The problem with Pixel Galaxy is that it only does one thing and it does not do that one thing all that well. Collecting power ups makes your ship larger and thus easier to hit since your hitbox grows so large and the pixel patterns can be too tight together to avoid.
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Spaceman Sparkles 2
Great game that throws you up against things that seem impossible at first but become possible and then even easy as you figure out how to play and use all the tools you have.
Death is constant but you get back into the fight instantly.
I’m not sure what else to say, other than that it’s really really nice. The setting is cute. The fights are fun. The music is fantastic. Just get it, it’s great.
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
– Real player with 26.8 hrs in game
Great game. Music is beautiful, and the gameplay is difficult but not stupid, making it fun. Fast paced and the fights are tolerable because I haven’t rage-quit yet. 10/10 especially for the price.
If you have a 4:3 or 5:4 monitor, note (to my knowledge) this game only plays in 680x340, 1280x720, and 1920x1080
– Real player with 18.6 hrs in game
TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part II
It’s billed as a homage to Touhou 7, but this game stands out for more than its ability to simply recreate a classic, delivering an excellent STG that stands on its own.
Its mechanics are founded on a slightly modified version of Touhou 7’s border system, in which periods of immunity granted through pickups and bullet grazing can have their duration extended by continuing to graze bullets or grabbing pickups. This mechanic is also how the game distributes extra bomb and life pieces, with longer borders providing increased rewards.
– Real player with 35.8 hrs in game
–-{ Graphics }—
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Bad
- The graphics on this game are not AAA title level, and really it shouldn’t be expected. However, what really made this game standout is that … it’s absolutely beautiful. The stage backgrounds, the character sprites, the enemy sprites, animated spell card sprites and even the Danmaku and patterns itself are some of the prettiest I’ve seen among Touhou fan games, and actually, I’d even go as far as saying it beats even ZUN’s own mainline games in this aspect. I don’t know how the team managed to churn out such an aesthetically pleasing danmaku game, but they sure as hell did it. I’d also like to specially mention some of the things I thought were extremely outstanding in terms of graphics: Stage 4 in general, Alice’s patterns in general and Yuyuko’s patterns in general (also, her dancing spins while she throws out danmaku were nothing short of awesome!)
– Real player with 22.2 hrs in game
Astral Gunners
Absolutely fantastic game! Great gameplay, cool art style, amazing soundtrack. At first, pure survival is fun due to the enemy variety and different ways the bullets are used for different types of attacks. Each level looks, sounds, and plays very differently. A few hours in, though, the scoring system really starts to pop. “System Overload” in particular is a mechanic that gets you playing over and over to try to optimize your Special usage and maximize your score. On top of that, there are 5 playable characters and multiple difficulty levels, so even though a single run is pretty short, there is a TON of replay value. As a beginner to shmups, I can say this game is very accessible, and seeing the craziness of the higher difficulties and hidden bosses, I can only imagine this game will also satisfy the real Bullet Hellions.
– Real player with 156.0 hrs in game
This game’s lots of fun - i’m gonna keep it simple with, you get unlockable characters, unlockable power-ups that change the way the game plays. If you find the game easy then play it on a harder mode, if that’s still simple then try a power up to change the game play. For example you have a few unlockable slow down options that slow down the bullets if they get near you, which is good to position the bullets for better score. You have another slow down power-up to give the game the “cave slowdown” feel. I stream this game regularly on https://www.twitch.tv/brianreboot so if you’re wondering how the game looks please take a look.
– Real player with 63.2 hrs in game