Bullet Soul: Infinite Burst [弾魂 -インフィニットバースト-] Game Sample - PC

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Published on February 22, 2021 6:59:04 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QDjUndn02k

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The Division 2 (2019)

Duration: 9:57

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Just something to break-up the indie titles while working on longer projects, but it's at least pretty good filler! For those who haven't heard of "Bullet Soul", I'm not too surprised -- it was originally a fairly low profile release for the Xbox 360's "Live Arcade" service. Originally presented by MAGES., 5pb., Division2 and developed by Tachyon in 2011, it would get an upgrade (or as some put it, a "sidegrade") three years later in 2014 that included the arranged "Burst" mode function, the ability to select the original soundtrack or the newly arranged soundtrack, the ability to balance the audio (music, sound, voice), a few quality of life features for the GUI, and rebalanced stages. Sporting five hardcore stages, the game developed a cult following for its one stand-out feature: Bullet Souls.

To elaborate a little more, the gimmick that set this title apart from most other shooters as the emphasis of the game isn't simply in dodging everything that moves, but it incentivizes destroying enemies quickly in a variety of ways. The biggest reason for doing so is that when an enemy is destroyed, their bullets "die" as well, creating more room for you to maneuver on the screen. If you are playing the original mode, these bullets would turn into "souls" that you could collect to increase your score multipliers, but in the newly added "Burst" mode, the bullets disappear and enemy ships explode into coins you can collect. The higher up on the screen or the sooner you grab the coins after an enemy is destroyed, the more points you are awarded. The Burst mode also replaces your lives with a shield meter and health pick-ups to help restore your shield, but dying once will end the game. Lastly, destroying enough enemies will fill up your "Burst Gauge" to 100, where you can activate a high-powered barrage of firepower for a short time and gain "Bancho Coins" which will refill a small portion of your gauge to keep the destruction going.

There are also "Bancho" versions of each stage that crank up the difficulty and allow you to practice for scoring. You can even initiate an "Infinite Burst" with the unlockable Musou Mode just to see what kind of crazy scores you can get and the destruction you can unleash with your full potential. While the rest of the game is pretty standard stuff (four ships of varying ability, basic bombs, etc.), the Burst mechanic elevates an otherwise average shooter into something that's a lot of fun for beginner-to-intermediate shmup fanatics.

The game has a great soundtrack in no small part due to the talents of the legendary "Kenji Ito" who has been a freelance composer for the last twenty years or so but is best known for his time with Square. If you're not familiar with him, a few of his works include the SaGa series, Seiken Densetsu / Secret of Mana series, the Culdcept series, Final Fantasy series, Shadow Hearts II, Ar Tonelico 3, etc... the man has made a career of producing absolute bangers for games, t.v. shows, anime, you name it. Kohta Takahashi also returns and they've brought Jake 'Virt' Kaufman to help with the arrangements for this upgrade. The visuals are pretty simple 2.5D fair that's not much above the standards of mid-late PS2 shmups, but that's not exactly a bad thing... actually, the showers of bullets can get so chaotic and colorful at times that the game might not be suitable for those who suffer from epilepsy. The game runs smoothly at the very least, so there are no issues there. The equally as legendary "Akio Watanabe" did the character designs for the game (he is known for all kinds of things from "The World God Only Knows" to "Lord Monarch: Shin Gaia Oukokuki" to "Kiki's Delivery Service") and also went under the "Poyoyon ♥ Rock" name.

The most offensive thing about this game wouldn't be the almost complete absence of a plot (or the untranslated ending), but the way this PC port was handled. Crashing issues are not unheard of and are pretty common for people who have tried to run the game in fullscreen, the game is locked at 720p resolution which is kinda lame for a game that was ported to PCs in 2017, to the same mechanic that makes it thrilling but will also perplex hardcore score-chasing shmup fanatics with its inconsistency (as relying on certain enemies to be destroyed may not wipe ALL their bullets from the screen, especially during boss battles, or an enemy may survive for one reason or another). When all is said and done though, it's still a fun game that's worth the price of admission with the usual staples (Tate, etc.). This is a basic video of the game illustrating different things to spread awareness. You can get this version of the game at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/545060/BULLET_SOUL_INFINITE_BURST/

Enjoy. B-B-Bancho!!! Bancho!!!

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