Recent reviews by ESigil

This DLC is everything I could have hoped from an expansion to an already great game and more.

Garbage kusoge that I suspect was developed to push a band's demo tape first and be an actual game second. Gimmick had potential, but as it stands its just wasted potential.

I think I'll have to file this one under shmups to recommend to players new to the genre. It'll feel right at home to anyone who has played a Touhou game before. The gameplay is forgiving and accessible enough to keep new players from getting frustrated, despite sacrificing some of that raw adrenaline an experienced bullet hell player seeks out (I was able to very nearly 1CC the game on just my second attempt). Variety in game modes I can't complain about, but given I've only spent a couple hours with this game I'm sure there's something still I haven't seen in it. Withholding judgment for now.

Menus and UI while aesthetically pleasing could do with a little polish. For example it took me a solid hour to figure out where the score was displayed due to it being partially transparent and blended with the backgrounds. I also could not for the life of me figure out what the "Customize" game menu did. I adore the backgrounds, enemy designs and overall art of the game. The combination of still and floaty jerky animations on parts of the characters and bosses contribute to a very creepy vibe that tickles a very happy part of my soul.

Sound design. This is where I have mixed feelings on. Overall the sounds in the game felt a little flat. Long droning hums to indicate information to the player while consistent with the grim theme aren't particularly stimulating. Even the larger enemies vanish with little more than an unsatisfying "phut". Last gripe is there's very little to communicate the player has taken damage short of an immersion-breaking panicked glance at the bottom UI. There were several instances where I was unsure for a good several seconds whether I'd been hit or if I'd managed to get a bomb off in time. The music is another hit or miss affair. I enjoyed the eerie lonesome sounding stage music, and some of the boss themes during their non-awakened phase, but after hearing the same dubstep drop 3 or 4 times during the 2nd boss phases I started to tire of it.

Tech. I'm not going to whinge on about technical issues endlessly. No game is bug free and this is no exception, but here are some of the ones I observed. It may be an engine limitation but I noticed several instances where the frame rate would suddenly drop during boss death sequences. In the 2nd and 4th stages there was a brief period at the beginning of the stage where my directional inputs wouldn't respond even as enemies started to appear and I only regained control after tapping one of the fire buttons. Lastly, and I don't know whether to classify this as a bug or a UX quibble, but the score entry screen gives the feeling that it's hanging after selecting the "End" button because the game is saving data but there's no sound or visual cue that the game is doing something other than your controls being locked.

Overall. Solid shmup with the potential to be a great shmup barring a few polish-related issues. I've certainly paid more for much, MUCH less.

Update: This game has received quite a bit of post-launch support. I don't mean that in that it was unfinished on launch, but in the realm of improved controller support and additional game modes at no extra charge. As it stands now this is definitely a shmup worth picking up.

I have good memories of playing CS2 and 3 in the arcade, so naturally I was excited to have the chance to play the first in the series. Sadly, I don't know if it's a combination of aging poorly or technical issues with the port but I cannot recommend this version of the game. For starters I had some difficulty simply launching the game, with it getting caught in an endless crash loop if I wasn't launching from a fresh reboot. The controls for this shmup have always been more deliberate and slower moving, but here it goes beyond that. They just feel sticky, like there's a noticeable lag when changing directions. The soundtrack leaves much to be desired and I was frequently getting audio glitches where the audio would cut to an ear-splittingly high pitched shriek for several seconds during boss or midboss fights. After about an hour I'd had enough. I won't seek a refund since I really would like to see 2 and 3 get a port, but if you're not already invested in the series or aren't a diehard shmup player, or even a new shmup player looking for an entry into the genre avoid this title. There are far better shmups deserving of your time and money, some of them even from this publisher.

Edit:

Bullet patterns: Very swingy, either exceptionally boring or control-bitingly frustrating. Some patterns are more solvable with different characters, but some come out so quickly with no telegraphing you'd have to know in advanced they're coming to avoid. Hitboxes feel a bit wonky, it's not always clear just how close your character actually is to a particular projectile or enemy, which is unfortunate since grazing is a key mechanic to the game.

Scoring mechanics: Straightforward enough, probably the best thing about the game. Distance from an enemy or projectile determines a multiplier from 1-8x, which multiplies the value of items collected in that state or multiplies the amount of items dropped from destroyed enemies.

Extra modes: None as far as I can tell. Variety comes mainly from the different shot types and mechanics of the individual characters. Par for the course with this series but I tried each character several times and none of them really clicked.

As far as the technical issues. I've asked around and I'm pretty sure the ones I pointed out in my review aren't isolated to myself. The ear-destroying sound effects on bosses and boring soundtrack are infact part of the game.

Having played its sequels I'm glad that the series has improved from this point, but if this had been my introduction to the series or the genre even, I doubt I would have stuck with it.

Hardly the most challenging or compelling experience I've had playing a shmup, but all the pieces are there and there are enough gimmicks and scoring mechanics to justify the fifty cent price of admission if you're able to ignore everything but the gameplay. Heaven knows I've spent more on crappier shmups in the arcades.

I think I have a new favorite. As a long time lover of the cocktail of Science Fiction and 4X strategy I wholeheartedly recommend Stellaris to any fan of the genre. Whether you come from Imperium Galactica, Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations or any game in between you'll find something to love here. Create your vision of the future and watch it play out.

Hasn't aged well. The game definitely still shows a lot of the limitations of the PSP, particularly in the realm of controls not mapping to the keyboard in a very intuitive manner. For its time, the mechanics probably had a respectable amount of depth, but by modern standards they're almost patronizingly simple. The story is quaint, but predictable as far as JRPGs go. I don't think it's by any means a bad game, but it just doesn't have that timeless spark that makes a game truly memorable. Let this one live out its twilight in dignity.

I got this game as a gag gift. I've played it for a lot longer than I probably should have and found myself enjoying it for a much larger fraction of that time than is understandable. This one gets my grudging approval.