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Espgaluda II iPhone: the best bullet-hell fart app ever
Lunker
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Release Trailer
I find that most people bemoaning the iPhone and iPod Touch's lack of viability as "a real games console," much like people who say the same about other systems, just aren't acquainted with some of the better ones. It's easy to just say "Fart apps and match-3 games, lulz," but a growing crop of spectacular games has just been topped by Espgaluda II, released this past week for iPhone 3GS and newer iPod Touches (can also run on iPads). Cave's official port is not only mindblowingly good, but also absurdly inexpensive at $4.99. (Ask any shmup fan how much their imports normally cost! I think the game is normally $8.99 but it's on sale to celebrate release.) The sheer pixel density and muscle-flexing has actually left older iPhone and iPod Touch owners in the cold, actually; it won't run at all on those machines, and my 3GS burns through battery like a mofo and becomes a tiny nuclear reactor in my hand, but this game is so good that I don't care one whit.
I've never really played any other Cave games before, but this easily stacks up with other comparable bullet-hell manic shmups that have seen domestic release, like Ikaruga or Raiden Fighter Aces. The controls are a dream; it uses the same control scheme as [vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShO9rtyIX-0]Space Invaders Infinity Gene,[/vidurl] in that you don't have a static virtual D-pad or analog stick, but rather any spot you place your finger on becomes an analog stick, allowing for full fluid motion while also letting you shift around so as not to block too much of the screen. (There's a dead zone on the bottom that allows you to control left and right while leaving the full screen intact.) Frankly, I find the control setup way more precise than any D-pad or analog stick I've played with.
ENG gameplay explanation and video
There are two different modes, the traditional Arcade mode (akin to the original JP arcade release and the more recent 360 release, I believe) and a new iPhone mode that changes how the Awakening mode works, sacrificing character motion but letting you tap and nullify bullets directly. There's a whole multitiered system of scoring and chaining that, frankly, I can't even begin to understand, but the long and short is that the game is sheer bullet heaven. Three different difficulties and a few different control options (essentially full-auto, semi-auto and full manual for everything but motion) let you dial the game up or down as much as you want, and on Hard mode this is no watered-down port -- it's the real freaking deal.
Anyway, it's by far the best portable shmup I've ever played, and the controls make it genuinely one of my favorite vertical shmups ever. It's also got Open Feint online leaderboards, achievements and friend integration, so if you play this and are as obsessed as I am, my OF name is just "Lunker". I believe a demo/lite version is coming eventually, but really, if you have any love for shmups you need to buy it, or give five bucks to a friend with an iPhone and make them give it to you for a day or two, because it's just outstanding.
I find that most people bemoaning the iPhone and iPod Touch's lack of viability as "a real games console," much like people who say the same about other systems, just aren't acquainted with some of the better ones. It's easy to just say "Fart apps and match-3 games, lulz," but a growing crop of spectacular games has just been topped by Espgaluda II, released this past week for iPhone 3GS and newer iPod Touches (can also run on iPads). Cave's official port is not only mindblowingly good, but also absurdly inexpensive at $4.99. (Ask any shmup fan how much their imports normally cost! I think the game is normally $8.99 but it's on sale to celebrate release.) The sheer pixel density and muscle-flexing has actually left older iPhone and iPod Touch owners in the cold, actually; it won't run at all on those machines, and my 3GS burns through battery like a mofo and becomes a tiny nuclear reactor in my hand, but this game is so good that I don't care one whit.
I've never really played any other Cave games before, but this easily stacks up with other comparable bullet-hell manic shmups that have seen domestic release, like Ikaruga or Raiden Fighter Aces. The controls are a dream; it uses the same control scheme as [vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShO9rtyIX-0]Space Invaders Infinity Gene,[/vidurl] in that you don't have a static virtual D-pad or analog stick, but rather any spot you place your finger on becomes an analog stick, allowing for full fluid motion while also letting you shift around so as not to block too much of the screen. (There's a dead zone on the bottom that allows you to control left and right while leaving the full screen intact.) Frankly, I find the control setup way more precise than any D-pad or analog stick I've played with.ENG gameplay explanation and video
There are two different modes, the traditional Arcade mode (akin to the original JP arcade release and the more recent 360 release, I believe) and a new iPhone mode that changes how the Awakening mode works, sacrificing character motion but letting you tap and nullify bullets directly. There's a whole multitiered system of scoring and chaining that, frankly, I can't even begin to understand, but the long and short is that the game is sheer bullet heaven. Three different difficulties and a few different control options (essentially full-auto, semi-auto and full manual for everything but motion) let you dial the game up or down as much as you want, and on Hard mode this is no watered-down port -- it's the real freaking deal.
Anyway, it's by far the best portable shmup I've ever played, and the controls make it genuinely one of my favorite vertical shmups ever. It's also got Open Feint online leaderboards, achievements and friend integration, so if you play this and are as obsessed as I am, my OF name is just "Lunker". I believe a demo/lite version is coming eventually, but really, if you have any love for shmups you need to buy it, or give five bucks to a friend with an iPhone and make them give it to you for a day or two, because it's just outstanding.
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After one playthrough on the easiest of easy modes, I noticed that I'd burned through 21% of a charge, so, uh, yeah. Not something good for sustained on-the-go play.
Really quite amazing that they managed to squeeze this much graphical oomph out of an iPhone, I admit that I have counted myself among the haters in the past and I'm having to rethink some of that.
Thanks for the heads up!
If you've never played a Cave game before, then prepare yourself for some hair tearing pissed offness. I haven't played Espgaluda or or Espgaluda II, but I played the original Esprade. I really enjoy it, but fuck it's hard and the combo system is ridiculous.
I enjoy Cave games but find their design to be antithetical to what makes a shooter good.
But I guess since I really enjoy them then they're doing something right.
I love bullet hell shooters, but I'm terrible at them. I OWN a couple dozen, though, both professional and doujin games, so something keeps me coming back.
The only one I've ever 1-credited was Trigger Heart Exelica, which is probably the easiest example of the genre ever.
This particular one has easy mode and it lets you continue when you die. That's a pretty good design, in my book; it lets me blow all the way through from the first screen to the end credits with the training wheels on, and then I can gradually take them off as I want more challenge.
I am blown away by how precise the control is considering the size of the screen, I can be controlling my character with my thumb, and just sort of rock it from side to side - without actually moving it - to make the kind of minute adjustments you need to make in order to fit through gaps in bullet spray patterns.
If I had a complaint, it's only the same complaint that's endemic to the genre - there's a sense that really amazing things are happening all over the screen, but you're so focused on the tiny area around your character's hit box that you wind up missing a lot of them.
Gimme a playback mode and an android version or I will silly goose your skull.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534