Intermediary cutscenes can be summarised as “ooh, look, a flying island”. It seems to be a simple tale of samurais versus a flying fortress, but it’s not wholly possible to tell who you are fighting or why. Samurai Aces is as inventive and gorgeous as some of the publisher’s highs. We loved the Japanese aesthetic, so that gets a thumbs up. The deviations to the formula are mostly negative. As with the other Psikyo games, the whole experience can be played in co-op. There’s the odd dialogue difference if you do, plus highscores record your best runs. Bosses include samurai robots that Voltron together, and a giant urn that erupts to reveal a devil inside.įinishing the game isn’t a huge challenge (multiple difficulty settings, and the ability to up the number of lives and continues helps here), so the emphasis is on replaying to see multiple endings for each character. In one instance, which we want to scrub from our memories, koi carp with babies’ faces swim towards you, burping water projectiles at your ship. Robotic samurai cut through the air, sending flaming projectiles at you. Samurai Aces’ ‘thing’ is to splice Japanese touchstones like samurai, kanji, pagodas and tengu with hi-tech, modern elements like mechs and airships. Samurai Aces competes with Gunbird in the ‘most bonkers opponents’ bracket. Considering that you can die by touching enemy ships, and there’s very little sideways or backward defences on your ship, this can be a choice between death or pathetic firepower. If you want to boost your fire capability, you have to wander into the carnage at the top of the screen. Power-ups don’t drop below the halfway line of the game screen, and it’s an utter pain in the arse. They must have taken him a fair amount of whittling time.Īs an aside, when comparing Samurai Aces’ approach to power-ups to the other Psikyo releases, there is a small but noticeable difference. Again, each character has their own: Gadget Gen, effectively a Gepetto character, fires off wooden puppets the size of aircraft carriers. These drop down in barrel-like containers, and give you instant board-wipes and – on occasion – the ability to remove all of the bullets that are being fired your way.
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