Ghost Blade

[mazonemayu]

Gameplay & Story

Something that was banned 10.000 years ago is back, and it is pissed off (as it usually goes with shmups, but then again this part is totally unimportant).

So now for the gameplay, it's a shmup so there's really not much to say, you love or loathe the genre. There's the regular shot which can be upgraded giving you either front (concentrated in a small powerful beam), front + diagonal or front (wider but weaker than its other version) laser, depending on which ship you choose. Then there's the frontal beam which concentrates all your firepower and slows down your ship bullet hell style, great for evading enemy fire. When using this shot enemies release orbs which can be picked up and they fill a gauge. Once full it gives you a bomb, rinse, repeat; you can have as many bombs as you like, classically they destroy everything on screen. Gameplay is well balanced and your ship is very responsive, great collision detection too. Also there's a lot going on at the screen, with enemy fire, bonus stars & orbs to pick up which can be quite confusing at times if you are a beginner. Bosses are classic hulkish machines, throwing wave after wave of everything they have at you...There's also a 2 player mode, which I haven't had time to check out yet as my copy only arrived yesterday, but I'll check it with a friend soon.


Graphics

Hucast have really outdone themselves on this front, it's all incredibly crisp and detailed, from the ships to the pre-rendered backgrounds, the clouds, vibrant colours, etc...excellent work here


Sound/Music

Great job here also, sounds are ok as far as you have time to notice them in a shmup I totally like the soundtrack, specially in level 3, synths & pumping beats are all I need when blowing up stuff.


Replay

So far I'm having loads of fun with this, specially with there being 3 different ships & basically 3 ways to play. then there's the 2 player mode...

Overall
8/10

I'm giving it an 8 because it is by far the best game Hucast has made so far, gameplay and presentation wise. It's a bit easy for my taste and I already finished it, but don't let that keep you from playing it, it'll be difficult enough for most folks. Only thing I'm really missing is: I was sorta hoping to unlock a hard mode when I finished it, but then again that's just me

[Wrath of Khan]

Yup, I wanted a hard mode too. It was a lot of fun. Iv'e beaten the game with two ships. The larger ship with the widest spread shot is tricky. It feels harder to win with this ship. It's a lot of fun in two player mode. A friend and I completed it over Christmas. It's much easier in two player mode, almost too easy.

Yes, it's hard to look at neo xyx's low res graphics after the ghost blade.
I'd score it a 7.
Dux 2 looks nice as well...

[noiseredux]

still need to get this one...

[mazonemayu]

Iv'e beaten the game with two ships. The larger ship with the widest spread shot is tricky. It feels harder to win with this ship.

ok, so I did a few quick runs again, so now I've 1 CC-ed the game with all 3 ships & I find the blue (center one from the select screen) one the most challenging. from me from easy to hard it is: green ship, purple ship, blue ship.

[Wrath of Khan]

Iv'e beaten the game with two ships. The larger ship with the widest spread shot is tricky. It feels harder to win with this ship.

ok, so I did a few quick runs again, so now I've 1 CC-ed the game with all 3 ships & I find the blue (center one from the select screen) one the most challenging. from me from easy to hard it is: green ship, purple ship, blue ship.

Yup, that's what Iv'e found too. Iv'e yet to win with the blue ship.

Check this video out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_egaLlJT8rM
The boss's are easy. More play testing could have caught this.