Review by Clark A. Whether or not you care for it, Treasure’s most notable shoot ‘em up, Ikaruga, is heralded as a transcendent force in the genre. Its development began as one man’s labour of love and its mechanics went on to inspire a decade of more puzzle-oriented interpretations of…
Read MoreBy Matt C. Despite a dedicated fanbase, the Touhou Project series has always had a very small presence in the West. Bullet hells are niche to begin with, but Touhou is driven by a doujin community with limited reach beyond Japan. Fortunately, publishers like Sony, XSEED, and NISA have been…
Read MoreReview by Clark A. Not all 2D shoot ‘em ups are created equal. If you’ve ever played Action 52 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, you’re no doubt familiar with that game’s penchant for taking quirky character sprites, slapping some enemies atop a generic space background, and labelling them as unique…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. Shoot ‘em ups are timeless. This genres is almost as old as the video game medium itself, but it remains popular to this day – from Spacewar! to Asteroids to R-Type to Resogun, there’s endless excitement to be found in the simple premise of a nimble…
Read MoreReview by Clark A. Any title released on the Sega Dreamcast in 2015 is probably a labour of love. As one of several bullet hell shooters from Hucast Games, Ghost Blade first appeared on that platform before settling into the more commercially viable realm of modern home consoles. Despite being…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. Thanks to publishers like Degica, Steam is quickly becoming a bastion of classic bullet hell shoot ‘em ups, and this a wonderful thing. It’s a niche genre, but also one with a long and storied history spanning many different consoles and generations. Having as much of…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. If you want your game to stand out, adding cats is a good way to go about it. Sure, cat games are fast approaching a level of saturation to rival zombies, but we’re not there yet – and a screenshot with a cute cat in it…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. What does Santa do when someone steals all the Christmas presents? A regular old St Nick might give up, or work extra hard to create a new stash of gifts. Not Aru, the bunny-eared, anime girl Santa, though – no, when someone steals her presents, she…
Read MoreReview by Lindsay M. There’s a good chance I’ve mentioned this about a hundred times in my time with DDnet, but here it is again: space terrifies me. The idea that the universe is so vast and I’m so tiny gives me some serious anxiety, ranging from the heebie-jeebies to…
Read MoreI will never claim to be an expert at shoot ‘em ups. Except for Resogun, I wasn’t bad that one. But that doesn’t mean that I find them unenjoyable, and I especially like when, as with Astebreed, they do something a bit different than the norm. Coming from developer Edelweiss…
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