A classic good old fashioned shooter game that brings a little feeling of nostalgia when I play it and remember bygone games from the Sega Genesis and nintendo 8-bit days. The game is definitely not meant to be played by those who have a risk of seizures as the multitude of flashing lights and other...

The game play mechanics are a bit complicated to grasp, but are a lot of fun once they click. In a nutshell, it involves flying your aircraft and shooting enemies to release collectible items, summoning a powerful ninja phantom, & cashing in items for massive scoring gains.

Superb: A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage to what is a supreme title.

Ever since reviewing Sine Mora , I've been on a bit of a prolonged shooter binge. Granted, I'm rubbish at these kinds of games, but there are few genres that can send me into such a trance-like state as a good shooter-even more so if they are of the bullet hell variety.

Why are fighter pilots battling bombers and flying supervillains in the skies over Japan? Who knows: we don't speak Japanese, and only Akai Katana 's ending videos offer subtitles. But that doesn't diminish the excitement of dodging bullets in this wild side-scrolling shooter.

+ Unusual resource-gathering mechanics add an absorbing layer of shape-changing strategy; + Completely insane local co-op sessions

? Why so few English subtitles to go with all the Japanese speech

There's nothing quite like a good old-fashioned shoot-'em-up to get your pulse racing and your thumbs twitching. And if there's one company that knows a thing or two about hurling a barrage of beautifully crafted bullets at you, it's Cave.

Intricate and clever stage design; Multiple modes offer lots of depth; Over-the-top retro visuals; Plenty of challenge for seasoned players

Main campaign is very short

There are still plenty of fans out there who appreciate a good "shmup" - shoot ‘em up, for short - especially the "bullet hell" variety.  These are shooters where ammunition comes flying at you from every single angle, and you need split-second timing or a hell of a lot of power-ups just to stay in...

Cave lets loose another barrage of bullets that may not fly *quite* as far as before.

I simply love companies like Rising Star Games . They do their utmost best to bring us niche titles that big publishers simply would never touch. We have to thank them for bringing games like The King of Fighters XIII , the Harvest Moon series, Half-Minute Hero , Muramasa and Little King's Story .

Back in 2006 when the Xbox 360 was less than a year old and the PlayStation 2 still warranted some shelf space in gaming stores, we shopped around for the original Gears of War and stumbled across an obscure shoot-'em-up called Raiden III .