For the past few years, the Touhou series of games has finally made their way to the West in various forms. From fighting games and RPGs to vs shooters, traditional shooters and visual novels, more and more games from the series keep getting released. One such game that saw a recent release and is the subject of today’s review is Azure Reflections from Souvenir Circ.
Firing Moe Lasers
Hit box shown when precision shooting- One of the most annoying things I don’t like about bullet hell games is not being able to to tell where the hit box is. I know that this is apart of what makes bullet hell games exciting and challenging to figure out its placement, but sometimes the hitbox is located on a part of the fighter/character that makes you go, “WTF were the developers thinking “. With Azure Reflections, you’re able to see the hitbox when holding down the precision shooting button. Even better there’s an option where you can have the hitbox on at all times.
Dress up, power up- In most bullet hell games you collect power ups to boots your ship/character’s fire power or ability. With Azure Reflections, in addition to powering up your character in game, you can also power them up or give them abilities with accessories. Here’s how: in game when shooting down enemies, three different colored collectibles appear; red, blue and green. The reds power up your character, the blues add to your score and the greens are used as currency. Collect enough of the green ones and you’re able to buy accessories to put on your character before the start of the game. The abilities that the accessories enable range from auto fire to making the hit box even smaller.
Barrier/Danmanku rush- In most bullet hell games, once you get hit you lose a life. Lose all your lives and its game over. Some games however have a gimmick that let’s you block on coming bullets. Azure Reflections has a similar gimmick called barrier. As you scroll along shooting enemies, a meter bar on the lower left section of the screen will start to fill up . Once its fill up, pressing triangle will activate the barrier for a limited time. Once activated the barrier will start to absorb all bullets that hit. This powers up an attack called the Danmanku rush, a rushing tackle attack. With the Danmanku rush, you charge at enemies while your barrier is active and knock them down. This is really helpful against bosses as its the best way to gain spell cards.
Baka
Light on content – Bullet hell games are notorious for being light on content. While you are able to unlock characters with each playthroug and an new mode (which will take about three hours or so on medium) there isn’t really much to the game. There’s no time attack/score attack modes. There’s no boss rush mode. Sure there’s a gallery mode and trophies, but you earn those while playing the game so they don’t really count.
Might effect those who are epileptic – This is more of a PSA/general warning to those who are sensitive to flashing lights or might be epileptic. With all the bright and colorful bullets flying around, spells being cast and other sorts of flashing lights, those who suffer from epilepsy might want to either stay clear from the game or where some protective glasses that filter out the light.
As the Touhou series gains more traction in the West, we’ll get to see more and more games like Azure Reflections get released. With the ability to see where the hitnox is, powering up characters with accessories, and barrier/Danmanku rush abilities. The game is a bit short on content and if you are epileptic you might want to either steer clear of the game or wear some sort of protective eye wear. In any case, Azure Reflections is a good entry game for those who want to know what the series is about.
