(Note: As this blog won’t handle Japanese characters, I’ll refer to the game with the English text from the title screen. Not sure what we’ll do with Japanese games without any…)
This is what would have happened if Untitled Prologue wasn’t awful.
Derivative anime-styled graphics? Check. Pointlessly detailed infinitely looping background? Check. Single enemy encountered repeatedly for a tedious time period terminating in a boss fight? Check. Fun? Well, actually, yes. A bit.
Crescendo Symphony starts off extremely slow and easy. The ectoplasmic fairy girls float out in a few different patterns and occasionally shoot at you. A larger ectoplasmic enemy girl appears in the midst. Then, more of the same, until your eyes nearly droop closed from tedium. And then the music changes. And the fairy patterns change. And the firing rates go way up. Now it’s a relatively difficult bullet-hell style shooter. But still the patterns of fairies. And the larger enemy a couple more times. Not quite as tedious when you’re frantic to survive. Finally, an ectoplasmic boss girl-creature with an insane firing rate and a ludicrous health bar. And that’s where your Trial ends.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but, from what I’ve gathered, in the full game you simply start again after that point and your ‘Loop’ counter increments. So, not a large amount of content in this one. You’ll have to decide whether the amount of fun you have with it is worth the asking price. For me, I’m pretty much done with it whatever the price.
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Yeah, disappointing this. Very average and the lack of animation is really jarring.
Heh, even our scribbly brothers are starting out pretty lacklusterly these days.
I think there’s a dating sim out from JP too on Indie Games. Guess we’re gonna see a bunch of doujin shmups and dating sims.
Just a note: There be more 80 points games. Notables include (ones that are not in the top 5)
- Zoomaroom
- Penga’s Peril
- Alchemist
- Crystal Crush
- Hive
- Adventure Pets HD
- Swords and Monsters (TeeHee)
Awww, sad to see Zoomaroom selling itself short
(New pricing added to the site. *whew*)
And you’re personal favorite Rumble Massage
It looks the top shoot’em up game in XNA is still up for grabs. Crescendo Symphony is one that I thought might kick ass, but fell short. I am interested in what else this dev comes up with, as there’s a lot of things done right in this game (from a shmup perspective). The only thing missing is, well, the game itself. I played to the end first try and was bored to bother trying a second loop. I found a few reviews where the reviewer could not get to the boss and just assumed there was more to enjoy. :S
Personally, I could find a lot of things wrong with the game(like that stupid voice clip when you shoot slowly). But I think it’s a step in the right direction for the dev. Plus it was a lot better than like, all XNA shmups released to date. lol
I resent that.
Anyway, I’ve read about this before as a cultural difference in game development. Japanese projects apparently begin as one thin slice of gameplay and then they make that as awesome as they can, while western games go depth first and then add polish at the end.
Heh, sorry, but I can’t honestly say that I’d snap up ANY XNA shmup right now, knowing that many can do better than what’s on offer. There’s a group that gets it done, only to slip up on some basic stuff that makes everything look bad, and then there’s people that JUST DON’T GET IT AT ALL.
I wish Astro Port started developing XNA shmups right now.
On second thought, I should take that back, they’d destroy our revenue. =p
Developing just one slice of gameplay is a pretty good idea. Some of the best games come from just a few mechanics, quality tested.
Evil Aliens still feels more like an arena shooter than a traditional scrolly shooter, so it didn’t even enter my mind when I felt agreement with the sentiment that all the XBLIG shooters are sorely lacking. Me want Duality! (Evil Aliens is quite fun, though. IMO.)
I haven’t got round to trying it out yet, and I hear it’s not brilliant, but it’s a step in the right direction! Japan has had indie games for a week or so now I believe, and there’s already a proper shmup out. Hurrah! The only other Japanese game I’ve seen is some sort of anime story with a sex rating of 3/3. Will have to try that one too.
As far as I can tell it’s one of those dating sim visual novel things the Japanese are so crazy about (“soredemo, watashi wa aishiteiru”? Something to the effect of “I love you anyway”?)
Based on the guidelines for the content descriptors, I’d say that very little interesting happens. 3/3 sex isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/8912.aspx
“Sexual Overtones: What is the frequency/pervasiveness of sexual overtones during game play?
2 – Direct verbal references to romance, characters kissing or hugging, sexual overtones are part of the game. A game where your character is required to ask another out on a date would be rated no less than a 2.
3 – The game contains words or activities that amount to obvious sexual innuendo or mildly explicit sexual descriptions or images or sexual posturing.”
Asking someone out on a date is a 2/3. ROFL. Oh, these MS prudes.
Maybe she makes a “size matters” joke in Japanese and that bumped it up to a 3