Bullet Hell Game Recommendations

[jimble]

I'm looking for a Bullet Hell Game to play, that's pretty neat and standard.

Just to be precise, when I say Bullet Hell, I'm looking for a carpet of bullets flying my way with a few ways to navigate through the game rather than 20 billion possible ways.

Any recommendations?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

The eXceed series is pretty good. The first is meh mostly because it hasn't been updated to work on modern computers, but the second and third are quite solid. The second is basically Ikaruga but more frenetic, while the third one is more of the usual style of bullet hell. The second and third games sold on Steam are actually remakes of previous versions; why the older versions aren't available, I dunno. In any case, I've basically heard this series characterized as "heavy metal Touhou", due to the music that they feature (especially the third game). My favorite of this trio is the third game, mostly because I think it's got the most well-polished gameplay and interface, and is also the most approachable (I kinda suck at shmups, but with some practice I've been able to start weaning myself off of auto-bomb, and maybe eventually one day I can even fight the bonus boss). If you're looking for a very stiff challenge, the second one is quite difficult to get through. I think it uses adaptive difficulty, as well.

There's also the Tale of Alltynex, another trilogy of shmups. They seem to have a great reputation, and while I haven't played Alltynex 2nd or Kamui, I have played RefleX. It doesn't do as many of the pretty patterns stereotypically associated with bullet hell games, but it does have tons of stuff flying at you, which you will need to learn to dodge -- or use your reflection shield to get through. The game does so much with that shield, which you'll need to use in increasingly clever ways to survive.

And speaking of Ikaruga, there's always that. I hear it plays more like a puzzle game -- but then again so do Touhou-style bullet hell games. I have it, but I haven't played it yet.

And as for another famous bullet hell shmup, there's also Mushihimesama.

And there's also Danmaku Unlimited 2, which I also have but haven't played.

And speaking of Touhou, there is one Touhou game that's been officially translated into and published in English, but that's not on Steam yet. You can buy it on Playism-Games.com .