Touhou: Fearless Frogslayer

Muy lindo, con buena dificultad y divertido. Sólo para los verdaderos baka lovers.

Here is a shortened version of my full review posted on Catholic Game Reviews Story: Cirno and her best friend Daiyousei wake up to find a strange advertisement posted outside their home. This ad states “Premium Ice, Buy Now!”. As Cirno’s life centers around ice, she is quickly intrigued by the prospect of encountering some high quality ice. She soon meets up with the “businessman” who put up the ad and is sent on a journey to acquire enough money to buy this coveted ice. Gameplay: Very unique gameplay. It’s a turn-based game but you only have one character throughout the entire game, Cirno. I’ve never played a turn-based game where you only have one character. It’s like a turn-based boss rush as you never fight any “regular enemies”, just bosses. Another cool thing about the game is that you can dodge enemy attacks. To do this simply move left or right in a timely manner. It can get pretty tricky later on to get the timing right but it feels so good when you pull it off. You also have the basics of every turn-based game: melee, magic, and a block button. The melee option allows you to do basic melee attacks. Then there is magic which includes a variety of attacks with special effects like freezing the enemy or lowering their stats. There is also magic you can use on yourself such as stat buffs. Lastly there is the block button which lowers the damage of the next incoming attack. And of course all the magic is ice themed, how cool. To add another layer to those basic options, every four turns, the player is given an ultimate token that can be used to power up a melee attack, magic, or your block. Lastly, exploring the overworld will allow you to find a lot of fun easter eggs for characters from the world of Touhou. Graphics: The game has a pixel art style that has a lot of charm that you will feel right away from the epic feeling the main menu gives. Characters show a lot of emotion as their sprites’ expressions change frequently and the text boxes are decorated differently such as Cirno’s having the number nine (a reference to a community joke). Overworld sprites also have lots of energy as they react to situations such as Cirno falling over when she reads about premium ice. Battles have excellent presentation and scale. All the battles feature animated character sprites that have different animations for each of their moves. Attacks also have a lot of animation work put into them which creates excitement but also serves the gameplay as they telegraph to the player when they can be dodged. The backgrounds are also animated and feature Cirno moving when she dodges. Battle UI is very concise and effectively communicates all the complexities expanded upon in the gameplay section. Defeating each boss adds a delightful little touch to the save menu. Cirno draws a picture of each defeated foe in crayon and adds some funny commentary alongside it. They’re messy and colorful, just like a child’s drawings, which will fill you with joy. It also allows the player to feel a sense of progression as they see the notebook fill up with sketches. Music/Sound: The music is really epic. I love the main battle theme, I’m pretty sure it’s a remix of Cirno’s main theme from the original games. It is very intense and almost feels like a Final Fantasy theme. There are also adaptive tracks where the song changes as you get further into a fight. Overworld music does a good job at setting the appropriate tone and is usually quite peaceful to listen to. Value: The game is only about four hours long if you are taking the time to explore. This isn’t a bad thing as you are only being asked for $6. With all the effort that is placed into this game, it’s okay that it’s short. Many games can overstay their welcome by trying to have long play times but it’s a nice feeling to not feel like there is any fluff. Scoring: 90% Story: 4/5 Gameplay: 5/5 Visuals: 5/5 Music/Sound: 4/5