ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Platine Dispositif, prolific independent developer known for Gundemonium, Bunny Must Die!, and many more, released this odd little piece of work at Comiket 87 in 2014. The most obvious unique aspect is that the entire game is written in a conlang, using a completely unique alphabet and set of numerals. Even the game's actual title is written in its language, which is why it's referred to as "_____" (five underscores) or simply "Platine Dispositif's C87 STG". This is the first 1CC of the full game uploaded on TH-cam as far as I can find.
So, language aside, the game is pretty old school, taking a lot of inspiration from the Star Soldier series, which makes it quite different from the more popular bullet hell shmups from this dev. It even has a caravan score attack mode. Collecting green orbs fills up your power gauge, which adds more options that fire alongside your ship. Collecting an orb at full power boosts your damage for a short amount of time.
The main unique feature of this game is its option formations, of which there are a crapton; one for every letter of the game's own alphabet, I believe. Most of them have to be collected before they can be used, either through destroying hidden targets or, occasionally, defeating bosses with certain requirements (such as damaging all of the metal dragon's segments before beating it). The catch is that there is only one button for switching formations; which formation you switch to is determined by what direction you're pressing (if any), whether or not you're shooting, and what formation you're currently using. This is why you'll see me shuffle between multiple option formations at times before reaching a certain one. Besides firing shots, your options also block enemy bullets, though they take damage as they do, lowering your power gauge. Different formations also cause your ship to move at different speeds.
The game also features a shop where you can use the green orbs you've collected across your playthroughs to purchase helpful features, such as extra starting lives or stronger power-ups. I didn't use any of those, though, so this is a run with default settings.
The #1 survival strategy for this game is to pick up the option formation in the first surface stage that surrounds your ship with a circle of options that fire directly upwards. Being able to block enemy shots from all sides is such a huge boon, especially late in the game when enemy attacks come fast and furious. Dying in this game is scary because it reverts you to minimum power, which means no options, so you can chain die really easily (it happens to me a few times in this run). Extends are mostly earned through scoring, which you can do by destroying bonus panels on the ground, destroying enemy formations, and sometimes through other methods, such as destroying each part of the three-stage rockets. Also, if you get close to the green orbs so that they get closer to your ship, but then run away from them so they start following you (you can tell by the blue streak behind them), you'll continuously gain points for as long as they chase you, gaining them faster if more are following you. You can see me attempt this in this run, but I bet someone who masters the game more could get huge scores out of this.
Overall, it's a fun game. Good for those who like Hudson's Star Soldier series, or old-school shmups with unusual weapon systems. And, of course, the conlang thing gives it a fun air of mystery.
By the way, the number system in the game is base 12 and written from right-to-left; I personally decoded it and converted my score to base 10 left-to-right for the video title.
