[Review] Deathsmiles (PC)
I’ve been in arcade game heaven as of late with so many good releases over the last few months, especially on PC. I recently purchased Raiden V on Xbox One and have been loving it to death despite what my YouTube comment section says about the game, but on my custom PC arcade cab i’ve been playing teh best games such as Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours, Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd, BlazBlue Chronophantasm Extend, Ninja Senki and many more. So I was pretty happy to add another great arcade game to the fold with Cave’s Deathsmiles for PC. The game originally released back in Japanese Arcades in 2007 and later received a port to Xbox 360 back in 2009 and mobile phones in 2011 and 2013. Unfortunately, I was a late bloomer to Cave’s SHMUPs and didn’t play one of their titles until around 2014 with Deathsmiles II. However, all that was about to change as Cave announced they were bring some of their fan favorite shumps to PC starting off with Mushihimesama back in November and now Deathsmiles.
Deathsmiles isn’t your basic SHMUP from a presentation point of view, it is a Gothic styled bullet hell shooter which in many ways feels like the love child of say Touhou and Castlevania. And I’m talking the great Castlevanias, like Igarashi Vania games….not that bullshit Lord of Shadows garbage. But back to Deathsmiles, graphically this game feels like it would fit right in with the late 90’s/early 2000’s Arcades or SEGA Saturn/Dreamcast library. But don’t take that as a knock as many consider that time of arcade gaming as the golden era of coin-ops, same thing with the SEGA reference as both consoles were known for their great arcade titles. Hell, the Saturn had many great SHMUPs like Cave’s own DoDonPachi as well as other awesome hits like Radiant Silvergun, Sengoku Blade, Strikers 1945, Gradius and Gunbird. The soundtrack to the game is awesome too feels like a mix of Bayonetta and Castlevania, the latter is probably because the composer Manabu Namiki has worked on a Vania title being the WiiWare title, Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth as well as a couple of other awesome games (Odin Sphere, Contra Rebirth, Gradius Rebirth, Caladrius Blaze, Bloody Roar and Metal Slug 6)
Gameplay wise, Deathsmiles is an all around fun bullet hell SHMUP that provides non-stop action as you take on hordes of demonic foes throughout 7 stages (8 if you choose to take on the extra stage prior to Chapter 4). With most SHMUPs its a pretty standard scroll to the right with enemies coming from the right but with Deathsmiles, enemies can come from multiple directions. This is where the game’s fun controls and mechanics come in to keep you from being overwhelmed. You are provided with two directional attacks in Deathsmiles, with one button firing right, the other left. Holding down an attack button gives you stronger shots but slows down your movement when firing, but you also have the option of tapping the attack button for burst fire which allows you to move quickly and attack but the shots are a bit weaker. It’s a pretty simple mechanic that keeps the game fresh and fun. There aren’t any power ups to pick up but you are provided with bombs which can take out an array of enemies on screen or save you from the trickiest of bullet hells if you are unsure of your dodging skills. For you casuals (JK), the game does not have a limit on how many continues you can consume so you can play until your heart’s extent but with each continue your previous score gets wiped. So don’t think you can rack up a high score by just playing through the game and dying countlessly.
The steam version of the game features all the content from the 360 version of the game (Arcade and Ver 1.1) including Mega Black Label (and MBL Ver 1.1) DLC where Sakura is a playable character. It also features a score attack mode, training mode, replays and full online leaderboards for the hardest of the hardcore. Not bad for a $20 digital arcade port. So if you are a fan of SHMUPs or good arcade fun, I highly recommend picking up Deathsmiles for your PC and for my custom Arcade Cab heads, this is definitely a must have to go into your multicade.
[Review] Deathsmiles (PC) was originally published on Excitehype
