Bangai-O USA: Reviews
Desde el pasado 12 de Agosto puede encontrarse la versión yanqui de Bangai-O Spirits en la calle y podemos dar una vuelta por GameRankings para ver que posee un Average Ratio del 85,7%. Era evidente que desde la review de Eurogamer no iba a irle tan bien, pero eh, muy mal tampoco:
Rather than serving as a brand new shoot ‘em up title, Bangai-O Spirits is more of an homage to the original game and to developer Treasure. It’s a shooter that celebrates shooters. The approach certainly limits the game’s audience, but if you’re a fan of the genre it should please you to know that Treasure loves it just as much as us and made this game just for us. The fact that everything in the game is unlocked from the start is a questionable design choice that leaves it a little unfocused. And it’s hard as hell. But in a time when so many games are being dumbed down to win over the grandma crowd, it’s a relief to know companies like Treasure and publisher D3 still have the guts to release quirky, challenging fare like this.
Bangai-O Spirits is a revival of an original franchise that blends puzzle solving and action in a way few other games can. An unfair learning curve and some noticeable technical bugs haunt the title, but it’s also filled with varied content. Given enough patience, it reveals some refreshingly challenging gameplay. For me, it was a vacillating mix of frustration and brilliance.
Relatively few gamers have heard of Bangai-O: Spirits, and even fewer know what it means. But as a game made by beloved developer Treasure, it won’t have trouble finding an audience. Bangai-O is a shoot-em-up, yes, but it’s also one of the purest interpretations of “action” gaming in any genre. (…)
Despite the high challenge level, Bangai-O is most definitely a “pick-up-and-play” experience, but it’s best not to try and clear large parts of the game in one sitting — and you won’t, unless you know you’re awesome. But even if you’re not, you’ll come back to it often.
Bangai-O Spirits is one of, if not the most, fully-featured and expansive shmups ever created, but it’s absolutely unmerciful in its brutality. You can feel your determination dissipating, punctured a hundred times per second in a relentless cacophony of explosions. The weak will fade away to their brain games and pet sims, but the true heroes will stand firm against the maelstrom, ready and willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of pride, glory, and tasty pieces of fruit.
However, Spirits does have a few imperfections that keep it from getting a glowing recommendation. The action can get so furious sometimes that it literally drags the DS down to a crawl. Also, the difficulty seems completely random; after 15 minutes of humiliating losses on one level you might select the next one only to beat it in 30 seconds on the first try. And don’t even bother trying to decipher the story because it’s just plain silly. However, Bangai-O Spirits has a lot going for it. It’s obviously aimed squarely at the hardcore DS gamer and while the intense action and high difficulty will probably turn off the casual crowd, it’s a solid shooter for anyone who’s looking for a challenge.
En general, los puntos críticos que suelen destacar son las ralentizaciones gráficas, la no-linealidad entre niveles y ausencia de una curva de aprendizaje controlada, la excesiva dependencia del ensayo-error y su consiguiente dificultad. Completamente cierto bajo mis ya comentadas impresiones, pero inherente a Bangai-O. Lo tomas o lo dejas.
Por cierto, todos conocemos la existencia de esos “cartuchos mágicos” que se insertan en la Nintendo DS y las bondades de cierto viejo animal ecuestre, pero si verdaderamente os gusta lo que hace Treasure, sois conscientes del milagro que supone que una compañía como esta siga activa en el mundillo a día de hoy, y estais hartos de tener que cruzar los dedos para que cada juego que programan salga traducido de Japón (y ya no os digo nada para que llegue a España y en español): sabeis lo que teneis que hacer. El 29 de Agosto tendremos Bangai-O Spirits en Europa. Colaboremos para que siga siendo así con cada título. Y tú Masato, ¿qué hay de esas copias de gratix pa’ la prensa de las que hablamos?