Credit: Cave/Rising StarI’d like to talk about the impressive presentation of Cave’s latest foray into bullet hell madness, but I was presented with a slight dilemma. See, I’ve been doing this review lark for a while now, so I already had this introduction written as I played thorough the game. I’d talk about the settings, how it’s set in an alternative version of Japan’s industrial Taisho period where a new source of fuel has been discovered, one that catapults their technological standings through the roof. Via this, demonic swords are forged that, once they take a life, give the wielder crazy amounts of power to abuse. An emperor of a small providence uses this for evil, his army led by people with these cursed swords, and a rebellion of likewise soldiers rises to try and stop them before they engulf all of Japan.
This was the plan. I’d then talk about how the stages were backdropped to highlight this setting, but I couldn’t really pay a lot of attention. Don’t get me wrong; what Akai Katana serves up are lush and descriptive backgrounds that interact directly with your efforts. Gun turrets extend out of metal hatches, tanks roll straight off production lines, and warships bobbing gently on the tide all pelt you will bullets. But here’s the thing; it’s not like I could stop and take a lot of notice of all the things shooting at me, because there are hundreds and, if I take my eye of the constant wall of bullets coming my way, I die. Hell, odds are, I die anyway.
The first level, you know, the easy one designed to ease you into the game, is constantly awash with ground forces rolling out of hangers and helicopters flooding the screen in staggering numbers. To the game’s credit, you’re given every chance to survive the onslaught. You come equipped with screen-clearing bombs and your hit box is clearly marked on your craft, giving you the ability to plot improbable courses through mazes of bullets. Smashing through these obstacles leaves scorched craters in the ground, or debris flying around the screen.
Survive these, and the air fortress ten times your size that shows up to be a plasma-spewing nightmare of a mid-level dogfight, and you’ll find the game’s first boss fights is already ridiculous. You're hovering over a canal reflecting the dying embers of the evening sun in a WWII fighter plane, guided by the spirit of your dead co-pilot who, by the way, can transform the plane into her holding a giant cannon. You’re fighting an evil ninja hovering around ominously. He’s wearing a blue cape and yelling at you.
Credit: Cave/Rising StarThe ways in which he tries to exterminate you are, frankly, beautiful. His initial burst of pink neon bullets are randomly splayed in little groups, giving you plenty of space to scroll around them and plough missiles into his face. Show enough competence to survive that, and he’ll flood the screen with serpentine waves of projectiles that, damn it, have no right looking as graceful as they do. But you can sneak through the gaps in their expanding ranks if you’re quick enough. His life bar starts to plummet, and you start to feel like you have the battle in hand.
Then he plucks an aircraft carrier into the air from the waters below.
Then the carrier starts firing a starburst of rotating laser beams that cuts the screen into claustrophobic pockets.
Then, just for kicks, he picks up a couple more.
Oh, he’s still firing off his own offence, but that’s not enough. Why should it be when you’re able to use several hundred tons of metal for a convenient shield that just so happens to be filled with fully-loaded gun turrets? And he’s the first bloody boss! The easy one!
It would be unfair not to mentioned how hard Akai Katana tries to ensure you at least stand a chance against these kinds of odds. By collecting energy pick-ups from slain foes, you can use your spirit summon to not only bolster your attack, but give you some chance of seeing off screens of bullets. Used correctly, and your summon can repel enemy attacks, bouncing them right back at them and, with a bit of practice, you’ll learn to collect a screen filled with these shots, then destroy them and cause an insane chain reaction for a massive score overhaul. Which is insanely gratifying. These summons are used slightly differently in two of the game modes. In Origin, a straight copy of the original arcade game, they do all the above. Slash and Climax are both 16:9 remasters of the original’s 4:3 aspect, and add in the ability to collect steel orbs and massive katanas to orbit around your summon and do ungodly amounts of damage if used correctly.
Credit: Cave/Rising StarWhile the remasters are very much appreciated (they’re more or less the same as each other, but with Climax rebalancing some aspects and adding in a lot more bullets out of sheer spite), Origin remains the only version to allow for co-op play. You can understand why to an extent; if you’re looking to rack up a humongous score, you don’t want some jerk in the second fighter to balls it all up with an ill-timed bomb or a spot of kill-stealing, but, if that’s the case, you could just not invite anyone else to play. It’s a noticeable absence that does drag down what, in every other aspect, are easily the better versions to play the game on and means that, if you want to hit up a two player game (local only!) you have to do so without any of the cool new additions exclusive to the 360 version.
It’s not going to stop Akai Katana from coming highly recommended, though. It doesn’t have the length or the theatrical flair of a game like Deatmsmiles, but I managed to get a handle on Katana‘s high scoring mechanics a lot sooner. I still remember the first time I suckered in a tidal wave of bullets, reflecting and pulling them back in on whim until I pulled the trigger and exploded them into hundreds of little golden tokens that sent my score rocketing into the millions. I saved the replay and I show disinterested people every half chance I get. I still remember the time I danced through a forest of plasma to unload a dozen building-sized katana into the gloating form of a floating female ninja in a bodice. What I don’t remember is just how many times I’ve died during my time in. So many deaths, so many bullets…
I should be frustrated and complaining about cheapness. If that’s the case, why is it I can’t stop playing?
