Dodonpachi Resurrection Deluxe (Xbox 360)

If you like shooter games look no further than Dodonpachi this game has it all from hidden levels to big bosses plus an endless amount spaceships to shoot at.

Yes! I know! I was prepared for the challenge - I'd played other Cave shooters before so I new what I was getting myself into. But quite often with this game it feels like a punishment that seems impossible to endure. Less of a score attack and more a case of how many seconds you can last per life. A decent enough game but there are more "pleasant" shooters to play.

In 1995 a little company called Cave released 'Donpachi' (literally `Leader Bee' in Japanese), one of the first of the newly coined `bullet hell/ manic shooters', and was surprisingly so successful in native Japan's arcades it became synominous with the sub genre, rejuvenating 2D shooters as a whole, and bringing the flailing genre back into mainstream attention. 13 years later we get Dodonpachi Resurrection, the fifth instalment of Cave's flagship series, with no hesitation in living up to its legendary cult status. Typically, you guide a single, minuet spaceship, overhead, as it blasts wave upon wave of other spaceships that come into its path. The game's not original by any stretch, but takes everything you've ever loved about 2D shmups, overdosed it on steroids, and embraces carnage like a drunk man in kebab factory. To those new to these games, the sheer number of bullets thrown at you is near overwhelming and you could be easily detracted after first playthrough where you seem to be shot down every half a second from impossible-to-miss storms of enemy fire. But stick with it. Upon getting accustomed to the speed of gameplay, Resurrection becomes more intense and exciting than any first person shooter you've played in recent times. The immense satisfaction from outmanoeuvring 100 bullets is incomparable to any other gaming experience. This, along with the beautiful scenery and enemy ships, and the thumping Japanese techno music, makes Resurrection truly unique amongst the typical outings we see on game shelves these days. As mentioned earlier, the original started something of a renaissance in the 2D shooting world, but over the last few years this has died down as Cave's outings have become increasingly more difficult, sidelining anyone other than the most dedicated of fans. Cave took this on board and have taken the necessary steps to make Resurrection more compatible to newcomers. Firstly, unlike say Deathsmiles (another Cave shooter released by Rising Star (thank you)), if you get hit by a bullet, instead of dying automatically, you release a bomb which pretty much eliminates all but the strongest of enemies and bullets, giving you a quick breather before taking on the storm once again. And Dodonpachi is quite generous with bombs giving you plenty of get out of jail cards before you die, and a chance to warm up before its all over. There're also novice modes, arrange modes and other tweaks to ease newcomers into the experience. Despite these extras, I'd still recommend Deathsmiles for newcomers. It's slower paced, has more variety of levels, and just seems more visually appealing. For those accustomed to bullet hells and wandering what's new, there's the standard normal fire and heavy fire (laser). Two differences though. Laser rays from enemies cannot be dodged, but can be repelled by firing your own laser back at them, requiring you to skilfully switch between the weapons in a way very reminiscent to the switching in colours in Treasure Co's cult favourite Ikaruga (worth checking out if you haven't already). There's also the hyper attack, where upon filling the bar up, you're able to shoot a more powerful black version of your attacks, where the normal attack eliminates enemy bullets upon touch, making your ship almost impervious to any attack (almost) Are there downsides? Why yes! Most crucially, Cave are so keen to please with highly detailed 2D eye candy that the game becomes so hectic you lose track of what's going on. Enemy bullets have the mistake of being too small and neutral to colours of debris or background objects, meaning at times you'll be hit by bullets you simply could not see. It's almost impossible to play 2 players seriously. There are so many bullets fired to and fro you can barely tell what's friend or foe. It goes without saying, if you suffer from epilepsy, this game is best left alone. And don't even think of playing this on a small television. Personally I didn't find levels as interesting as those in other Cave shooters. But I've played a fair few now, and I'll always have my favourites. One final thing worth mentioning is that Dodonpachi Resurrection is the kind of game played to complete using the minimum amount of continues and racking up the best score possible. There are 5 (technically 6) levels, and if you're the kind of person to complete games once then never play again, chances are you won't stick around Resurrection for long. But should you enjoy this enough to crave another Cave shooter, I would highly recommend `Mushimesama Futari' and `Espgaluda 2', also for the Xbox 360. They can only be imported from Japan, but they're both region free, with the former being an outstanding shooter, with the latter including a very fun `bullet time' mechanic. A fan of bullet hell or not, Dodonpachi Resurrection is worth a try.

I love bullet hell!!!

This little gem is the adaptation of arcade vertical shmup DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu from CAVE. Unfortunately it doesn't include many extra stuff, if you want the 1.51 version or Black Label you have to pay them as DLC. This "Deluxe" edition only includes cd with soundtrack of the game. Ingame extra features like novice xbox version are unlocked for newbie players from the beginning. Many cute wallpapers for background when playing are included.

Dodonpachi Resurrection is a late entry in the series of 2D shooters developed by Cave of Japan called DonPachi. The 2nd game in the series, called Dodonpachi was released in the late 90s and is a highly influential game that more of less set the template for the modern 2D shooter genre featuring lots of bullets and a ship that has to be hit dead centre to be destroyed, making way for clouds of bullets that can be navigated through via seemingly impossible tight squeezes. The game also introduced clever scoring rules that force the player to strike a balance between risk and reward which makes for a highly compelling experience to the devoted player. Since then the game has steadily evolved with more gaming features and scoring rules being layered upon the basic game. The primary challenge of these games is called the "1CC" - or 1 credit clear - meaning finishing the game without losing all of your lives and using the "continue" feature to carry on. To the uninitiated this looks impossible but the games are cleverely designed allowing a practiced player to achieve that. This means that these games require repetition in order to glean any value out of them ,but I have yet to experience a genre of game that rewards that effort with a better sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. Once the 1CC is achieved devotees will then start playing for high score which is when the risk/reward nature of the scoring rules kick in delivering extra value, This game comes packed with different modes and options that allows the player to tailor the game to their tastes. They can make it easier or harder but they also offer different tweaks to the scoring rules that extend the life of game well beyond that your expectations might be of a game with "only" 5 levels. There's novice mode and the main arcade ("1.5") mode which are supplemented with Arrange A and Arrange B modes - which are significant tweaks to the basic game that make it a quite different experience. Then there is DLC - extra modes that can be purchased at a very reasonable cost. You can also get Black Label Mode, Black Label Novice Mode and 1.51 mode which is a further tweak to the main game. Black Label Mode adds on yet more complexity to the game which makes it feel an all new experience. On top of the range of modes you can also select from 1 of 3 different ships to pilot - each with different strengths and weaknesses - significant enough to force you to play the game differently. And then for each ship there are 3 different "styles" - Bomb, Strong and Power which change up how each ship uses its weapons. The game looks manic but spectacular - it's a real graphical firework display. And the soundtrack is of high quality when you can hear it above the constant explosion and weapons sounds. :) This Deluxe version of the game comes with a bonus CD featuring the game's soundtrack. The display options allow you resize and rotate the game screen to fit any TV and orientation. It's not an expensive game. This does not reflect its quality, more the niche that the genre sadly occupies. If you are looking to dip your toe into the genre then this is as good a place to start as any. And if it all feels overwhelming, there are excellent guides and information available from healthy online communities.

A+

Dodonpachi is considered as one of the better shmups out there and with decent reason. The chaos on you're television is always engaging and the game has been perfectly ported to the Xbox 360. It is not the shiniest or the graphical best one of the genre out there, but if you like these kind of games, look no further and get it.