“Touhou is not quite a game, but a whole series - but seeing how the gameplay mechanics are fairly similar, as shoot'em'up series are wont to do, a single entry should likely be enough.
As for the games themselves, the Touhou Poject series is a...”
“Touhou is not quite a game, but a whole series - but seeing how the gameplay mechanics are fairly similar, as shoot'em'up series are wont to do, a single entry should likely be enough.
As for the games themselves, the Touhou Poject series is a pure Bullet Hell one - a player with a "ship" against an almost absurd amount of bullets shot at you in beautiful rainbow patterns. "Ship" in quotes, of course, because Touhou is a fairytale setting, and so you control priestesses and witches gunning down fairies and mythological creatures with spells, instead of futuristic ships versus huge tanks. These characters have their own stories and such, but it's only vaguely explained in the games themselves by nonsensical banter - the games are focused in the action, and leave the backstory to the manuals. Suffice to say, there is a whole fandom built on the weirdness of the fantasy kitchen sink that is Gensokyo.
And now, with the introduction for those who don't know the games done, let's get into the review itself.
Graphics: For an indie game made by a drunk Japanese man who can't draw, Touhou is actually surprisingly eye-pleasing. While the character portraits are the purest example that you probably should not let people draw under the influence of beer, the bullet patters, the sprites, and the backgrounds all have a kind of dazzling, colorful beauty that overcomes their low objective quality when seen in movement.
Music: Gorgeous, plain and simple. Done with a single synthetizer, but that never stopped quality - just see the Megaman games for an example! And Touhou certainly delivers. It can get screechy in places, but the tunes are catchy and have a solid beat. You'll probably be humming some of them for days. After all, there's a *reason* there are positively hundreds of gigabytes of fan remixes of the tunes for six little games.
Gameplay: Classic Bullet Hell gameplay, really. If you ever played any vertical shoot'em'up, you know exactly what to expect. Or not, because Touhou, unlike most shooters, is thought up for PC from the ground up, instead of being for arcades, and so, lacking the need to draw quarters out of you. This shows. Touhou is a fair deal easier than classics like ESP.ra.de or DoDonPachi. This, of course, makes it a wonderful entry level shooter for people new to the genre. And for people with more experience, there's always Lunatic Mode.
All in all, as a series, I can only recommend it glowingly! Just start with Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil, the first game in the Windows series (sixth game in the whole series), and go up from there. If you like to have some fun and don't mind getting creamed at first, this could be your way into the bullet hell genre, like it was mine! ”
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