The Pros:
1. The graphics on this game are top notch and add some new life to the genre with it's (brief) cinema style ending.
2. A good Xbox live supported Leaderboard, with top scores for overall game and by stage.
3. High quality music.
4. The soundtrack comes with the game!
5. The game is simply fun.
The Cons:
1. There is only one difficulty setting and the bullet patterns on the later bosses become much more difficult than bosses on the normal difficulty setting for Mushihimesama Futari.
2. There are only two game modes, story mode and score attack.
Overall it's a solid game but I think most shmup players would get more replay value from the shmup releases by CAVE (makers of Mushihimesama Futari, Espgaluda 2 and Death Smiles to name a few).
Edit: There are 2 DLCs available for this game on the japanese marketplace, which requires a japanese account and japanese microsoft points. There are a few online guides on how to set up an account and places to buy japanese microsoft points. Both DLCs are well worth the 400MSP. The first DLC is a timed score attack mode, you have 2 minutes to score as many points as possible. The second is an alternate and, for the most part, easier story mode as well as a score attack mode. There is also a new character/ship available. In addition to that there is an additional 250 gamerpoints per DLC to be gained. If you liked the original game but wished there was more to it then I would definitely recommend downloading the extra content.
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I've been looking for this title for AGES, literally...ages.Simple to play, vertical shooter, menu's and game interface are in english.
I heard about the first print, which includes a cd, but this one from seems to be just the 2nd-3rd edition.
Great job 5BP, please..release more!
Best Deals for Bullet Soul
A few years back, developer 5pb ported DaiOuJou and Ketsui to 360 for CAVE. Perhaps this game them a taste for shmups, resulting in the development of Bullet Soul.This is a very energetic shmup. With heavy guitar music, 80's style character designs, and bright neon bullets flowing across the screen, it definitely has awesome presentation. Even at starting firepower, your ship is a total fireworks machine of destruction, and you only get stronger from there.
The unique feature to Bullet Soul is, quite literally, the bullet souls. Once an enemy is destroyed, its bullets turn into wispy white souls. These are harmless, and dissipate if you let them contact you. While this may sound like it would make it hard to track which bullets are a threat, the contrast between normal bullets (bright neon colors) and souls (dull wisps) is great enough that this isn't an issue.
Converting bullets to souls leads to some tense situations where waves of enemies fire streams of bullets at you, only to be cancelled out just before they hit you. There's definitely a balance between reckless aggression and carefully planning which enemies to defeat first. Boss fights also have bullet souls, where destroying portions of the boss convert those bullets to souls.
While souls are a cool idea, they aren't implemented for anything interesting besides the graphical effect. This is where the game falls short in my opinion. It would be great if souls affected your multiplier by collecting them or had some other cool effect on the gameplay, but unfortunately they're just sort of there. Scoring is based on point blanking, where the closer you get to enemies the faster they increase a multiplier gauge. Some may like this simplicity, but I find it a bit disappointing and a missed opportunity.
For beginners, Bullet Soul offers an optional "autobomb" mode, selectable when you choose your ship. When turned on, this automatically uses bombs when you get hit, making the game significantly easier for new players. Experienced players are free to ignore it if they want more challenge.
The game supports tate mode for those who use rotated screens, however the ship select is improperly oriented when using this feature. Not many people use tate, but it looks sloppy for those who do.
Honest reviews on Bullet Soul
I fancy a lot of shooters, such as every Cave release, Raiden games, Eschatos and many others, but it took me a while to bite on Bullet Soul since the cost was a little high and the impressions from shooter fans were mixed. Anyways, I finally bit and I'm glad I did.Not only did I receive the game, which is an incredible vertical scrolling shooter, but I received the version with the soundtrack, which is a high energy hard rock and metal mix, packed with guitar solo after guitar solo. I'm glad it came with the soundtrack since I would've wanted it badly after hearing the music within Bullet Soul.
In terms of content, it's true that Bullet Soul is lighter than most other shooters on the market. For example, Akai Katana just released in the states and has much more content for less than half the price of Bullet Soul. If you're on a budget, check out Akai Katana, DoDonPachi Resurrection, Deathsmiles, Deathsmiles II (Exclusive to Xbox Live Games on Demand), Raiden IV and Raiden Fighters Aces. However, if you're a collector looking to pick up some rarer titles and fill out your collection of shooters, Bullet Soul is a great buy.
Also, for any people interested in Bullet Soul who don't have a Japanese 360, don't worry, because this game's 100% region-free and playable on NTSC consoles.
While it took me a while to get used to the scoring system and some other aspects of Bullet Soul, I'm very, very pleased with this game and it'll stay in my collection.
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I'm a shmup collector and have been playing the genre for nearly 30 years. Please take my advice and save your money for a better shmup than this INSANELY overpriced garbage. It's bad enough that shmup imports are price gauged to death but when you get one that has absolutely laughable gameplay coupled with nearly NO additional modes or difficulties/extras, it becomes a crime.Pros: Looks nice, great music.
Cons: Everything else. Let's start with the gameplay. The gimmick in this shooter is that the bullets of the enemies you destroy turn into bullet "souls" or ghosts. What does this mean for you as the gamer? NOTHING. The bullets turn grey and disappear. You don't collect them, they don't add to your power, they serve absolutely no function whatsoever. The game can be easily cleared in one sitting with only the last level being even remotely challenging. After that...that's it. No difficulty changes, no additional ships or content to unlock, no extra modes or alternate gameplay mechanics. You just paid $100+ for a game that has no replayability.
Go get yourself Cave's Espgaluda 2 or Mushihimesama Futari (both region free) if you want shmups that are not only beautiful but will give you gameplay and options/challenge to last a lifetime. OR Support a company like Qute who released the outstanding Eschatos and Ginga Force. Both are excellent games and are loaded with content.
Avoid this garbage.
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