CAVE has recently announced that DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu will be coming out on Steam. Great news for bullet hell fans just like me and hopefully you. In this review however, I will take a look at a CAVE SHMUP that is already available on Steam.

Gameplay

Deathsmiles is a horizontal SHMUP featuring 4 (5 in the Mega Black Label version) playable characters vanquishing the evils from the land of Gilverado, and trying to stop the source of all monsters. The game is laid out in 7 + 2 optional stages varying from fights in a town to entering a volcano. You get to select the stage order in a Megaman-like fashion. The difficulty can also be set per stage, allowing you to go for big scores on the levels you breeze through, while downtoning the bullets on more tricky stages. Some of the levels feel a bit short sometimes, but are still packed with action.

Each stage is unique in both environmental design, as well as enemy strategy. The stages also feature area obstacles, making the bullets not your only worry. Rising flame pillars, walls you can hide behind… are all things you have to calculate in your strategy to outplay your opponents.

The score mechanics are simple: You collect items which raise your power bar. Once you hit 1000 power, you can enter Power Up mode, which enhances your fire power and increases your score multiplier for items and killed enemies. Sounds similar to what Jamestown implemented, except that you can’t extend the duration of Power Up mode.

The game has some minimal dialogue implemented, giving the playable characters and some important enemies a bit more character. At the end of a play-through you’re even giving a mind breaking dilemma: Stay in the world of Gilverado or return to the real world and leave your friends behind. It’s a nice non-gameplay extra that adds some personality to the game.

Graphics

The graphics are great, albeit for smaller resolutions. The game is started in a 720p window but the effective play area is smaller, being put in a frame. The game can be set in full screen mode, but this will simply blow pixels up. Although the resolution may not be ideal, I love how much detail CAVE put in this game. Starting the game lets you see an intro cutscene unique to each first stage you select on your playthrough. The characters tilt and move when you change direction which is awesome if you manage to pay attention to it (hooray for lower difficulty settings).

In terms of gameplay crucial graphics, CAVE did for the most part a nice job as well. There is a clear distinction between your character, enemies, their bullets and background elements. Only the final boss has projectiles that I found hard to spot the first time.

Music

This soundtrack doesn’t disappoint at all. There are only 2 songs I don’t like as much, but they are still pretty great. The OST is Gothic/Halloween themed with higher BPM to emphasize the action and tension in the game.

Conclusion

This game is another example of CAVE excellence. Challenging and entertaining stages backed by an epic soundtrack and good looking graphics make this game one of my favourite SHMUPs. For €20 you get all versions of the game (Arcade, XBox port, V1.1, Mega black Label, MBL 1.1) with some extras like training mode, online leader boards… all in one clean package.

Although the game is made at a lower resolution, it’s not something that bothered me. The game is also free of game breaking bugs, which is always a good thing. The game suffers from frame drops in the final boss fight though. Another little nitpick is that the achievement descriptions should state what version needs to be played in order to get them, or make the achievement work in every version.

If you’re a SHMUP/danmaku addict like me, €20 is a price well paid. For more casual gamers this game could be overwhelming in terms of difficulty, so trying to obtain it during a sale is not a bad idea.