PixlBit

Though I had Trouble Witches NEO to this list this year I felt this list needed another shump to give it a more two on two balance of shump mechanics. Thankfully I still had a few ideas up my sleeve in what to have for a shump that can be played during the Octoberween month. I had originally thought about “revisiting” an excellent Octoberween shump that fits the perfect mood for the season with its gothic set up and Halloween-ish setting. I mean how can you go wrong with the first stage is entitled “Burning Halloween Town”. The game I’m referring to is of course Developer Cave’s Deathsmiles on the Xbox 360. But since this list is a “digital only” edition, and I don’t own this game digitally, put the ax to that idea. Perhaps one day I’ll have it back as a revisit but that originally put me in a bind on what else I could place on this list as a shump for this year. I could’ve just left it with Trouble Witches NEO but I thought I needed to balance out its offerings of cutesy, colorful, anime girl fun with something more dark and grisly that is better befitting one of the various moods I feel during this month. Thankfully I didn’t have to look far for Cave also had another shump title that was a better fit for the season. True it wasn’t no Deathsmiles but it still brought on the Octoberween mood with its content of bloody deaths, ghostly lantern demons and other Asian supernatural horrors I love oh so much. That game is of course Guwange on XBLA!

Sorry but I couldn’t find a trailer. A video of stage one will have to do.

 

In Guwange the game setting takes place during the Muromachi period of Japan where during this time there have been unusual high reports of people suffering from ghost spirit possession by shikigami. You play as one of three characters in this game who are tasked in trying to exorcise their shikigami possession before they die from it. By being possessed by their respective shikigami, these player characters have unusually high spiritual power but at the price of only have a one year life span from the time of the possession. But it’s up to your chosen player character, a 17 year old miko, a 15 year old pharmacist in training and a 35 year old murderer, to gather five sacred talismans from the demons who serve the malevolent god Guwange. Upon gathering all five talismans and slaying this god will they destroy the shikigami from within and thus sparing them from their early deaths. Though there is much more to the story if you’re willing to read into it that is pretty much the general story in a nutshell. There is more to the story though if you’re interested in getting detailed info about the boss characters, their association with the world and god that is Guwange and what happens at the end of the game. The player characters do have their own brief cut scenes that explain their motivations for going on their respective quests but for the most part come off underwhelming. As much as I can appreciate the story behind Guwange, what takes center stage is it’s shump gameplay.

Guwange plays as your overhead top down shump like others you’ve seen do this before like Raiden, Capcom’s 1940 series, Raystorm and RayCrysis. But unlike those games where you take control of aircraft, you take control of your player character. Each one has their own unique weapon of choice from a bow and arrow to throwing knives. But I found their spread patterns not to be any different from each other. The same can be said for their moments as well. None of them seem to be too fast or slow and all share the same level up system. They even share the same super bomb attack and shikigami ability as well. The only benefit you have from playing all three players is so that you can watch the different stories and endings they are involved in. From the looks of the game it would look like your typical “bullet hell” shooter and to some extent you are right. The bullets do come fast and furious at you as you scroll along the levels. Depending on which mode you play (original, blue, Arranged 360 and Xbox 360 mode) you’ll find different control patterns and attack schemes of the enemies in the game. I mostly stuck with the Xbox 360 mode so that my character would automatically fire as I used my shikigami to slow down bullets and convert them into coins once I got around to killing the enemy on screen that fired them. By using your shikigami in this way you make dodging the bullets a bit more manageable and it also helps to boost your score to unlock scored based achievements. The game does look daunting at first but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be dodging bullets like a pro and collection some sweet coin in the process. And if you do happen to take a hit it’s no worry, this game does come with a lives system similar to Deathsmiles. If you happen to take your three hits and die you can easily continue with the use of unlimited continues. I found myself actually challenging myself in this game to get as far as I could without the use of continues. And with proper practice it is actually possible. This game may look like a challenge but it doesn’t go super cheap on you later on near the end of the game. Make no mistake about this game, it IS a bullet hell shooter but for me it’s a manageable bullet hell shooter.

The music in the game is your basic Japanese traditional that fits the setting of the game, complete with tunes you’d expect out of feudal Japan. Even the character select screen has that flair that lets you know that you’re indeed playing a Japanese theme game in its creation and setting. There really isn’t much else to mention on the music. It doesn’t get annoying or memorable but it still set the mood well for you as you fight your way through hordes of enemies. The boss music does sound a bit outer worldly as you fight the specific demons of that stage.

But what really makes this game a great fit for an Octoberween game romp is its visuals. They not only fit with the theme but also are very graphic for their 2D sprite drawn style. Enemies will be defeated and disappear in an explosion of bloody mist and some enemies will leave a puddle of blood in their wake after you defeat them. Explosions can be heard when you destroy mechanical obstacles and some of the monster and demon designs look like they come straight out of a folklorist’s book. Yet there are some enemies that look out of place when you compare them to soldiers on horseback and one eyed demon fish on the same screen. And you can’t go wrong with the usual stapes of Asian horror by including headless women poking their heads out of wells or bastions of water, only for their heads to rot and expose the dead skull they inhabit. There is even a few jump scares if you’re not too careful during your gameplay. The most gross out factors in this game is when you see a spider demon boss, which has a head of cat, eat a sorry villager as you approach it. Also the final boss has one final shock factor by showing the alter that people have been using to sacrifice other people to help raise Guwange, complete with severed heads from bodies lined outward around the stone from which Guwange was sealed in…..

It might seem tame in comparison with other games of the horror genre that we’ve come to know and love, but it’s those small details that make Guwange stand out as a horror based theme shump. Despite it being six levels long, the stages are long enough to make them feel like they are much bigger than they appear to be. It starts off small in the beginning but builds up as you continue your way but the level design is left in a way where you can’t pick and choose your path. It’s all linear so get use to a point A beginning to a point B end.

Guwange is yet another one of those “Octoberween primer” games that you’ll play to get you in the mood for Octoberween or just a game to play in short spirts till you get around to playing more “meatier” titles that’ll take up your time and energy to play. You can sit down and beat the game in one sitting with one character but you can also pace yourself and just beat half the level with one character or two if only to get the whole story of Hiiragi Kosame, Kamono Gensuke and Shishin. There are other moves of play besides the aforementioned play styles. You do have the option to play single or two player in both off and online co-op though I didn’t get around to enjoying them. The game even has the option to change the background visuals since only half the screen in the middle is taken up for gameplay. You can even alter the look of the game visuals themselves in deciding how you want your life bar and number score to appear on screen. Not really necessary but a worth of note to mention.

I tried to wait out for as long as I could for this game to go on sale, it did once but I missed out on it, but I eventually caved (no pun intended) and bought Guwange for $9.99 off XBLA. It may be a bit pricy for those not of the shump persuasion but for me it was a good price for a quality horror shump from one of the shump master makers. If you can get it for cheaper than that then t’s a steal and I’d highly recommend the buy. You couldn’t do worse for $9.99 these days. And when it comes to horror based shumps they are indeed few and far between to enjoy.  Give it a go if you feel the urge to face off against medieval Japan demons.

My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015:

11) Zombie Panic in Wonderland – 1000 Wii Points

10) Trouble Witches NEO - $9.99 + $1.99 DLC character

09) Slender: The Arrival – on sale $7.49

08) Costume Quest 1 & 2 – on sale $7.49 each + $4.99 DLC “Grubbins on Ice”

07) Fatal Frame - on sale $5.99

06) Metro 2033 – Free thanks to Microsoft’s “Games with Gold” program.

05) Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly – on sale $5.99

04) Decay - $1.00 part 1 + $2.99 x 3 for parts 2, 3, &4 = $9.97

03) Guwange - $9.99

Ta-ta

“N”

Bonus Video

In this episode of “Camera Obscura”, the camera itself is broke and Jason is lost. Clara doesn’t know what to do next. What will she do? Enjoy!

 

 

Sleep well tonight……