LittleBear
says: An honest brew makes its own friends.
We’re moving from our apartment to a house over the next couple of days, so my internet connection is going to be spotty. Plus I’ll be working hard carrying boxes. Never ceases to amaze me how much crap one can accumulate in a short time. In the meantime check out Independent Gaming. There’s always up-to-date news not only on shmups but other indie games as well. A great resource.
I’ve tried a couple times in the past to get the trial version of Blue Sabers working on my desktop, but the machine’s a little old and I never got things working. I tried again tonight, on a new laptop and I got lucky. Must be a DirectX version thing, or something strange with the Japanese Windows the game was written for.
Blue Sabers’ graphics always reminded me of Kamui, though they have a higher resolution. Of course I like the city background of level 2. The game itself’s a little different though. You can choose between a couple ships to play, each having a few different weapons you can cycle through with the ‘X‘ key. You also have a neat “support” ship, that arrives on command, and proceeds to unleash a barrage against your enemies. I managed at one point to join with the support ship, which in turn acted as a shield but slowed me down somewhat. It took some damage then blew up.
Another fun dojin soft game, worth playing the trial version because… it’s always worth trying out a new shmup.
Take a few minutes to download Starleaf YO. It’s a fun, manic shmup where you fight agains what appears to be pumpkins. Shoot them as soon as you can, or soon you’ve got a screen full of bullets to dodge. Smooth play, 2 weapons and a solid feel to the game. There’s a 3 Minute Play mode, allowing for a quick shooter fix. Here’s the official site of the author, Murasame.
Wow! Just a few hours after I posted an article about Gunroar I spy a new download at ABA Games. Mu-cade is the name, and Kenta Cho describes it as “The Physics Centipede Invasion.” I’m downloading it now…
Ok, some first impressions: Visually Mr. Cho is doing some new things. There’s a “smoky” trail left around and fading after several of the game objects move. The effect is rather cool. There’s some classic “snake” element going on, your centipede body seems to grow. This tail is apparently a weapon also, as ‘X‘ causes your tail segments to explode. ‘Z‘ is the usual main weapon. Seems there’s a bit of gravity as at times you feel that in the movement. You can also get tangled up in your tail, making movement even more difficult. The goal is to knock and bump the enemies out and avoid the same for your centipede.
So far this looks great, but quite different from his previous efforts. I imagine over the next month or two we’ll see some more iterations and improvements.
There is a lot to like about Gunroar, the most recent game by Kenta Cho, of ABA Games. It’s a shmup as one would expect, this time you control a gunboat.
There’s the graphics, abstract still as expected but showing some inspiring effects. Your boat leaves a wake while moving through the water, artfully depicted by two trails of triangles. Explosions also use this effect, as ripples emanating from the center of the carnage. Water and land are discerned as blue and green respectfully, with the density of the land layers determining whether you’re in shallow water or up to the beach. Land will slow you down and stop you, so watch out.
Then there’s the controls, keyboard provided as well as dual sticks. Not having dual sticks yet I deftly use the keyboard. Your main shot, controlled with ‘Z‘, will shoot in the direction you are facing unless you hold the key down. In that case the shot direction is locked, giving you automatic fire in a single direction. ‘X‘ fires torpedoes, very powerful, but you must continually press to shoot them.
Then there’s the game itself. You are in control of how fast you scroll, the closer you are to the top the faster you scroll. And the bigger your bonus is. That has its dangers, as offscreen enemy boats can fire as you approach. The enemy ships themselves are composite in nature, they get a little bigger as you progress, with more and more guns added. The difficulty scales up fairly quickly and soon you’re dodging a pretty constant hail of shells. Especially with each new boss.
Expect the usual great soundtrack and professional package as with his other games. It’s free to download, including the source. What are you waiting for?
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