Blaze of Storm

It's good. Satellite ball is my friend.

cleared all the difficulties on my first try. game is too easy. the scoring system is literally just dont die and kill all the enemies (way too simple) the highest score on the leaderboard right now is only slightly higher than what i got and i wasnt even trying to engage with it. i played the game for about 2 hours at most and im pretty much done with everything theres no reason to continue playing.

I played the original Raging Blasters and you can really see the growth in art and coding in this new title, Blaze of Storm. The developer really does a great job with the difficulty onboarding new players to the genre. I can't get through any of the traditional shoot 'em ups or recent modern hits like Zero Ranger / Blue Revolver, but was able to get through normal mode on this first playthrough. But going to hard mode after, the challenge ramps up and there's more difficulties to go, making for a smooth and fun challenge to progress curve. The music/art/visuals are all really well done, each level is a joy with new things happening all the time and so many wonderful, unique, and well designed bosses crammed into the 7 different stages. I know I don't have a very long playtime atm but can say I am very happy with my purchase and as a casual player this is one of my favorite entries I've tried and I plan on playing well into the future. It's also been fun to see the growth of the developer and I applaud their work and growth with this game.

At the time of writing I've a little over four hours of play time with this game and, in the most praiseworthy way, it feels like I've poured dozens more into it. Time flies when you're having fun so goes the cliché. Part of this comes down to the game having a much stronger focus on getting a high score without being highly difficult or having an obtuse scoring system that requires an encyclopedic knowledge of enemy patterns, revenge bullets or anything like that. Not that I dislike those things in other shooting games but Blaze of Storm lays its cards on the table plainly and doesn't try to trick you with layers upon layers of mechanics. You have a weapon and a subweapon, you shoot stuff as quickly as possible and collect bonus diamonds to increase your score. That's it. It's a package that is highly welcoming to people new to the genre and levels the playing field for everyone to try and get a high score in their mode of choice. There is also an excellent caravan mode that seems to be pretty popular among players. It's the mode that I now play the most and it's the first time I've been hooked by such a mode for many years. With all of that said, there are also three difficul…

Another good one by Terrarin. I always love the unique combination of PC Engine'esque asthetics and gameplay. Good variety of sub-weapons although in 90% of cases, the Satellite weapon is the one to use; a bit overpowered in most cases.

This game was my first 1CC in any arcade or shmup. I think it is very approachable, and due to short length worth the time investment of learning about routing, personal improvement, without feeling overly punishing for someone like me who loves the genre, but struggles to keep the mental space to practice and master games. I look forward to advancing my way through the game difficulties as I try to get all of the achievements in this one.