Publisher: AMI
Developer: Cave
Two Player
Arcade / Playstation 2 / Mobile
With this, I was introduced to the work of Cave, a company who from 1994 onwards made themselves into a studio with a cult fan base for their "Bullet Hell" shoot 'em ups. A section of the shoot 'em up genre, its title naturally sounds intimidating, an expansion on this genre which originates with a player vessel (a being or vehicle) being maneuvered past enemy bullets as they shoot back in a constantly forward progression, one where as the technical advancements allowed this to be the case, developers could fill the screen with entire walls of multi coloured death heading at the player. I admit this genre has been intimidating to try, despite my love for arcade games, knowing my level of skill is not great and "Bullet Hell" evokes something of a higher tier to me.
Cave however is fascinating though as, honing their games for the point of releasing multiple versions of a game, they also are happy to make this genre accessible to the curious with titles like Deathsmiles (2007) having multiple difficulty modes as much as adapting them for touch screen function on mobile phones. They seem, from just my first game, like developers who want to both make the ultimate versions of this sub-genre, to the point of creating "Black Label" and other versions of games that are more difficult for the really hardcore player, but also sculpting this niche genre to an art form the curious can try.
Espgaluda, whilst released in 2003, is an obscure title for them, the 2005 sequel more widely available in the later decade. A vertical shooter set in a fantasy steam punk world, where here you play a flying character in a world where, you play the two children of a King who, becoming obsessed with exploiting his Queen's generationally inherently supernatural powers, attempted to use them in a project to hone these powers into destructive ability. Still desiring the conquor other nations even when said children were led away from his grasp, your choice of two characters (a brother and a younger sister) now have to immediately fight their way through armies of their father's soldiers and war machines over war wasted land. Bullet Hell is apt as, a later game from Cave, they fill the screen with enemy bullets, making this game as much obstacle courses where you carefully weave around the patterns, more than even shooting back. It was surprising, whilst dying a lot, how much I managed to survive insane waves of bullets, but Cave have worked on mechanics on their games that make these games more interesting. Namely, whether implemented here or not, that they moved away from the player sprite (ship or character) being a target and specifically concerning the player(s) to protect a tiny piece, which can be indicated onscreen.
Espgaluda also has a really interesting mechanic too of switching between two forms of play style. The first is your standard fire, which produces gems for points and charge. The second is a more powerful firepower that is called the “kakusei” (“awakening”) ability which, when activated, briefly slows down bullets, allowing you to weave through them with ease, as well as, if you destroy an enemy when their bullets are onscreen, turns them from death into points whilst clearing that piece of the screen. Your special in that mode too, a powerful beam, also cuts through bullets, removing them, like a knife through butter, at the risk of bullets suddenly becoming faster towards you the longer you stay in it and, well, a very clever trick of forcing me (and any other player) not to get lazily preoccupied at a certain point in spamming one certain attack.
It also leads to the really idiosyncratic touch of the franchise as, even though the setting and tone is that of a majestic fantasy epic of magic combined to turn of the 19th/20th century Western setting, that awakening of your player character, playing magic users, for their secondary attack changes their genre whilst in that mode. Thus the male character becomes a female character, and the female character becomes a male one; even the main villain, their father becomes a woman when, in the multi-stage final boss fight, he switches to his secondary fire attacks too. It is never addressed why this happens, even in mind that Cave devotes in their work as much towards creating back stories for these games, as much because you have a limited time as an arcade shooter to elaborate on a plot. It never does however feel exploitative as it neither really becomes a really poignant touch in terms of gender politics. It is however, a fascinating one that, depending on the player, develops a greater weight especially as Espagaluda II went on with this premise, all just casually included in the prequel as part of its dark magical war narrative1.
The world, again in mind to the limited timescale and structure this arcade game has to tell a narrative, is insanely elaborate. It is a gorgeous looking production, an elaborate world depicted where, with your protagonist flying in the sky (or two in two player), the world underneath is a vast series of turn-of-the-20th century Western architecture or vast industrial war machinery set to drum n bass. With almost every level having a mini boss and a boss, the animation for this game, sprite 2D work in the early 2000s when this was less common, is beautiful as the mechanical hordes, including flying sky vessels or a giant train boss, are heavily detailed. The game actually led to a bit of guilt as, almost the size of ants, there are human enemies to; they are dangerous, but between armoured foes exploding into a fountain of gore in one shot, or the maid angels in the final stages, twirling in their fire, whose corpses line the floors on mass, trust this Cave game to cause me remorse. More so as one of the bosses, who appears twice, is Seseri, a young woman who is a sibling that appears very early in the game, and then returns in the second to last level partially robotic, raising the stakes of this very serious toned game.
Your taste in this type of game entirely is based on the challenge. This has been a game not as readily available, which is a shame as Cave to their virtue, as a small studio, have made slow inroads into the Western market. The mobile phone game market has been one, but Microsoft have been an advantage too as, trying to push into the Japanese market again with the Xbox 360, that was when we got games like Deathsmiles even in the United Kingdom in physical released, even if still limited in number. A decade on and games are appearing more, which is great, leaving one hope that as many of their titles will make their way to the West, their titles even coming to the PC through the likes of Steam. Espgaluda in itself has made me really interested in this company, more so as their games, designed as much for hardcore shoot em up players, and for reply to get higher scores, are however making sure their games are accessible or at least have an enticement to outsiders to become obsessed with their brand of Bullet Hell games.
Playing the game as well has at least given me a moment I will keep to heart as a memory as a gamer. Cave, in mind that older games could suddenly slow down when trying to process the images onscreen in a very busy moment, also are known for deliberately including slow down moments on purpose for dramatic tension. Experiencing this in the midst of the fight with the train, this moment, part of their ethos to make unique games, whether one of the artificial slowdowns or a real one they embraced, is a second of gaming I will take to heart in having been glad to experience, as much as playing the entire game.
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1) And this is in mind that even Cave have had to sell their games based on more fetishes and titillation back home, such as Muchi Muchi Pork (2007), which for a lack of a better description, having the female pilots turned into pig women, is appealing to gaming geeks who really like skimpily dressed plump women. This, not only an issue with videogames, is a general case of having to sell these titles to a larger product, to be bluntly honest, which is for another review to debate.
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