When you talk to a hardcore SHMUP fan there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll hear the name CAVE, infact CAVE has produced some of the most difficult bullet ridden titles to date, Whether it’s Mushihime-Sama, Ibara, Or DonPachi, these guys know how to dish it out.

ESPGALUDA is one of the best shooters I’ve ever played, From it’s amazing bullet patterns to it’s rich sprite animation, from the moment you put it in you realize it’s top notch.

This is however a review, and unfortunately there are some glaring issues that make me have to put away my rose tinted glasses and stand on my soapbox. EPSGALUDA is short, glaringly so infact, of course brevity in general seems to be an affliction with many arcade style shooters, but it still leaves you feeling massively unsatisfied at the end.

If you came to ESPGALUDA looking for the crazy bullet patterns of DonPachi, you are looking in the wrong place as everything in this game screams “don’t hurt me too hard”. ESPGALUDA is a good title for someone getting into shoot-em-ups however, being pretty much the most approachable CAVE title to date, which isn’t so much the makings of a bad game as does it come off as pandering to the average gamer whining “it’s too dificult”.

So why did I say it was so good earlier? the answer my friend is “innovation”, and ESPGALUDA is rather full of it. The game hinges on what is reffered to as the Ketsui Mode, which I have rather nicknamed as “the sex change mode”. The strategy for scoring revolves almost solely around this mode, here’s how it works: As you kill enemies they drop crystals which add to your Ketsui mode meter, This meter determines how much time you spend in Ketsui mode, upon entering this mode your charecter mysteriously changes sex and all bullets slow down, sounds pretty sweet right? Whenever you detroy an enemie in Ketsui mode whatever bullets are on the screen that came from that enemy are converted to coins which turns into points for your score.

So here’s the clincher, you can actually contiue to stay in Ketsui mode after the meter has ended, but this has the penalty of speeding up bullets at around twice thier normal speed, essentially greater risk leading to a higher potential for points. This risk/reward style gameplay makes it one of the most strategic SHMUPs next to the like of Psyvariar and Psyvariar 2, and in the end is what makes this title a must own.

Bottom Line:

Graphics: You honestly don’t see this level of detail often in any modern shooter with the exception of CAVE titles, some of the most fluid 2 dimensional animations you’ll see.

Gameplay: A mixed bag, the game is great once you get the timing down for Ketsui mode, and it’s dificult to truly master, but not dificult to complete, and it really is a short ride regardless. This would be a grade A shooter if not for this.

Sound: The music is by no means as good as Mushihime-Sama, infact most of the music is rather generic, although they are upbeat trance tunes that do help you keep your mind on the game.

Import Friendliness: This game, with the exception of the little tutorial video at the beginning, and the creits at the end is almost entrely in english, the language barrier is no issue here.