Deathsmiles Limited Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)I can't stress enough how excellent this game is(provided you like the genre). Cave has long been known as one of the kings of bullet hell type games, but this is surprisingly the first Cave game to be localized for a US release on a console. The only other I know of to get on shore at all is Espgaluda II, which was released on iPhone and is also an excellent port.
Synopsis
There are basically 6 different versions of the game. They are split up into the original arcade port, a version 1.1 arrange version and an xbox 360 specific version. There are 2 versions of each of those, the normal and the MBL(mega black label) version. MBL versions are a special edition of sorts. In that version there is 1 extra character playable and 1 extra level.
Anyway, you are presented with a choice of 4 different girls to play and you play through an other world where you are attacked by monsters and spirits typical of a Halloween setting. You will fight flying pumpkins, ghosts, goblins and Death himself. As you progress farther the difficulty increases and you eventually reach the your goal. Don't worry about whether or not you'll make it here. There are different difficulty levels selectable per level, and you can continue after deaths. Difficulty levels range from a relative easy to blisteringly hard so you can suit that to your own tastes. There's even a "Level 999" option if you really want to hurt yourself.
As far as controls go, they are spot on. You'll never feel like you're fighting the game to do what you want. Everything is fluid and solid.
Finally, there are several nice extra features. You get online leaderboards, a score attack mode, replay saving so you can watch how you did and a practice mode for attacking a specific level until you get it right.
I really can't recommend this title enough if you enjoy these types of games. We don't often even see bullet hell shooters on US soil. It would be a shame to pass up one of the best ones.


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Story Enter the world of Gilverado, a kingdom plagued by hideous monsters and tortured souls. Choose from four angels with unique demonic familiars and battle against a storm of enemies pouring out of Hell's gates. Fight your way out of tight spots as you are surrounded by enemy units and bullets from both sides of the screen. The unique left/right shooting mechanic of Deathsmiles will keep you on your toes as you dodge and weave through complex enemy fire, beautifully crafted by the game development team at Cave. Gameplay Deathsmiles is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up game. The four playable warrior angel characters possess "life points," instead of lives, which sustain them throughout the game and can be replenished. The game features a variety of play modes, including Power-up mode, which will unleash great streams of golden crowns, white tiaras, and grey skulls as you cut through enemies with your little Angel's mighty magic shot. Try not to get distracted by the bling as you collect these gorgeous trinkets en masse and pump your high score to the limit. Additional engrossing functionality includes a co-op game mode and leaderboard available to players over Xbox LIVE. Deathsmiles Limited Edition for Xbox 360 Includes: Key Game Features
Five Characters to Explore Gilverado - Choose Windia, the foppish English girl; Casper, the sassy German; Follett, the cautious French girl; or Rosa, the California valley girl or Sakura the faithful witch of the swamp wastes. Travel down the roads of Gilverado and discover hidden conversations between the angels.
Mega Black Label - Test your supernatural powers against the onslaught of the Ice Palace and its forgotten protector. Put your skills to the test with a new scoring system that demands more, but pumps out even more explosions of shiny tokens.
Choose Your Path and Difficulty - You can choose your own route through the game's stages and set the difficulty for each, from a level of 1 to 3. These difficulty levels allow you to customize the bullet count and boss toughness. Watch out if you choose level 3 five times, though.
Save and Play Back Replays - Save replays of your own games to watch later for your own enjoyment. Players can also download the top 20 scoring runs on the leaderboards.
Online Co-op -Two-player cooperative play is also available via Xbox LIVE.
Leaderboards - Check out your score on the online leaderboard, with rankings for each character and game mode.

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Record of Agarest War Limited Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Record of Agarest War was a title that was on my radar for some time, mainly through seeing it in magazine ads and on websites. I'm a pretty big fan of JRPGs so I was excited to see what AKSYS would bring to the states with this release. After picking up the limited edition yesterday, I've put in a solid 6 hours or so and I'm here to let you know what the game is like in the beginning. If you are on the fence about purchasing this title, you may use this as a guide to see if it will suit your taste (since there aren't many reviews out there for the game). So, without further adieu, my impressions...
Record of Agarest War is a Japanese SRPG (Strategy Role Playing Game). What this means is that you have a team of characters strategically placed on the battlefield and one by one you move them to a position and attack. The enemy will be doing the same. With Agarest though, they treat it a little different than the big boys (namely Disgaea). For starters, turns are broken into a couple steps. You begin your turn by moving all of your characters. When you are finished moving, you and the enemy move at the same time (so where an enemy is standing when you begin moving might not be where he is when you finish). After the movement phase, comes the action phase. You are given action points to do certain things. There are no free attacks, each attack will use points, as does using potions, and items. You can chose to bank points and do nothing that turn and use them for the next round, but you can never go above your maximum point count x2. Sometimes this is a good strategy on bosses, but on small mobs you won't need to do this. Another important part of attacking is that you can link up attacks depending on where you are standing in regards to other players. So, when you move, be sure to pay attention to not only the enemies position, but also where your teammates will be positioned. This all sounds a little complicated but there are some tutorials that taught it well.
So that is the quick and dirty description of the battle system (which in my opinion is the biggest part of a SRPG game). It's not the best, I'll be the first to admit, but I feel it's adequate. Disgaea does it better with obstacles and blocks, plus the maps in Agarest are pretty boring, but for some reason I had fun playing Agarest. The battles never lasted too long and I never felt I was at the end of a cheap attack by a computer. You can upgrade your characters individually after each level they receive, which is a welcome addition to any RPG fans playing the game. The system reminds me of Mass Effect where you have a couple different options and you receive a certain number of points per level you need to sink into each level of your character. As you level up you will unlock more skills and such. It's nothing revolutionary, but it works.
The other draw of the game is the dating sim that is apparently present. I haven't encountered much of it since I'm still very early in the game. I have met on e of the girls you can woo and a decision I made to go around a fort instead of threw it made her like me a little more. I'm sure there will be more choices down the ro ad with girls who like different actions at different times. I doubt you can please them all. The story also ranges across generations. So, at the end of the first generatio n (first of five parts of the game) you will need to pick a woman to have a child with. This will then move into the next generation where new girls will be present and new characters to continue your journey. This was one of the major selling points for me in getting this game, so I'm excited to see how this works.
So, there you have it, my quick and dirty first impressions of Record of Agarest War. If you aren't a SRPG fan, avoid this game. If you are an SRPG fan and ha ven't played Disgaea 3, maybe you should start there to experience one of the best SRPG games out. This game is for the rest of us. We've played Disgaea, maybe it wasn't our thing and wanted something a little toned down, not as serious...maybe you like the dating sim aspect, whatever it is, there is a lot to like with Agarest. Unfortunately, there are also some things to not like and if you are one to be brought down by the small things, you may not like this game.

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