Game Details
- Publisher: 2Dream
- Developer: HUCAST
- ESRB Rating: “E10” for Everyone 10+
- Genre: Shoot-Em-Up
- Pros: Looks and sounds awesome; satisfying bullet hell gameplay; accessible for newbies
- Cons: Pretty straightforward and simple
- MSRP: $10
Ghost Blade HD is a bullet hell shoot-em-up where you choose
one of three scantily clad anime girls who then have to go shoot stuff through
five levels because of reasons. Why are they scantily clad when you only ever
see them on the character select screen and then never again? Because boobs,
that’s why! I’m not complaining.
As far as gameplay goes, Ghost Blade HD is a little more
simple and straightforward than some of the best-known bullet hell shooters
over the last several years. You won’t find the complex scoring systems or
parry / defensive mechanics of a Cave shooter like Akai Katana or Deathsmiles,
for example, and instead Ghost Blade HD focuses just on simple shooting,
dodging endless walls of bullets, and surviving. That focus isn’t a bad thing,
of course, but it makes for a less interesting experience for genre vets
expecting a little more depth.
With that said, the core gameplay in Ghost Blade HD is very
solid all around and does actually have a little more depth than it seems to
have at first. You have two shot types – a wide spread shot and a more powerful
linear shot – and using them at the proper times to take out enemies
efficiently is vital. Also, unless I’m crazy (because it seems like no one else
noticed it …) the shot types also affect your movement speed so you go slightly
slower while doing the powerful shot than you do using the spread (or not
shooting at all) so adjusting your shot type is key to help you avoid different
bullet patterns.
Ghost Blade HD is also pretty accessible despite being a
bullet hell-style game. The speed of the game and the patterns it throws at you
aren’t ever super crazy, so dodging the hails of bullets isn’t nearly as
challenging as it is in other games. It also offers three difficulty options as
well as a practice mode so you can really learn and get better fairly quickly.
The game takes less than 30-minutes to play through – which is about standard
for shmups – and re-playing and learning and doing better is the whole point,
so don’t call it too short! In addition to the standard 1P mode there is a
score attack, online leaderboards, and local two-player co-op to keep you busy.
For $10 you’re getting a lot of shmup goodness.
The presentation in Ghost Blade HD is also quite nice
overall. It was designed to mimic the shmups of the 90’s (which is part of the
reason why the gameplay is a little simpler) and it does so tremendously well
even with the bump up to HD resolution. The game looks great and, most
importantly, it is easy to tell what is going on at all times during gameplay
because they were very careful to make sure all of the bullets flying around
onscreen have distinct colors. You can even adjust how bright explosions are in
the options to make it even easier to see if you need to. I love that. There is
some slowdown when things get super hectic, but it seems intentional. The game
also sounds like a shmup from the 90’s with perfect sound effects and an
awesome synth pop soundtrack.
All in all, Ghost Blade HD is a solid shoot-em-up that is
perfectly at home on Xbox One. It is one of those games that is easy to learn
but tough to master, which makes it good for genre vets as well as casual fans
as it is one of the most accessible bullet hell shooters I’ve ever played. Speaking
of bullet hell shooters, it is the only “real” bullet hell shooter on Xbox One
at the moment (Raiden V and Sky Force Anniversary aren’t really bullet hell),
which also adds to Ghost Blade HD’s appeal. In the end, Ghost Blade HD is a
pretty easy shmup to recommend to anyone with any short of interest in the
genre. The presentation is awesome, the gameplay is solid, and it is very
welcoming to newbies. Buy it.
Disclosure: A review code was provided by the publisher.
