It is pretty obvious as soon as you boot up Deathsmiles that the Xbox 360 version is a collection of different ways to play the same core game. The game includes an original arcade mode which has the original graphics that were used for the arcade machines, an Xbox 360 mode which uses improved graphics, Deathsmiles Mega Black Label which adds a new playable character as well as a new level to the game, and Deathsmiles ver. 1.1 which changes a few of the game's base mechanics.
At the beginning of the game players choose one of four different characters to play as. Each character has her own attacks, though all characters' attacks are very similar. Characters also have their own pets which assist them. Gameplay is very simple in Deathsmiles. Players guide his or her character through 8 stages in which they must dodge enemies and their projectiles while firing their own weapons to thin the crowd of baddies. These games are known as Bullet Hell games for a reason, however, as the sheer number of enemy shots that must be dodged at one time can be staggering. Timing movements and your own shots are pivotal to your success in each level. On higher difficulties, the number of enemy bullets rises dramatically and the game sees the addition of enemy counter-bullets, even more bullets released by enemies when struck by your attack. Luckily the characters' pets have the ability to absorb and effectively block these counter-bullets, so positioning becomes even more important on these more difficult levels.
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| Maybe the bullets would be more frightening if they weren't pink? |
Players start the game with three lives, though once all three are lost you are given the option to continue right where you left off. I can definitely see how this would make for a good arcade game. The number of quarters you'd spend trying to get all the way through this game for the first time would be huge! Luckily the Xbox 360 version doesn't require you to spend any more money and just penalizes you by resetting your score to zero.
The stages in Deathsmiles are all wonderfully drawn. Monsters are also well designed, if a bit bizarre. My first time through the game I kept repeating "What the heck is going on!?" as I was attacked by chef pigs, waltzing couples, and even a giant cow. This game is very Japanese, and reminds me of Comic Jumper's manga level in which these types of things are parodied. The bosses at the end of each stage don't pull any weirdness punches with their design either, making the game very memorable. All of the levels have a demonic/gothic theme which goes along with what little story is offered in the game.
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| Death, prepare to meet yourself! Err...YEAH! |
Deathsmiles is pretty light in the story department. At a certain point in the game, your character meets up with a witch who attacks you in order to protect her mother. Upon defeating this boss, a short scene plays in which the witch explains that she thought you were one of the monsters summoned to the land by her father and that you were trying to harm her mother (which is never further explained). The witch then asks you to help stop her father. Upon completing the final level, your character comes face to face with the witch's father who is attempting to open a portal to the real world so that he can return. Upon defeating the next two bosses, and completing the game, each character is presented with two choices which lead to the two different endings for each girl. Each of these endings fills in a tiny bit of backstory to the game, one that does not become clear until viewing most of the eight endings. Even once the story finally makes some semblance of sense it is still not very compelling. I suppose that the story was built this way to make gamers spend more money at the arcade to finish the game multiple times.
For the most part, Deathsmiles runs relatively well. Every now and then the game will slow to a crawl when there are a huge number of bullets and enemies on screen. I was surprised when these framerate problems occurred as the game was built to run on a much less powerful machine than the Xbox 360. In some cases though, the slowdown was actually helpful when attempting to dodge hundreds of bullets.
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| It's like a cutie version of the Matrix! |
I was a little disturbed by the main characters being sexualized children wearing what might as well have been skimpy Halloween costumes. I mean, it says right in their description that the oldest girl is 17 and the youngest is 11. It's things like this that just make me roll my eyes and say "Oh the Japanese...."
Deathsmiles is surprisingly fun to play time and time again. One playthrough of the game takes around 20 minutes, so to get your money's worth you'll need to play it multiple times. Luckily, the slowly revealed story and variety of characters make replays more tolerable. Deathsmiles is easy enough to pick up as a newbie to the genre, yet has enough depth to it that even pro Bullet Hell players can enjoy mastering the game. Unless you are someone who is going to obsess over perfecting a run through the game on the hardest difficulty and practice the game for hours on end, I would recommend only picking this game up as a rental or for cheap. Otherwise you'll likely be disappointed by the short game, even with the added content of the Xbox 360 version.
Amulets and Ale Rating:
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