Source: Cashmoneys Price: £2.89 Where To Get It: Steam
Singers, and indeed musicians of all kinds, get groupies. People who fan over them so much that they want to be inappropriate with their adored musician. But in Kawaii Deathu Desu, the handsy fans have invaded perhaps the last stage they should have… The stage of various supernatural Idol Singers, starting with… Death herself.
Yes, Death is an Idol Singer now. And her fans appear to love
being reaped.
I’m honestly impressed that I managed to capture a frame that shows both the cutesy Death, and the reapings. Look at those blushy-happy ghosts go!
More accurately, Kawaii Deathu Desu is an extremely twitchy
version of One Finger Death Punch, in which you use the left and
right mouse buttons or arrow keys to murderise fans, levelling up
idols, unlocking idols and their costumes, using their special
ability with either space or both arrow keys at once, a thing you can
accidentally do if you’re having to really lash out (and you
are. Often.) And, funnily enough, it’s that levelling up and
unlocking that’s precisely the problem. But we’ll get back to that in
a moment.
Aesthetically, it’s an interesting mix of cutesy pixels… And grim pixels, moving seamlessly between both. The Idols are cute, swaying, headbanging, playing to their hearts’ content… Until they strike, whereupon they become horrific weapons of destruction, their fans vanishing into ash, being sliced in two…
I mean, to be fair, a metalhead ashing her fans with the power of SLIME ZOMBIES is, itself, metal as fuck.
And then their ghosts pop up, and most of them have heart eyes, with hearts flashing down from their ruined bodies as they vanish. The music is good, reminiscent of various styles from kitschy J-Pop, to harder tracks, and everything is pretty clear, even down to showing the keyboard controls for the menu only when you’re using the keyboard. I enjoy that. Oh, and the developer splash screen UwU’s you. Shouldn’t forget that.
But gameplay wise, while the core, basic gameplay is mostly
alright, the difficulty ramps up way more quickly than the souls you
need to level up and buy things does. I have, through sheer bloody
mindedness, managed to unlock the second level of China, and Emmy,
the second character (A zombie rocker who summons a handsy graveyard
of their own as their special), but it feels, right now, as if
I have a longer road ahead of me than is enjoyable. While the earlier
stages, themselves, still feel enjoyable.
Only… does finger math… Approximately 10400 souls to go before she can deal with the later levels. Damn.
So, overall, I’m conflicted about Kawaii Deathu Desu. I love its mix of cutesy and not-cute-at-all, and its core mechanic works just fine, but it gets twitchy as hell quickly for too little reward, generally speaking, with farming of the earlier levels a must to progress, and that… That annoys me. Maybe it’ll be changed. But right now, it hasn’t, so… Only get this if you’ve read all this, and still want to give it a go.
OwO, what’s this? The Mad Welshman appreciates cutesy death deities.
Source: Cashmoneys Price: £23.79 (Soundtrack £6.79) Where To Get It: Steam
Fighting games are sometimes difficult to learn. Sometimes, they’re also difficult to master. But sometimes, as in Fantasy Strike, they’re mainly difficult to master. Which I appreciate, even if a tutorial before you can even change the window settings is not something I appreciate. Still, let’s talk Fantasy Strike.
“…You’re already painted.”
The philosophy behind Fantasy Strike’s fighting shenanigans is
twofold: Firstly, to make a more accessible fighting game. But
secondly, the game is all about David Sirlin’s favourite part of
fighting games: Yomi.
It’s got multiple potential meanings, even in fighting games, but,
essentially, the idea is that high level play involves reading your
opponent well, so that you can adapt your strategies on the fly, be
that conditioning your opponent into certain reactions (that you then
punish with a different moveset), or simply knowing that an
opponent likes a certain pattern, then punishing them for using it
(It can go many ways, as you can see.) So, how does it do this? Well,
multiple ways.
Firstly, there are a total of six buttons: One for light, one for
heavy, two for specials, one for throwing, one for jump, and one for
super moves. Also there is no crouching. Okay, that’s a relatively
simple set up, especially since many characters don’t really have the
need for both specials (although directional inputs change a fair few
moves, as do, obviously, jumps.) There’s also a more limited health
bar that gets chipped away if you block three attacks consecutively
(some moves do double damage, such as Midori’s Dragon Throw, but most
either deal one, or combo, so blocking it is effectively one
damage, or two for not blocking.) It’s still somewhat twitchy,
requiring good reactions and not button mashing to win the day, but
that is, honestly, not bad. Enemies also flash various colours for
invincibility frames (white), throws (blue), and special throws
requiring a jump prompt to escape (green.) That still requires good
reactions, but it is helpful.
Geiger, having a watch that controls time, counters and specials by… Being an asshole, essentially.
Secondly, beyond the things that you normally do with the
concept of Yomi (pattern punishes, baiting, jump cancels, etcetera),
there is the concept of the Yomi Counter. Somebody wants to throw
you, and normally this is tough to counter, but in Fantasy
Strike, the way you counter it is by… Doing absolutely nothing. Not
moving, not punching… Just very briefly letting go of the controls.
In practice, this is something that still requires mastering
the specific reaction needs of Fantasy Strike, but the mechanical
theory, at least, is clever.
Finally, the game lets you know what kind of character you’re playing, and, like other fighting games, allows you to see the moveset. “Wild Card”, alas, is a needlessly nebulous term, as the two fighters in this category, DeGrey and Lum, still have overlap with other categories. Lum is a sort of zoner in practice with random items as his special, while DeGrey is a sort of meld of grappler (slow-ish, but hard hitting), and “doll” fighter, with his ghost friend being a ranged grapple. But the other categories of zoner (specialises in controlling the battlefield in some fashion, and making areas of the battlefield dangerous. By the way, no crouch means projectiles are more dangerous), rushdown (relying on getting in someone’s face and comboing them with mixups (different attacks to different areas) to murderise them), and grappler (You hit hard, are slow, and mostly rely on throws) make sense. The majority category, by the way, are zoners, giving you some idea of the priorities here.
SIIIIGH. On the one hand, feels. On the other, in retrospect, the fact this lady is dragged off by oppressive government, then never mentioned again is bad.
Aesthetically, the game is honestly not bad at all. The characters
are interesting visually, and you get a rough idea of what they can
do by their look, the stages are lovely, and the music, while a
little generic at times, is fitting and doesn’t steal the limelight.
The voicework, on the other hand, is variable. Yes, I get that
Valerie is a “Manic Painter”, but that isn’t always full ham,
buds. And she is full ham. Which is a shame, because she’s my
personal favourite. Similarly, the writing of Arcade Mode is… Well,
it’s a little like earlyish fighting games (we’re talking
Darkstalkers era more than original Stret Fighter), in that the plots
are mostly silly, and told via beginning and end cutscenes. Although
Valerie’s does start on a dark note, as her lady love is carted away
by the oppressive government of the world that… Doesn’t really get
that prominent a story role, to be honest? So, while there’s some
queer rep, the cast is, honestly, pretty white as far as it goes, so
it doesn’t really win any points for diverse representation overall.
I’ve already mentioned my main gripe (the tutorial being right at the beginning, rather than, say, a prompt before playing your first game that then allows you to change your options before play), and I will also mention that online requires a separate signup (Something I know some people aren’t a big fan of), but, overall? It isn’t a bad game, although I will say that the limited character roster is, considering the price, also a potential turn off. Finally, I’ll mention that yes, pro players will still kick your ass until you master things, with it being more to do with pattern recognition and timing than that and a hefty moveset. Otherwise, it honestly does most of what it sets out to do, isn’t a bad fighting game, and I found myself having an okay time with it, despite being normally bad and frustrated at fighting games.
The Mad Welshman dislikes explaining a lot, but, with fighting games, it’s kiiiinda necessary. There’s a lot of terms that only exist in fighting games.
Source: Review Copy Price: £15.49 Where To Get It: Steam
While I’m not much of a fighting game man, I love me some beat-em-up action. There’s something cathartic about beating the living daylights out of goons, beasts, and monsters, all of whom want yo- wait, speedrunning too?
Each tournament of the game is clearly mapped out, and it’s usually pretty clear what you’re meant to do.
Yes, this is Speed Brawl, a side-scrolling arena beat-em-up where the main concept is “Gotta punch fast.”, as you’re rated more by how quickly you get through its fighting shenanigans, or how quickly you hit targets, than how much health you have at the end of it, or how many sausages you picked up from trashcans along the way. And, as with any speedrunning games, there are tricks, little things to give you an edge.
Still, even without those, it’s mostly a fun as heck game about alternate-universe victorian characters (mostly, in the early game, some rad ladies) beating the hell out of mooks and bugs (big or otherwise.) And boy, do I love two of these characters in particular: Cassie and Bia.
Each character, along with equipment to buff them, and colour schemes (both won via playing the game), has a different feel to them, and Cassie and Bia are perfect examples of this. Cassie is a short french pixie-urchin with a cricket bat, and while she’s quick, she’s not the most damaging character, and is slightly more fragile than most. She also has a fast special, and her ultimate move (gained the same way you gain Special meter stamina: By beating things up) is nigh uncontrollable, but a glory off destruction if you can get her to spin around the stage just so. Meanwhile, Bia is big, butch, and her attacks work best at a somewhat specific range (the end of her fists, obviously.) She’s nowhere near as fast, but her specials and ultimate are tight, horizontal, and repeated haymakers, which do a lot of damage. Put the two together, since each level of Speed Brawl is played with two characters per player (and switching out gives a small speed boost), and an orgy of carnage results.
Like I said, when Cassie’s special can be aimed, it’s a gooood time!
It’s good, fun stuff, and it helps that everyone levels up once enough XP is gained, because for certain levels, folks like Cassie are, hands down, the best, while for others, you want something different. It works well aesthetically, the music is pumping and joyous, and, while the controls and later enemies (who have defences, or teleports, or ranged attacks) take getting used to, it’s definitely fun.
If I had any real crits for Speed Brawl, it’s that some enemies just feel more annoying to deal with (The large Rippers who are invincible from the front, for example), and that items don’t always feel like they do much, even though they are definitely increasing damage, and adding status effects. Part of this is that it’s chaotic as heck, and it can sometimes be hard to read what’s going on outside of your immediate circle of “Thing I’m pummelling right this second”, and this gets moreso with two players.
Then again, it also goes more quickly and is fun as heck with two players, so… Tradeoff? Either way, I like how Speed Brawl messes with the 2d beat-em-up formula, and, while it has a number of buttons, it’s still fairly easy to get back into.
It should also be noted that the animations have a good sense of impact. Or… Multiple impact, in this case…
The Mad Welshman loves Alternate Victorian times, because they really appreciated the value of a good top-hat and moustache. And yes, that is shallow.
Source: Cashmoneys Price: £17.99 Where To Get It:Steam
Lethal League Blaze is a game that, in many senses, takes a little bit to get going, but once it does, it lives up well to its name. And, even for a critic who doesn’t do well at fighting games, this one… This one tickles my fancy. And it’s all to do with how it revolves around a ball.
Lethal League Blaze is, essentially, combat ping-pong in a rectangular arena, in which the characters use directional movement, a double jump, and two keys (one for grabbing, one for thwacking), in order to punt, bunt, or smash a ball into their opponents with as much velocity as they can muster, fully aware at all times that a return at any point from the mid-stage could mean a loss…
Screenshots, alas, can barely cover what happens when it gets *really* fast. But this is a close example.
…After all, the more the ball gets bounced around, the faster it’s going. And the faster it’s going, well… The more it’s going to hurt when you fail to bat it or catch it, and it hits you in the [insert sensitive part of your anatomy here]. Now add in the possibility of special items, like a remote controlled ball, an invisible ball, and the like, and you have quite the explosive mix.
And yet, it continues to add flavour to this already heady mix. How about some tunes by Frank Klepacki, or Hideki Naganuma, of Jet Set Radio fame? How about a colourful character roster in a world of robots “not programmed to lose”, skaters, over the top Falcon Cops, and, as a final boss character, a murderous boom-box that quotes Sinistar, called, obviously, Doombox?
Multiple game modes, unlockable as you go? An arcade mode? A campaign? All in addition to the main core, which is multiplayer ball smacking action? Yeah, this all works. This brings those funky beats, whether that’s musical beats… Or the beatdown of watching a quick return make your opponent lose their last life.
As things heat up, so, too, does the background. Amusingly, the cops will just rush back once the fun’s over.
It’s also moderately accessible, for a fighting game. In its previous installment, one hit, regardless of speed, led to a loss of life, and you only had one. Here, folks in the early game can try things, work out what’s going on, get used to a character’s special, before it speeds up, because low speed hits don’t even deplete a single life-bar. All told, it’s fun stuff… But are there problems?
Sure, there are problems. But forgivable ones. For example, it must be said that the early parts of Campaign and Arcade modes are not great, because the AI isn’t bringing their A game. It’s understandable, but at the same time, watching an AI flail around, and getting a win where they don’t even hit the ball unless they need to isn’t great, and it leads to a false sense of security. A sense of security that, in arcade mode for me, lasted right up until about three fights before the end, and wasn’t shattered until I fought… DOOMBOX. Even if multiplayer is the focus (and it is), it wouldn’t hurt to tune the mid-game challenge up a little bit.
Otherwise, I like Lethal League Blaze. Its simple concept nonetheless allows for some tactics. Bunting the ball, then hitting it will drastically speed it up, and, at high speeds, the game gets chaotic, for example. Or the fact that the grab is a quick counter that, timed well when someone’s just finished charging up the ball, will knock the presumptuous player off their perch unless they, also, have a perfectly timed grab waiting. Its aesthetic is colourful, its unlockables are reasonable…
I LIVE… AGAIN. RUN, COWARD, RUN, RUN!
Yeah, I’m down for a Lethal League Blaze.
Perhaps the most painful part, for the Mad Welshman, was avoiding all the ball jokes. Aaaaaalll the ball jokes…
Source: Review copy Price: £29.99 Where To Get It: Steam
Review – Senran Kagura Estival Versus
Senran Kagura, in a single phrase, is clunky and internally inconsistent. It wants to be humourous, and also to be a grim tale of women ninja fighting against yomi (Evil spirits.) It wants to be a Musou game, but also an eroge with what I’m assuming is meant to be women who are comfortable enough in BDSM to be completely open about it with each other (While also freaking each other out, another level of inconsistency), and also having RPG elements that, to be honest, only add grind and reduce clarity. It’s a game where even people who have noticed I disliked the game along the review process have been inconsistent in where they defend the game… From saying it’s “light hearted” to “surprisingly dark”, to saying the comedy’s bad, but it is a comedy (but it also isn’t), and giving me varying points at which it “Gets Better”, all of which, funnily enough, start about four or five hours into the game.
This is one of the points at which the game allegedly “Gets Better.” I wish I was joking when I said this.
Enough. Senran Kagura is inconsistent. Its combat flow is often broken up by the Shinobi Transformations (Which enemy named characters can do while you’re in the middle of a combo, throwing off your combo because hey, there’s a fifteen second animation playing in between your blows… It can be skipped with the Start button, much like the sometimes cringey cutscenes, but that doesn’t really solve the problem that it breaks gameplay flow), it has trouble telling you about your new moves, and the writing…
…When you have a game with several characters (At least twelve, it’s somewhat hard to keep track), you can’t help but either pad out the story (Which runs the risk of you forgetting what the hell is up with anyone) or painting characters as simple caricatures (Which runs the risk of those caricatures being, put bluntly, a bit shit.) As far as I can tell, both are happening here, with two chapters seemingly devoted to our heroines winding up on a beach world because… Reasons (Which aren’t made clear, even three hours in) and deciding “Hey, let’s do beach things, disregard these resurrected (Also all women) ninja that are trying to beat us up, and let’s… Beat each other’s clothes off, teehee!”
This is the *core* of the game, but… Everything else fights with this core for prominence. To the detriment of the whole.
Oh, did I forget to mention that, like Akiba’s Trip, the objective is to beat the clothes off fellow women ninja, while not losing your own clothes? Unlike Akiba’s Trip, though, this is dressed up in shallow BDSM talk that, at times, just makes me cringe. And I say that as a dom. Ryona, the extremely unsubtle hyper masochist, and Murasaki, the self-hating shut-in, are perhaps the worst offenders here, as something that I’m pretty sure is intended to be “funny” not only falls flat, but makes me say “WHOAH, CALM THE FUCK DOWN, SENRAN KAGURA, THAT’S NOT ON!”
But, of course, it “gets better”, as unlocks range from several varieties of clothing (mostly underwear) to beat off, special arena defeat cutscenes that range from the “Blah” to the “Oh, for the love of… [Facepalm] “, and, of course, the groping game. There’s a helluva lot of missions, and more in DLC that’s free or otherwise, but it seems that they all boil down to “Beat up everyone as quickly as you can while getting hit as little as possible”, and many of its mechanics are either explained in flow breaking, unskippable text boxes, or not explained outside of loading screen hints.
There *is* a reason this happens. The tone *does* change somewhat. But this, trust me, is in the middle of a *lot* of teeheeing.
As such, I really can’t recommend Senran Kagura Estival Versus, as it just has too much bad design, inconsistent writing, and, to be honest, cringey writing that just leaves me, not even chuckling, but coldly judging. Oh, and for those curious, this game might as well be controller mandatory, as the base keyboard binds make this a very difficult time on base KB+M (I’m sure a gaming mouse would help somewhat, but naw, stick to controller.) It’s not that good an eroge. It’s not that good a musou game. Its design elements conflict with each other, and honestly? I’m glad to be shot of it, now this review’s out.
The Mad Welshman is free. He can move on. His spirit is lightened. And he is grateful for this.
