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EOJ's review of the game seems extremely harsh: http://www.cave-stg.com/?p=1291

Gonna have to fire it up on Monday and see for myself. It looks like a very fun game even regardless of scoring potential, and I expect to have a blast with it since I'm not as good at scrolling shooters. The lack of souls actually doing anything is rather disappointing, but 5pb may have something cool planned for the DLC. Hopefully it'll add some depth to the scoring, because it looks A+ otherwise imo.

How much was the Asian version on Play-Asia? What would be the packaging differences?

That sounds like a lot of whining and there are a few too many "This is a copy" comments for me to just believe that. EOJ is known to regularly change his opinion the more he plays a game, usually starting off upset and only later getting into it. Think I'll wait to play this myself when it arrives on Tuesday.

Kinda disappointed to see that TATE mode is shoe-horned in, but this was kinda expected.

The review wasn't very well written, but I overall I agree with it. There's just not a great deal in the game to keep you coming back.

After quite a few credits play today I'm really enjoying this game. I love plenty of old shooters that don't have deep scoring anyway. Nice first effort from 5pb imo. Nice presentation and levels its just a shame about the lack of extra difficulty settings or extra modes.

I was definitely waiting for more information and vids between this and Eschatos.

I was definitely more excited for Eschatos at first, but seeing and reading more about that and seeing and reading more about this leans it toward this now.

I'll get this whenever the next time I decide to get one of these region free titles.

Okay, a couple of Magnet-pressions:

- In a nutshell, I'd describe this game as a distillation of the things that drew most of us to the genre before we knew (or cared) what a "proximity multiplier" was: Ridiculous weapons! Big explosions! Cheesy electronic rock! Giant alien bugs! Screens chock full of junk! Basically a shameless sensory overload, though a tough one to resist for someone like me.

- All three characters put up a good fight, but I tend to do best with Officer Garterbelt: Cap'n McSmirky is a little too weak and Moe Pimp Lord (yeah, I'll make that the official moniker) is a bit too slow. Much as I love the ludicrous weaponry,it does sometimes make it easy for other stuff to get lost in it, much as was the case in Batsugun - probably the game's biggest single flaw, if you ask me, especially if you're going for proximity kills. I'm afraid to see how it looks in 2P...

- The other big negative, as others have mentioned, is the lack of content: five stages and a score attack mode does seem a bit chintzy compared to the plethora of Arrange modes and whatnot we've seen elsewhere, and potentially making us pay extra for it via DLC leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The scoring system is fine for what it is, but it is a shame that the "souls" don't do anything - they might have made a worthy contribution to the overall mechanics.

- Other than those two things I've been having a pretty good time - causing mass destruction and seeing bonus indicators flashing all over the place is still fun for its own sake(the tally at the end of each stage sounds like a pinball machine to me), though that aspect of the genre seems to get lost in the more technical details in this day and age. As Kiken says, it's a bit harder than it looks, especially if you want to do well enough to reach loop 2 - it has an almost Takumi-esque "I have so many advantages, why am I still dying so much?"feel to it.

- It appears you earn extends at (IIRC) 50 mil and 120mil...are there any other extra lives floating around?

- Is there any way to turn off the replay saving? It's a bit annoying to have to enter and back out of that screen every time...

That's about all I can think to say so far, for whatever it's worth.

Not sure, but you should be able to just refuse to save the replay without it checking for your replay data. You have to do the Japanese "no, then yes I really meant no" bit to do it though.

I'll hafta try again to confirm, but if memory serves after you enter your score initials a message comes up which can only be "confirmed" with the A button, not canceled - from there the Replay list loads up, and only from there can you decline to save it. Not a huge deal, but still annoying.

60 mil, 120 mil, 300 mil are the extends.

EOJ loves the clusterfuck named Deathsmiles IIX.

Nuff said.

Deathsmiles IIX is actually pretty damned fun once you get past the graphics, imo.

Bullet Soul is a fun time too, but it is pretty lacking. I'm hoping the DLC's new mode adds scoring depth, but there really should have been more to this thing on release. Only having one mode is pretty bare bones.

I got mine today:




My God the music is horrible.

I slept through the post office lady trying to get me to sign for my package today so I won't be able to get mine until Thursday when I have another day off from work to go pick it up. Sadness.

Cool ad hominem. It totally refutes his criticisms of the game.

I haven't bought this yet but I think the complaints so far are valid. Imagine if the rings in Deathsmes 2X didn't add to your score, or there was only one mode to play, or the music sucked, or there was no difficulty settings...

People can dog DS2X but if you get past the visuals (which are indeed a mixed bag), there is a fun game in there. I'm not sure people will be playing Bullet Soul for more than a few weeks before going back to their favorite 360 titles.

I'm also quite put off with having DLC for the things that should have been included from the get go.

so is everyone else playing a game this generation that's not on a Nintendo system.

Which is why I'm glad most other shmups I've bought for 360 have loads of addition content that doesn't require dlc. A made for console arcade style game needs more than a bare bones mode, otherwise it's going to fail against things like MMP/PS which has 6-7 modes straight out of the package. I'm shocked they didn't realize this.

No it doesn't, there's nothing wrong with DSIIX ffs.

I bet half the game's detractors didn't even buy it.

I was being sarcastic.

The demo is apparently out for Gold members - Silver Hobos will have to wait 'til the 18th.

Am I the only one that actually likes the music?

I guess I just have a soft spot for cheesy synth-rock or something.

For a game like this I think it actually works pretty well - I certainly wouldn't want it in every shooter, but when you're going for the "exploding robo-alien neon blobs" (anti-?)aesthetic you might as well take it all the way.

The music is not really that bad, just mediocre and badly mastered (brick walled as fuck). The real problem is it's completely boring and generic, no soul (hurr) at all. The ripped DDP riff (Which I assume is some sort of "tribute") just makes things worse.

Honestly, anyone who paid $90 for this sophomore effort should be kicking themselves in the teeth. There are so many problems with it, some people haven't even mentioned, such as the "Special/secret" bonus message appearing on top of EVERYTHING at the top of the screen, being gigantic and appearing constantly.

Once I learned that the "souls" don't actually serve ANY purpose in-game, I really just had to laugh. How else can you respond to a design decision that bone-headed?

The fact there's only one mode and 5 levels just makes things worse. And the 2nd loop is not like Cave's 2nd loops in that there's no scoring/gameplay changes in store. (DOJ/Ketsui 2nd loop both introduce scoring changes).

Of course I already bitched about the ridiculous level of bullet cancelling, but I guess it's worth repeating, this isn't how you do bullet cancelling and make it not dumb. I'm not sure about EOJ's comment that the boss patterns are rip-offs of Cave but it wouldn't entirely surprise me to find some are "Inspired" by them in the same way that DDP riff is :P

This should have been a $15 XBLA release, but 5pb wanted to gouge the shit out of all the collectors and hopeful shmup fans. Well, hope you're all happy after getting ripped off with that gigantic overpriced price tag.

I know, it was more aimed at the chap within your quote. No idea why everyone rags on DSIIX like it's made of used toilet paper. It may not look the way you want it to look, but it certainly plays a good game. There are aspects of it I prefer to DS1.

I've spent some time with this now and while my expectations were low as hell, they were met unfortunately. Is it just me, or does every boss in this game have a safe spot right in the bottom center of the screen?

Seriously, not only does it look tacky as hell but it has to get in the way, maybe it was their way of adding challenge lol.

I thought the souls raised some kind of bonus multiplier... If they really don't have any effect at all it must be some kind of brilliant mechanic none of us are smart enough to grasp... Maybe you have to collect ALL the souls for the real modes to unlock.

Well, logically it could refute his criticism. If deathsmilesIIX was known to be really poor, and EOJ likes it, it's reasonable to be more skeptical of his opinion of other games. But in this case DIIX may be a poor example of bad taste.

"few moments of (...) increase in speed. Most bullets will be entirely cancelled" made me stay away from this game.

If only the soundtrack had been like this for the whole game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtL8ZOZi ... re=related

WOW...

What to say, what to say. I just 1CC'd the first loop (I have no clue how to get to the 2nd loop) ON MY FIRST CREDIT... EVER...! And I'm by no means that good, I would say only decent.

I should be excited, but it's a hollow feeling. That's not the way it's supposed to be. It took me month's just to be able to get to Larsa on Futari 1.5 Original, and I still haven't beaten her.

As for my other impressions of the game:

- I for one like the music. Some tracks are a lot better than others. I like the cheesy guitar riffs and like the opening song a lot (before the Jap singing starts that is.)

- The graphics are pretty good. I mean they're generally uninspired, but they're bright and colorful as hell. The 5th boss almost gave me a seizure, and I mean that in the best possible way. And I like all of the bonus messages, and when they pop up again at the end of a level.

- The challenge is seriously lacking. I would say that it didn't even get interesting until MAYBE the 3rd level. The 4th was a little better, but I'd say that it was never really challenging. I finished the game on my last ship, but one death I remember being completely avoidable (I had zoned out). I did have some intense moments at the 5th boss, and had some really close calls. I honestly don't know if I could 1CC it again so quickly, but this game is just way too easy. The only time any dodging at all is required is during the bosses. And how in the hell could they overlook somehow incorporating the bullet souls into the scoring!?!? I mean shit, 80% of the game is bullet canceling so there's gotta be more to pull you in!

So yeah, I really want to like this game. And I do somewhat, but it's really all Flash and no substance. Like a pretty girl with no personality. I can say that I'm glad I downloaded it before I bought it, cuz that $80 would be better spent elsewhere.