Deathsmiles Limited Edition -Xbox 360 Review

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I can't stress enough how excellent this game is(provided you like the genre). Cave has long been known as one of the kings of bullet hell type games, but this is surprisingly the first Cave game to be localized for a US release on a console. The only other I know of to get on shore at all is Espgaluda II, which was released on iPhone and is also an excellent port.

Synopsis

There are basically 6 different versions of the game. They are split up into the original arcade port, a version 1.1 arrange version and an xbox 360 specific version. There are 2 versions of each of those, the normal and the MBL(mega black label) version. MBL versions are a special edition of sorts. In that version there is 1 extra character playable and 1 extra level.

Anyway, you are presented with a choice of 4 different girls to play and you play through an other world where you are attacked by monsters and spirits typical of a Halloween setting. You will fight flying pumpkins, ghosts, goblins and Death himself. As you progress farther the difficulty increases and you eventually reach the your goal. Don't worry about whether or not you'll make it here. There are different difficulty levels selectable per level, and you can continue after deaths. Difficulty levels range from a relative easy to blisteringly hard so you can suit that to your own tastes. There's even a "Level 999" option if you really want to hurt yourself.

As far as controls go, they are spot on. You'll never feel like you're fighting the game to do what you want. Everything is fluid and solid.

Finally, there are several nice extra features. You get online leaderboards, a score attack mode, replay saving so you can watch how you did and a practice mode for attacking a specific level until you get it right.

I really can't recommend this title enough if you enjoy these types of games. We don't often even see bullet hell shooters on US soil. It would be a shame to pass up one of the best ones.

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If you grew up playing old school 2D shoot 'em ups like I did and hate to see that Japan is getting all the new old school games then you'll be happy with this U.S. release of Deathsmiles. It features side scrolling 2D action with very tight controls. Designed by Cave, modern "bullet hell" masters. This game even on harder settings didn't feel too difficult. You'll want to play through the various game types more than once which is needed if you want to unlock the various Achievements. The bonus soundtrack and faceplate is a nice touch since this limited edition retails for less than more new releases.

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This game is fantastic. CAVE, the Japanese company known for their manic shooters, released their first U.S. game ever, Deathsmiles. Deathsmiles was released in Japan in April of 2009, but U.S. gamers without an imported Japanese Xbox were not able to play it. Luckily, Aksys Games released it here for everyone to enjoy. The game itself is instantly addictive, devilishly difficult and incredibly addictive. The crisp, colorful 2D graphics shine through the waves of bullets and enemies and even with hundreds of bullets on screen, everything is easily visible and highly detailed. The music matches the feeling and mood of each level, from pumping metal to eerie classical. The game's dark lolita theme is brilliantly captured by CAVE...each level has its own life and personality. The gameplay is where the game really shines. This is CAVE's second horizontal shooter (the other being an arcade game from the 90's--Progear) but they have really shown their versatility with it. The character can shoot both left and right. Enemies attack from both sides of the screen, a formula that is very unique and very entertaining. It's the kind of game you can play in an hour but spend a lifetime perfecting. Highly recommended for any shooter fans, vertical or horizontal.

Honest reviews on Deathsmiles Limited Edition -Xbox 360

First off, Im not going to "whine" about the graphicsTheyre sprite based which i like anyway, and it seems for some reason nowadays the kiddies only like shiny polygons and dismiss 2d graphics.

This game isnt about shiny graphics anyway, its about GAMEPLAY.

Let me first say that Im a big fan of shmups. The original R-Type is still my favorite shooter to play,(although Gradius V comes super close) along with UN Squadron, Lifeforce, Thunderforce series, Raiden I, II and IV, and 1943/45/xx to name a few. I tend to prefer horizontal shooters to vertical ones and Im glad CAVE chose to port Deathsmiles to usa, being as its a horizontal shooter.

There's a ton of different modes available, and the achievements are what really keep me coming back for more, simply because there's some to cater to the more novice player, and others which cater to the hardcore players. Beating the game with each character (4 total)+plus picking where they go after the game is over adds replay value. On top of that each character isnt a copy/paste job-they each have slightly different speeds and have different shooting patterns. And although there are unlimited continues, there's achievements for each character that challenges you to beat the game without continuing-on any difficuly level, (1,2,or 3). I have to say, beating the game with Rosa without continuing felt very rewarding in itself.

Arcade mode has the original graphics which look a bit rough since its a direct port which is fine. On the other hand, Xbox 360 mode looks great on my 42 inch lcd tvand i have it stretched to 16:9 and i have no issues with the look of the game at all. So far Ive probably put about 5 hours of playtime in to the game on Xbox 360 mode alone and have yet to play the Mega Black Label and the Arranged Version, so theres still a lot of game left to enjoy. Online co-op is a nice touch as well, and being able to save your own replays plus save replays from top players on the leaderboards acts as a built in guide to see when and where to use your powered up shots and so forth.

You get 3 bombs per life, and as you kill enemies you get skulls, if you let them hit the ground then pick them up, theyre worth more to add to the total. Get 1000 total and you get to activate a short "power up" mode which makes your shots more powerful and cover a wider area for a short amount of time. Combine this with a point multiplier and it makes it feel rewarding when you find the perfect spot in each level that was designed for this, which maximizes your points and gets you closer to earning an extra 1-up and boast a higher score on the leaderboardsa nice touch. :)

One thing i just dont get is the whole underage lolita thing thats taken over the shmup genre. Its strange how the genre went from spaceships to underage girls shooting stuff, but whatever, a shmup is a shmup i guess. :)

And one more thing-Who cares if its short? Since when does a game have to be X number of hours to be fun? Mega Man 2 can be beat in 45 minutes, and ive beat that game probably 100 times and still enjoy playing it to this day because its FUN...Deathsmiles is the exact same way. If youre a shmup fan, would you really want to play a 10+ hour shmup? I sure wouldnt!!

All in all to me, its well worth the $50. Its a refreshing break from the constant onslaught on FPS games that come out week after week. The extra stuff is nice, but all i care about is the game so i consider that a bonus item. If you enjoy horizontal shmups like i do, do yourself a favor and pick this game up. We need more games like this here in the states and not just Japan.

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Excellent game. Cave has outdone themselves yet again.

Deathsmiles is an excellent port of the arcade game, but it also includes the Mega Black Label DLC already on the disk. This means that you get 6 game versions on one disk.

Hopefully Aksys releases more of Cave's games in the future!