Title: Danmaku Unlimited 3
Platform: Nintendo Switch eShop
Developer: Doragon Entertainment
Publisher: Doragon Entertainment
Release Date: March 13th, 2018 (NA)
Review copy provided by Doragon Entertainment
This is a classic-style shmup (shoot-em-up) in the style of classics such as Ikaruga. In these games, it’s a one vs all sort of fight where you’re a lone ship armed with multiple blasters with infinite ammo. Does this game soar across the stars? Does the Empire win? Let’s find out!
The main menu
To those unfamiliar with shmups, as said above, you play as a lone spaceship armed with many blasters (used by holding the A button) against a massive army. Thankfully, you have the power to easily handle most of the enemy ships. Your lasers come with two frontal blasters that have very brief pauses between firing, and also multiple blasters at the sides firing continuous streams of blasts at an angle. Your ship is well armed and protected and different ships of course have differing amounts of health, usually it’s on a size scale (smallest are the weakest, largest are the strongest).
Normal gameplay in regular wide mode
One handy thing is the ability to concentrate all blasters into one large powerful beam by holding the X and A buttons together. This is handy against larger enemies and bosses, the latter of which you fight one-on-one. Your ship moves slower however, but the beam homes in on a single enemy (again handy for bosses).
An example of the singular concentrated blast
One of the big things about this game is the neat grazing system. Your ship has a visible golden core, and that’s where your hit box is. A handy feature with the grazing system is that if you let enemy fire sort of slide against the edges of the core (specifically in that circle right around the core), your trance gauge fills up. One it’s full, your enemies’ bullets then turn into golden gems which earn you lots of points until the gauge empties. You’re also able to fill up the gauge via the enemies’ bullets that turn into blue spirits upon being destroyed while they’re still on-screen, so try to collect any you can. This is all explained in the tutorial mode so I highly recommend watching it. Actually it’s best to play a bit first and THEN watch it. I found it’s easier to understand once you try the game yourself. Also snap screenshots with the capture button since the info autoplays so you’d have to read them quickly otherwise.
The options menu
One neat thing about this game is the multitude of display options. You have a a “wide” option which gives you a something of a portrait 4:3 view (slightly wider than the more traditional portrait 16:9 view which is select-able also). During these you have borders on the left and right side of the screen, which can feature a wallpaper of the game, or you can have it set to “none” and you’ll have black borders. The only issue is that either choice leaves you with blue icons on the corners of the screen. The coolest option is the screen rotation option. That’s right, you can go full TATE here! If you have the rotation at either side at 90 degrees and the wide mode turned off, you get a FULL SCREEN view of the action when the Switch’s screen, or the TV screen is placed vertically. If the wide option is on however, you have the awkward black bars again on the top and bottom now.
TATE mode in action with wide mode turned off
The gameplay is actually quite fun but of course challenging, even in the easy modes available. It’s pretty satisfying to fill up the trance gauge knowing you’re just barely avoiding shots. Visually it’s very nice. The game purrs like a kitten at native 1080p and 60fps, and the game seems to use 3D models for the ships (or just REALLY good pre-rendered graphics, not quite sure). The blaster fire is very pretty in how it moves. The music and sound effects are just what you’d expect from this sort of game and fits really well, with high-action sci-fi rock music.
An upgrade I received after a game over
I’m very impressed at the display options and the neat grazing system. It’s a neat mechanic and offers a nice challenge for those who are daredevils who like to narrowly escape being blown up in the game and get rewarded for it. The game is also very cheap at only $9.99 USD/$11.49 CDN, so it’s a great game at a great price. I highly recommend it, and I say this as someone who has only really experienced the genre with Nintendo and Arika’s Metal Torrent on DSiWare! It’s a good entry game for the genre in my book.
You’ll Love:
+ It’s a high-quality shmup and has a good easy to learn and hard to master feel to it. A great entry point in my opinion.
+ The grazing system is super cool and gives a great “risk vs reward” challenge.
+ The display options are extremely appreciated. They should accommodate most if not all needs.
+ Visually it’s very impressive. The designs and models look great, it runs like butter, the blasts look smooth. Very well done.
+ Music’s pretty cool. Just the right kind of sci-fi rock you’d expect from a shmup like this. Explosions also sound great but not over-bearing. I also dig the “clicking” sounds you hear when grazing.
+ The price is very good for what it is. A great value for those wanting to get a taste for the genre.
You’ll Hate:
– Even on easy it’s tough, so be ready for that if you’re a beginner (like me :P).
Score: 8.5/10
