The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

The Good
Nothing at all.

The Bad
Ok so... a lot of people should be familiar with the Touhou franchise. It's a shoot 'em up franchise which has gained high popularity on the internet... for some reason. But it's mainly popular among weeaboos and 4chan so yeah, that should say it all. Normally I would not even know about this game's existence since I pretty much hate anything weeaboo-related, but a few of my school mates who happen to be big anime fans made me play it and so here it goes. But anyhow, let's get into detail.

So the premise of this game is that there's some sort of dimension in a place and there's angels of sorts. To be fair I'm not really sure what the premise is but since when did we need a plot in a shoot 'em up game? I can sum up the premise of any shmup in four words: "Shoot everything that moves". And while this applies here too there's some pretty fucked up stuff. First off, the main characters of the game are all half naked anime girls. They're apparently witches with super magical powers who are thousand of years old. The problem is that they look as if they were 12 years old, and apparently they are supposed to be "sexy". I don't know what's more disturbing, the fact that they're thousands of years old yet they look so young or that some people find 12 years old girls sexually appealing. So I can tell you straight ahead that if you happen to be a pedophile you'll surely enjoy this game. But for normal people like myself and just about everyone else I think this is just ridiculous.

As I already mentioned there isn't a particularly engaging plot but despite this the main characters never shut up. Every time they meet a boss they decide to talk to her, and I suppose the idea makes sense... but unfortunately they're some of the most worthless game dialogue I've ever been subjected to. A conversation goes like this "Oh hey, nice dress you got there." "No it's more than nice, you're underestimating it." "Ok, then prepare to fight" all while smiling and acting as if nothing is happening. So after they shoot the hell out of eachothers the boss is defeated and the main character makes some other retarded statements and this happens in every level. Who came up with these dialogues??? Are they supposed to be funny? Fortunately enough they are skippable but I have to ask myself, did the programmer of this game ever had a girlfriend? Or do all Japanese girls behave like that? I'm not gonna believe the latter option so I'll just go with the former. This is the hardest part of the review because it's somehow just really difficult to put in words how abysmal these dialogues are.

As for the gameplay itself it plays like, well, a vertical shmup. However this one is part of the so called "Bullet Hell" sub-genre, which is characterized by the fact the screen is almost always covered with bullets coming out of everywhere, to the point that even bullets shoot bullets! Now is that supposed to impress me? Well guess what it doesn't. So due to the high number of bullets most of the challenge comes from avoiding them rather than shooting down enemies. While avoiding bullets has obviously always been a huge part of the shmup genre, in this game they are simply too many. They make the game frustrating, but before everyone dismisses this review because I can't beat the game (although I admit it never really motivated me to finish it either), I can say that while it's true that I suck at this, I also suck at other shmups like Gradius V and Ikaruga but I do like them, because the level design in those games is actually good and interesting. Here there is nothing to like.

The graphics are pretty shallow. Your average enemy is a 12 years old angel girl. Other enemies include bullets, yin yangs, more bullets, jewish stars (Are they gonna add Hitler as a boss in the next game? Maybe an anime girl version of Hitler!), yet more bullets, and finally more bullets. The stages are fairly unimaginative, and while the flash effects look okay (explosions and so on), the stages themselves are generally devoid of any detail and feel empty. I suppose you'll be too busy looking at all the mess in the screen, but still. Even though the backgrounds in the stages are 3D (but they're very blocky in general) the sprites are 2D. There is a nice water effect in the second map but it's not exactly anything special. There is also a lot of concept art of the various bosses and the main characters but I already stated how I feel about 12 years old half naked girls so let's just skip this part.

The sound department is... well, it fits the game I suppose. Some of the tunes can be catchy at first but I don't like the instruments and they eventually get on my nerves. Besides, I'd take the soundtrack of Thunder Force III over this any day.

The Bottom Line
This was the first shoot 'em up game I ever played since for some reason I never had any classic shmup as a kid, and it made me stay away as much as possible from the genre for a long time.

If you're a pedophile or a weeaboo this game should be right up your alley as you'll probably only play it to see 12 years old anime girls battle it out in dull-looking stages. You might also enjoy this game if you're a nazi, because one of the enemies appears to be a Jewish star. I don't know if it is supposed to stand for something else but I'm looking forward to shoot down giant swastikas in the sequel. Except I am not.

But aside for that there's absolutely no reason for anyone else to play this game. Since you have a computer you might as well stick with Tyrian 2000 and Raptor: Call of the Shadows, which are actually good games. If you really want to get some games in the Bullet Hell sub-genre, then your choices are Radiant Silvergun for Sega Saturn and Ikaruga for Dreamcast. And since I'm a Dreamcast and Playstation 2 owner, I have access to classic shooters such as the already mentioned Ikaruga but also Under Defeat, Zero Gunner 2, Bangai-O, Gradius V, R-Type Final, and many others. And even then you could get some other good games such as Thunder Force III or Axelay, or Einhander, and so on.

I'm glad to see there is no interest in this franchise whatsoever (just one mobyrank) on this site, but let this review be a warning: If you're a shooter fanatic and you want to play this game because you heard so much good stuff on it from the internet, don't. It will destroy your brain cells and make you hate the shmup genre altogether. With so many great shooters around there simply is no place and no time for games like this one.

The Good
The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (or Touhou 6) is typical, fast, and hard danmaku/bullet hell/manic shooter. Just fly forward and shoot enemies... and avoid bullet's. MANY BULLETS. I like this genre (But I play poorly in bullet hells...), and Touhou 6 is well made. Fast, satisfying action, many bullets and enemies, hard bosses - gameplay is very fun and addictive. In the Touhou 6 all elements are made very well - character's control is great, game has nice, anime-like graphic (visually, the game knocks riot of colors, especially in the later levels), and music is very good, for a doujin game, of course. Passing missiles requires a lot of concentration, one mistake and you will die. Good thing, but...

The Bad
..even on the easy level of difficulty, I am not able to complete the game. (and on Lunatic I can't beat first level). Touhou 6 is TOO HARD, but difficulty level is a part of genre..... hmm... give me unlimited continues! Second: I have handicapped friend, he can't use left hand. Game hasn't "change keyboard controls" option (just joystick). Why? Oh, one more "mini" minus: the game has not enough types of enemies.

The Bottom Line
I very like The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. Touhou 6 looks and sounds pretty and is just great bullet hell, one on the best danmaku on PC. Ok, game is hell-hard, and not for all, but worth to try - if you like BH and manga style of graphic, the Touhou 6 is for you. Very good, addictive game! 8+/10