Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst coming to Xbox 360

[DQuick]

I have only had a few minutes to check it out. The game has a Normal mode, Burst mode, and caravan mode. I can't comment on new stages as I've only messed around to stage 3. There are new enemies, different patterns, different enemy placements, the bosses now have a timer. The general feel of the enemy patterns is more aggressive than in the original. Burst mode has the most differences from the original. Enemies drop coins when destroyed, you have no bombs, your ship has a health gauge rather than lives. When you fill up a gauge on the left of the screen you can activate some kind of hyper mode that makes your weapon multi coloured and turns the coins red. For anyone wondering all modes still feature the bullets being vaporized when you kill the enemy shooting them. For the 20 odd minutes I've spent with it I've enjoyed it so far, it doesn't feel quite as relaxed as the first.

[brentsg]

I've got it pre-ordered, though NCS still hasn't updated the game's release status from "TBA"...I'll email them on Monday if I don't get a shipping confirmation by then.

They had a note up that their import shipment was stuck in OH, so there was a shipping delay.

[ssturtle]

Mine just shipped out from NCSX, hopefully I'll have in in 2 days.
Will update once I get a chance to play.

[fagin]

They should have named it "MANIC Burst". You won't fall asleep playing this one.

[BulletMagnet]

Just got my shipping confirmation as well, should be here by mid-late week.

[Liquid Snake]

Please keep us update

[BulletMagnet]

Arrived today, only played a few minutes since I have to go out tonight, but in case anyone had any lingering doubts, yes, it DOES work on a US 360. Will post some more impressions once I've had a chance to dig in further...

[Kiken]

Just finished up a couple of credits of Infinite Burst mode... they should have called it "Get Blind-sided, The Video Game!!" So many larger enemies swooping in from the sides of the screen in these massive arcing movements. Prepare to die by physical collision... a lot. The life bar system is interesting... as you hit extend values the meter gets longer, thus allowing you to stock more life. Should you take a couple of hits, you can replenish your shield by picking up green energy icons (which have specific drop points). The severity of what you get hit by changes the amount of damage done to your craft (so even having a longer meter doesn't mean much if you start colliding with larger objects). The hyper mode is some serious visual overload! There is so much shit on the screen when you trigger one that it really does become quite easy to lose some miniscule sniper turret shot in amongst all the chaos (plus you get crazy fast in this mode). It also doesn't help that the life/hyper gauge occupies an obnoxious amount of screen space when playing in tate on a 3:4 screen (also, they didn't fix the character select screen).

OH MY GOD SO MANY END STAGE BONUSES!!!

Remember when triggering 10 of the secret bonuses in the first stage was pretty much the max? Now you can trigger around 50... no sweat. Jsut hold down the A button because they take forever to scroll through.

I've only made it to the stage 3 boss on a single credit thus far... this mode is certainly much more difficult than BS white label or ver B.


Also, I love Loop's death quote: "This sucks desu!

[ACSeraph]

^Thanks for the impressions, I've been on the fence about whether I wanted to pick this up or not. I found the first game rather boring, especially the first 2 stages, but I also saw potential with it and the later stages and boss fights were quite fun. Sounds like Infinite Burst is a step in the right direction.

[Mero]

Sounds promising, I should have a copy of this in my possession soon (I hope).

[pestro87]

I never played the original but I have mixed feelings on this game. Here are my initial impressions of the game after playing it for ~1h:

Pros:

Fun scoring mechanics in Burst Mode
- You want to accumulate lots of coins on the screen and then collect them all as fast as you can as there is a coin-chain counter.
- When entering burst mode, enemies will drop red-coins. I believe that these coins are of higher value than the normal coins and they will also re-fill your burst meter
- Uncover all of the secrets on the stages for end-stage bonuses
- There's a floating treasure that you can find on certain/all stages. This chest will shower you with coins so I believe that it's profitable to enter burst mode right before you've uncovered the chest so that he will shoot out the red coins

Solid game modes
Burst Mode and the Caravan Mode are probably my favorite ones so far.

Great visual presentation
A+++ on this department.

Cons:

Too easy from a survival perspective
I managed to get to the TLB on my third credit in Burst Mode. You can basically just sit in the middle of the screen and hold down your wide-shot for the first two stages. This is mainly because every enemy you destroy cancels his/her bullets.

"Collectathon" the shmup
Words cannot express how many coins there are to collect in Burst Mode... It's to the point where it clutters up the entire screen.

[HydrogLox]

I've only made it to the stage 3 boss on a single credit thus far... this mode is certainly much more difficult than BS white label or ver B.[/i]

I'm actually a bit surprised by this verdict - I used the new pilot/ship in Burst mode and got to the stage 3 on the first credit - something that didn't come quite as easy to me in the original one. But for all I know the ship selection is part of "difficulty set-up" - in that case the new pilot/ship may be the "novice" ship.

Disclaimer: I may be playing it all wrong - and I probably am.

Furthermore BS always struck me as a "difficulty by play style" game. You could simply hang back, take it easy not caring about score or you could live dangerously at the top edge to quickly build your multiplier to maximize score.
Granted in BS:IB the colour frenzy and blindsiding mixes things up a bit - but I don't think it is in the same league as "Overkill" on top of "Raiden IV". If anything collecting coins tends to put you in the somewhat safer lower half of the screen (less safe now because of the occasional "blindsiding" attack). The only way you can minimize waste of movement for coin collecting is to point blank the spawning sites.

- You want to accumulate lots of coins on the screen and then collect them all as fast as you can as there is a coin-chain counter.

I'm not so sure about this - I think bouncing off the bottom the coins seem to lose value (I was surprised when they bounced as I expected them to disappear), so "waiting" comes with the risk of score loss and waste of movement for collecting coins. Dependent on the time out on the chain, point-blanking the spawning sites in quick succession might be more profitable - I'm just not good enough to pull that off.

I've been on the fence about whether I wanted to pick this up or not. I found the first game rather boring.

I'm still not convinced that BS:IB will convert anyone who didn't like BS. But I think "being bored" in BS or BS:IB can be a symptom of a conservative play style - unless of course you are already taking every risk that the game will let you take. Bullet Soul always felt like it was trying to be more accessible to a larger audience at the risk of not impressing top level players. I'm not sure why but to me BS:IB seems to have been influenced by "Star Soldier( Portable)" - something that never struck me with the original (and it's not because of the caravan mode).

EDIT: not so sure now that the coins are actually worth less once they bounce ...
EDIT 2: You seem to be able to "bomb" by using the burst button during a burst - it seems all the remaining burst energy is dumped - not sure about the exact damage/protection this offers though.

[Kiken]

I've only made it to the stage 3 boss on a single credit thus far... this mode is certainly much more difficult than BS white label or ver B.[/i]

I'm actually a bit surprised by this verdict - I used the new pilot/ship in Burst mode and got to the stage 3 on the first credit - something that didn't come quite as easy to me in the original one. But for all I know the ship selection is part of "difficulty set-up" - in that case the new pilot/ship may be the "novice" ship.

Disclaimer: I may be playing it all wrong - and I probably am.

Furthermore BS always struck me as a "difficulty by play style" game. You could simply hang back, take it easy not caring about score or you could live dangerously at the top edge to quickly build your multiplier to maximize score.
Granted in BS:IB the colour frenzy and blindsiding mixes things up a bit - but I don't think it is in the same league as "Overkill" on top of "Raiden IV". If anything collecting coins tends to put you in the somewhat safer lower half of the screen (less safe now because of the occasional "blindsiding" attack). The only way you can minimize waste of movement for coin collecting is to point blank the spawning sites.

Loop was available in Ver B of the original game. She's ridiculously over-powered in comparison to the original cast. I also try to play this game pretty aggressively spending as much time in the upper third of the screen as possible.

- You want to accumulate lots of coins on the screen and then collect them all as fast as you can as there is a coin-chain counter.

I'm not so sure about this - I think bouncing off the bottom the coins seem to lose value (I was surprised when they bounced as I expected them to disappear), so "waiting" comes with the risk of score loss and waste of movement for collecting coins. Dependent on the time out on the chain, point-blanking the spawning sites in quick succession might be more profitable - I'm just not good enough to pull that off.

It can be hard to track what's going on with the value but I think that may be accurate (they do lose some value once they start acending.. I'll have to watch a replay closely to figure out what's going on). That being said, any coins that manage to leave the screen will take a serious dent out of your multiplier (so if you're going for score, you really want to make it a point to collect them all). The green health items do not bounces off the bottom of the screen though... those must be collected during their initial descent.

[ShamefurDispray]

Wait, where are you guys ordering it from? I only see the $90 Japanese version on amazon.

[brentsg]

My Infinite Burst arrive and I'm already disappointed. It came postage due..

[HydrogLox]

AmiAmi: Xbox360 Bullet Soul -Infinite Burst- Regular Edition
AmiAmi: Xbox360 Bullet Soul -Infinite Burst- First Release Limited Edition

Play-Asia: BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST
Play-Asia: BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST [LIMITED EDITION]

NCSX: Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst [X360/JPN]
NCSX: Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst Limited Edition [X360/JPN]

yesasia: Bullet Soul Infinite Burst (Normal Edition) (Japan Version)
yesasia: Bullet Soul Infinite Burst (First Press Limited Edition) (Japan Version)

Nin-Nin Game: BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST - STANDARD EDITION [X360]
Nin-Nin Game: BULLET SOUL INFINITE BURST - LIMITED EDITION [X360]

If I'm not mistaken the "DLC card" in the limited edition is a code to the original Bullet Soul on the Japanese Xbox marketplace. So the original is not on disk - so far I don't see the used prices on the original physical release dropping. That being said it is now just a 5pb Games marketing decision as to whether they are going to publish a "DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu Double Pack" style package with 2 discs.

[ShamefurDispray]

So...there's no region free version? I don't have a Japanese 360

And yeah, I'm not paying >$50 for a shmup unless it's pretty damn good.

[HydrogLox]

So...there's no region free version? I don't have a Japanese 360

It's an all region release but a Japanese import - most retailers won't commit to claiming that it is region-free just because the publisher says so.

And yeah, I'm not paying >$50 for a shmup unless it's pretty damn good.

Fair enough - the original got a lot of criticism and yet the physical game can be now quite expensive. And some people managed to enjoy it.

[ssturtle]

Good price from the Ami Ami link above but I'd rather spend a few bucks more (once you figure in shipping) and get it faster from NCSX.

[ShamefurDispray]

It's an all region release but a Japanese import - most retailers won't commit to claiming that it is region-free just because the publisher says so.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification.

[BulletMagnet]

Okay, had a lengthier sit-down with this, here are some fuller-ish thoughts:

- Just to emphasize, this one really isn't a sequel so much as a "remix" of the original game: as has been noted, menus and options are pretty much identical to the first Bullet Soul (I'm personally miffed that they still haven't put in an option to disable replay saving), and while things have been tweaked gameplay-wise the basic idea of getting in close and cancelling enemy shots before they hit you is the same.

- "Normal" mode plays with the same rules as "non-Infinite Burst" Bullet Soul, with a few changes: as has been noted, the enemy and bullet patterns have been changed, including the addition of some new enemies not seen in the original. The multiplier also goes up MUCH faster: in the first game it took some effort to get it up past a few dozen, but here the triple digits aren't too tough even for a scrub like myself, and a decent player could surely do a good deal better than that (the extend rate has also been adjusted, of course, though offhand I'm not sure what the exact values are). Most of the "tricks" from before still work (i.e. dropping the buildings on the spider bots, etc.), but some stuff has been switched up (you don't need to bomb to open up the alien nest in stage 3, now you can just shoot it).

- Speaking of bombs, this edition's a bit less generous with them: before you'd get one per stage, but here I didn't see a bomb pickup until stage 3. Your stock is still refilled after dying though, so it's not a huge change.

- It might be my imagination, but it feels to me like enemies are a bit more aggressive on the whole, but also die a bit quicker: someone more observant than myself would have to corroborate that, but while I would agree that the game is more challenging than before, I wouldn't call it a huge difference. I do feel a bit more confident, somehow, using Cap'n McSmirkey than before, while I used to much prefer Officer Garterbelt; Moe Pimp Lord's lack of speed, however, I still find crippling. Plugsuit Desu is indeed pretty powerful, though you do need to be good at getting in close to truly take advantage of her, well, advantages.

- I'd concur with most of what Kiken said concerning Burst mode: it's basically the solution for those who felt the first Bullet Soul's main problem was its excessive subtlety and quietude. While I feel that blind-siding enemies and difficulty keeping track of what's going on are significant issues in the other modes as well, they're even more pronounced here since you'll be zooming all over the screen to collect coins (also, it should be noted that the patterns here have again been remixed a bit from "Normal" mode). And yeah, there really should have been an option to shrink/fade/something that Burst meter, it's a real nuisance when playing in tate.

- Otherwise, you're always at full power in Burst mode (not like powerups weren't mostly vestigial in Bullet Soul to begin with), and "traditional" bombs don't exist here, though you can cancel a Burst early to activate a "bomb" and save yourself a hit. Coin collecting seems to work something like Dangun Feveron's disco men: collecting them increases the value of the next one you pick up, they bounce off the bottom and float off the top, and if you let one escape it takes a chunk out of the coin value, though the penalty is peanuts compared to Feveron. Killing enemies fills your Burst meter; I THINK killing them at close range fills it faster. Activating it boosts your speed and shot power (bosses go down pretty quick when bursting), and makes coins both more valuable and a slight boon to the Burst meter while it lasts, so in a coin-rich area you can extend the burst to a decent extent.

- Every time you collect a red coin while bursting, your character says (I think) "Burst!" EVERY TIME. "Ba-ba-ba-ba-bababababaBASTO!"

-Caravan mode is pretty much "what it says on the tin," as our British members might say - a single, fixed two-minute score attack course featuring some unique (I think) enemies. It's played with "Normal" game rules, though sans power-ups or bombs. Neither your multiplier or your time remaining are affected by dying, though it will cost you a substantial "no miss" bonus at the end. I never got any of the DLC for the first game, so I don't know how similar or different this is from that.

- Normal and Burst modes also have Practice and Score Attack single-stage variations, same as before.

- You can switch between an "original" (same as vanilla Bullet Soul) and new "arrange" soundtrack for Normal and Burst mode - there are also two songs to choose between for Caravan mode. Virt was somehow involved with the music, though to what extent I don't know; some of the characters' voice samples also sound different than before, not that it significantly alters the overall tone or anything.

All in all this is a stronger package than the first game, but I very much doubt it'll win over anyone who wasn't a fan already, and there are quite a few here who weren't; while I can certainly get behind the notion of expanding beyond one's original idea, I would have much preferred that the developers refine and improve that original concept and bring out its full potential instead, as many of the issues I had with vanilla BS are still present here despite the additional trimmings. I'm glad Tachyon got another shot at this, and they've got some good things going, but I also get the feeling that they're taking advantage of the (not-entirely-unwarranted, mind you) "these days shmuppers should be grateful for whatever they get" state of mind.

[ACSeraph]

Cap'n McSmirkey...Officer Garterbelt; Moe Pimp Lord...Plugsuit Desu

I'm voting we make these the new official character names on shmups forum

[BulletMagnet]

For the record, "Moe Pimp Lord" isn't mine, someone else on here came up with that one when the first game came out. I will claim trademark rights on the other three, though.

[Kiken]

For the record, "Moe Pimp Lord" isn't mine, someone else on here came up with that one when the first game came out. I will claim trademark rights on the other three, though.

I believe that was me, actually.

Anyway, I can confirm that coins lose value once they bounce off the bottom of the screen. During their descent, they're +100 to the chain count. Upon ascent, they drop to +50.

Nailed an all clear of Infinite Burst mode just a short while ago with Cap'n McSmirkey. Just finished capturing the run (broke 3.3 billion). I'll upload the run tomorrow after I've had a chance to recompress the video.

[NeoStrayCat]

They have actual names u know, but I can take it with shump users own TM'd nicknames, lol.

Anyways, speaking of Caravan, I linked it a couple posts back (with a vid), and its a bit different than what it was in the original version of the game. More enemies and different shot variants in that one, also a little difficult than before. But more or less the same as it was. (Note: Have played the original ver. with the DLC.)

Also, what's haven't mentioned here yet is "Musou" mode. Since there are achs. for that, how different is that mode compared to the other ones, though its an unlockable, but I can wait for that.

[genetik]

Received the LE version of the game yesterday. That edition includes a code for the original game. Prior to this, I never tried to buy or redeem a code for a Japanese Games on Demand. Seems like it won't let me redeem it as it's IP region locked. Anyone know works around (VPN I assume) for Japanese Games on Demand?

[ssturtle]

Received the LE version of the game yesterday. That edition includes a code for the original game. Prior to this, I never tried to buy or redeem a code for a Japanese Games on Demand. Seems like it won't let me redeem it as it's IP region locked. Anyone know works around (VPN I assume) for Japanese Games on Demand?

Were you trying to download the original game on a Japanese Xbox 360 by chance or a NTSC U/C console?

Side note received my game yesterday (Limited Edition) and it came in a large magazine sized package / box due to the included provided magazine, definitely an oddball size.
Wish they'd have provided the magazine separately and not made the package so huge. (Not bitching, just thought I'd mention it)

Hopefully I get a chance to play it tonight and make some comments.

[genetik]

Were you trying to download the original game on a Japanese Xbox 360 by chance or a NTSC U/C console?

Actually tried on both my JPN and US console. For sure, it's IP blocking me.

[HydrogLox]

Nailed an all clear of Infinite Burst mode just a short while ago with Cap'n McSmirkey. Just finished capturing the run (broke 3.3 billion).

... putting you currently in 5th place for Zen-ichi. You're certainly not doing the game any favours - though I guess a quick clear is better than this.
So currently the leaderboards are at :

R=Character & aka & Top Score & # of clears R=Yun & Officer Garterbelt & 3,502,253,370 & 12 R=Zen-ichi & Captain McSmirkey & 4.044,073,180 & 15 R=Sadaharu & Moe Pimp Lord & 3,655,024,200 & 4 R=Loop & Plugsuit Desu & 4,160,186,860 & 10

I don't think it's as bad as 1-sissy Karous.

Anyone know works around (VPN I assume) for Japanese Games on Demand?

Apparently Bullet Soul is not locked down on the Hong Kong marketplace. But of course

1. You have to have a Hong Kong account.
2. There is no telling if the code will work on the Hong Kong account.

See
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 35#p753835
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/927749-x ... 501?page=1

[Chaos Phoenixma]

You're certainly not doing the game any favours - though I guess a quick clear is better than this.
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Did anyone ever do an autobomb on version of that and see how much farther it went?