Mushihime-sama

By Spencer . September 27, 2005 . 3:36am

Purchase at Play-Asia

 

Purchase at Lik-Sang

 

Bullet-hell shooters, as they are often called, are something of an acquired taste - they’re the epitome of twitch games, wherein a tiny, single ship must navigate through narrows walls of enemy fire. Some will see an endless cavalcade of bullets blossoming out in hypnotic patterns, and view it as the most beautiful visions ever displayed onto a television.

 

Others will just see impossible amounts of stuff on the screen and wonder what kind of maniacal freak would have the reflexes to survive for more than ten seconds. Japanese developer Cave is more or less the master of this delightfully sadistic subgenre, and it’s only suiting that their latest release, Mushihime-sama, continues to amplify their explosive reputation as one of the best old school developers around.

 

Mushihime-sama (or "Insect Princess") is Cave’s latest home release, published by Taito. At its heart, Mushihime-sama is barely any different from any other Cave shooter. There are two methods of fire - a spread attack that has a wide range, or a concentrated attack that focuses all your strength in a small area and slows down your character to allow for easier dodging.

 

There’s also a bomb button, which is useful for overwhelming situations. The only new addition are Gradius-like options, which spread out your destruction even more. There are two option types - one that shadows your opponents and one that always stays in formation. Unfortunately, you can only switch between them by grabbing designated power-ups - it really would’ve been nice if you could change them on the fly. Considering Cave’s last game, Espgaluda, had a neat little gimmick that allowed you to slow down time whenever you want, it’s a little disappointing that there’s no great feature that really sets Mushihime-sama apart from its brethren.

 

In spite of its unoriginality, the graphic design is a far cry from a vast majority of shoot-em-ups. The heroine is a purple-haired lass named Princess Reko, who rides her gigantic beetle friend through five stages of insect fury. Ditching the usual sci-fi theme, Mushihime-sama draws far more from the likes of Miyazaki’s Nausicaa, with each landscape filled with neon insects and gigantic creepy crawlies. The third level is an ode to the gigantic battleship trend first started in R-Type - except instead of a space cruiser, you’re fighting an enormous, multi segmented creature with more legs than you could possibly imagine. The animation in this whole level is gorgeous, and this same level of detail shows through on other boss creatures. While the aesthetics may be pleasing, Mushihime-sama does falter a bit on the technical side. Due to the change in resolutions between a TV and a vertical arcade monitor, previous PS2 ports of Cave games included a filter that rendered the graphics less pixilated. Unfortunately, there is so such savior here, so the visuals end up losing much of their splendor. The only real solution is to put the game in TATE mode, which gives an aspect ratio much closer to its arcade original, and looks much cleaner to boot.

 

Almost every Cave has demanded near-impossible reflexes that made them rather off putting to all but the most dedicated gamers. They must’ve realized this with Mushihime-sama, as the game’s difficulty is far gentler than before. That’s not to say that Very Easy mode is actually a cakewalk, but the comparison is all relative - it’s actually possible for a casual shmupper (shoot em upper) to beat the game on a single credit, if one sets their minds to it. Cave didn’t completely sell out to cater to the newbie crowd, as the higher difficulty levels still provide insane amounts of challenge. The "Ultra" mode is so intimidating that a warning screen actually pops up before you’re allowed to play it. Mushihime-sama does have a tendency to slow down quite a bit on the more challenging settings, which is likely to annoy the fans but give a welcome breather to anyone that considers themselves human. It is rather amusing to see Sony’s almighty PS2 choke to death on a measly 2D shooter. There are a few other bonuses to the PS2 though - in additional to a nice artwork gallery, there’s also an "Arrange" mode specific to the PS2 version. Arrange mode not only arms Reko to the teeth right at the beginning, makes the game a bit easier by automatically using a bomb when you get hit (if you have any left) To balance this all out, you’re denied any extra credits, which should silence any complaints about the ability to continue infinitely in the regular game modes.

 

But these additions are, for the most part, fairly minor, and the port as a whole seems a little bit lacking compared to its predecessors. There are no choices for borders in the default YOKO mode, and there’s no map screen anymore. Also missing is an arranged soundtrack, although to be fair, the original soundtrack is still excellent. Dodonpachi Daioujou and Espgaluda also came bundled with bonus DVDs which included perfect runs of the game. There’s nothing of the sort for Mushihime-sama - although, to be fair, its retail price is a bit cheaper than those two. A limited edition package also comes a gigantic box with a plastic figurine showing Reko as a little girl. It’s cute, but isn’t nearly as nice as the figurine that came with the soundtrack.

 

Import Friendly? Literacy Level: 0

Other than the ending and the warning screen, Mushihime-sama is entirely in English, including the menus.

 

US Bound?

Unless some budget publishers picks this one up (like Castle Shikigami 2 and the unfortunately titled Mobile Light Force games), it’s highly unlikely this will ever see light outside of Japan.

 

+ Pros: Gorgeous style and accesible for those new to Cave style shooters.

 

- Cons: No new gameplay additions make Mushihime-sama seem uninspired.

 

Overall: Like most every shoot em up, Mushihime-sama is an unfortunately brief experience - after twenty minutes, you’ve seen all there is to see, and the extra modes don’t really add a whole lot. Still, for diehard shoot em ups fans, this is one of the most gorgeous, well-balanced title that Cave has put out, and is a good starting point for gamers put off by the extreme challenge of Dodonpachi Daioujou.

 

Written by Kurt Kalata.

 

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