Baruusa No Fukushuu (X68000, 1990, Zainsoft)

Going into this game, I really wanted to like it. It has pretty good graphics, interesting character designs, and it was the first original game for the X68000 Home Computer I ever played.

But unfortunately, while I still do like it, I'll probably never play it again. And the reason for that is, well, the sword.

I see nothing sugestive, do you ?

Yes, you heard me, the sword. Why do I not like it ? Well, let's start at the begining. The first stage of the game starts you off on a ship where almost immediately you'll be hurt by zombies comming from the ground below you. And since there's never any indication, you just have to memorise where they come up in order not to get hurt. Then, after dispatching them, and the flying pterodactyl things that throw fire at you, the first boss shows up. A gigantic crab rises from the ocean by the side of the ship, and starts shooting bubbles. Filled with miniature crabs that you have to kill in order to have some manouvering space, because the crab pops up at different places each time. And here you will first come to realise the horrible truth.

This thing could only be fully screengrabed after a game over

The sword doesn't kill anything in one hit. Anything. Not ever a caterpillar. And if you soldier your way through level 1, this will only come to haunt you in level 2. Where you will have to deal with respawning enemies coming from both directions, some of whom aren't even on the same plane.

And here you start to realise yet another ghastly detail. You have no after hit invincibility. So an enemy can literaly drain your entiere health bar in 1.5 seconds. Plus, they sometimes bounce you back.

And here's the kicker. Level 2 introduces the gray orb "powerup". Previously you picked up a blue orb to regain health. The gray orb on the other hand takes it away. And just to put salt in the wound, 90 % of enemies on this stage only give health decreases. Only at the begining and at the very end can you get some health.

Gangrape already in progress

Do you see where this might get you ? Yes, you'll have your whole health drained by enemies coming from both directions at once, that don't die in one hit and that can knock you into a power down you didn't pick up but it hadn't dissapeared yet.

Still, if you somehow (and I don't know how) make it to the halfway point you can pick up the knife weapon, which makes things considerabely easier.

The next few levels get better, but level 6 does raise the bar by forcing you to dodge floating firemen, with their fireballs, multi directional lava balls, as well as arched shots from platform based enemies. And you also have to get the sword again.

I know, every molecule in your body is rebeling against it, but you have no choice. You cannot beat the game without the sword. You can beat the level 6 boss, quite easily with them, as well as the boss of level 7, but the final boss will just kill you before you even have a chance to hurt it.

Put simply, ranged attacks don't even harm the guy, so you may think you're getting somewhere, but you're realy not. Plus, you can't kill the gray dopplegangers he spawns on whatever side of the screen you're on fast enough (sword: 2 hits, blue fireball attack: 5 hits). And if you die here, you have to continue from the begining of level 7, which has no enemies that drop the sword, which more or less forces you to restart the game, because you simply cannot win.

What I'd realy apreciate would have been the ability to have more then two weapons (you actualy can but the second weapon, a blue fairy thing, will dissapear after you use it enough) and that you can use the weapons from earlier in the game more often. Level 2 starts you out with a thunder beam attack pickup as well as an arching fireball attack, and yet none of these ever show up again.

Overall, I liked the game, enjoyed the enemy designs, but won't probably ever play it again due to how balls crushingly the game is at the begining.