A Colorful Bullet Hell Experience: A Shinorubi Review

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Shinorubi is a shoot 'em up, bullet hell type game that comes to us by way of Last Boss 88 and Red Art Games. It's releasing soon on just about every console, and we're here to see if it has what it takes to stand out in a rather saturated genre. There's a surprising amount of content to cover here, so let's do away with all the intros and dive into it. 

Who even is this guy?

My favorite, Vippyer.

I'll be the first to say that shooters like Shinorubi don't really need a story, but we have a refreshingly robust one here. That said, I can't help but feel that it came off a bit disjointed when taking in the entire game as a whole. For starters the title screen, game icon, and more all feature that girl who has an... interesting outfit, and her name is NEMESIS BAAA. I bet you assumed you'd be playing as her or something, right? Well, she's actually the game's last boss, who funny enough isn't actually shown all that much in the opening cutscene. Perhaps I was just over-thinking that a bit, but you actually play as the most random collection of pilots you'll ever see this side of a sci-fi fanfic. You have the robot D-Control, the pointy-eared alien Gammaray, the ape-like alien Scratcher, the octopus-like alien Optopsy, the snake-like alien Vippyer (who is my favorite btw), and more, for a total of eight. What brings them all together? Well, they've united to fight the BAAA family who are apparently hoarding a precious resource called "R-R". This R-R can only be found on the planet Shinorubi, and BAAA's current King, one R.LOYD III, has entrusted his five greatest generals to protect Shinorubi, one of them being his daughter, NEMESIS BAAA. The eight pilots were all part of the BAAA Family's army and have decided to rebel against the status quo for various reasons that are only really made clear when you clear the game with each of them. This story may seem rather deep, but I have to mention that it's pretty much only really told in a single intro cutscene that plays when you start up the game. If you press any button during this scene, you'll skip it. It actually was several playthroughs before I realized that I was skipping the story in its entirety. As for the characters, they don't have any bios or intros, you just learn about them via a single end screen. None of this is actually important to the gameplay I'll admit, but it does make it feel like the developers perhaps should've kept the story simpler than they did here.

What gun shoots green circles?

Watch out for that wave of bullets!

Since shooters are the epitome of gameplay over all else, I'm going to be focusing on how well Shinorubi plays by its own merits, and how it compares to other games in the genre. First up, this is a vertical shooter that uses a widescreen field of play. This is really odd as most vertical shooters play in a long, narrow field that leaves either side of the screen empty if it's being displayed on a standard TV. Not all games in the genre are like this, but having such a squashed playing field makes maneuvering in Shinorubi feel a lot more difficult than it needs to be. It doesn't help that everything feels a bit zoomed in as well. You can kind of see it in the screenshots, but it's something that you'll have to play for yourself to truly feel. There never really seems to be enough room to move around, especially once the screen starts filling up with enemies and bullets. I actually thought that the game was pretty unplayable when I first started it up, and you might too, but there's a certain gameplay element that saves Shinorubi. I'm not sure if you would call it a shield or not, but there is are certain amount of bullets your ship is able to withstand before it actually takes a hit. Since a hit means instant death, that means you can take a few hits before you die. This is important as you'll be getting hit a lot due to the screen layout. As long as you're constantly moving, and don't let the bullets crowd you in, you'll usually find yourself doing relatively okay most of the time. This actually is a cool mechanic once I got used to it, and made me appreciate the game for adding a somewhat unique concept to the genre. In case you're worried that this is a game that lets you just absorb all the shots you want, there are some bullets that you can't just shrug off, and don't expect to fly into a wall of bullets and have a ship on the other side. It's hard to describe the mechanic beyond this, but just trust that it works; it just works.

There's so much going on here.

Some ships shoot from all directions.

Now each of the eight pilots play in their own unique ways. Some are faster than others, have a stronger shield, have different bullet patterns, and even have a slightly different screen-clearing bomb. Each ship has three ways to attack, you can shoot your standard shot which fires projectiles unique to your ship in various directions, a laser which fires a concentrated beam that is more powerful directly in front of you, and a bomb that takes out all the enemies and bullets on-screen. Since each bullet pattern is unique, some fire in a mostly straight pattern, some fire more off to the sides more than the middle, and some literally fire in all directions, including behind you. There aren't any power-ups you need to collect for your main weapon, so you don't have to worry about it powering down if you die. Actually the only item pick-ups you'll have to worry about regarding weapons are those that replenish your bombs. Your bombs also refill each time you die. I'll go more into the scoring later, but your main goal is to maintain a high score, and the only other items you can grab are score multipliers that appear in the form of medals. If you use a bomb or get hit, your score multiplier basically resets. Therefore it's best to not bother with bombs unless you really need to use them. As long as you're moving you can often get through things just using your standard shot. Your laser comes more into play when a powerful enemy blocks your way, like a boss, but relying on it can be dangerous as enemies can still fly in from your side and take you out. Basically it's best to alternate between both main weapons, and occasionally risk it all for those ever elusive medals. That said, there are some boss encounters that are all but unbeatable if you don't use your laser over your standard shot.

You'll be doing a lot of dying in Shinorubi if you're not a shoot 'em up veteran, but you'll be pleased to know that the game is very generous to players when it comes to lives and continues. There are five levels, and five bosses, and you can take on the game in five difficulty settings, from Very Easy to Very Hard. No matter what difficulty you pick, you have 99 continues. If you lose all your lives and continue, you start right where you last died, but your score resets to zero. This means you'll see the ending of the game pretty much no matter what, as long as you persevere and don't give up. The goal is obviously to beat the game on a single continue, but this is easier said than done, even on the lowest difficulty setting. Scoring is the name of the game though, so once again it's best to not die, and not use bombs. If you keep up with your medals, use appropriate weapons against each enemies, and take out the bosses in an efficient manner, you'll quickly be setting new High Scores on each playthrough. I haven't mentioned the other game modes yet, but they all have their own score tables, so you'll want to take them all on in due course. Don't worry if you're looking for a challenge though, as there is a lot of difficulty to find here if that what you're looking for. Shinorubi features several arrange modes that aren't nearly as nice to newcomers as the main one, but it's refreshing to see a game in this genre that's welcoming to casual players.

See what I mean about bosses?

Scratcher is pretty cool too.

I actually don't have a lot to say in regards to the enemies themselves, but they are indeed a very colorful bunch. They shoot bullets of various sizes and colors, and all have some pretty off-the-wall designs. There's small ships that fire in large formations, and bigger ships and tanks that unleash entire waves of bullets when they appear. The bosses all come in the form of really large ships that seem to mostly exist slightly off-screen. It's hard to explain what I mean, but some of the bosses only occupy the top of the screen and look like they're only the bottom section of a much larger ship. This made is so that a lot of the bosses didn't exactly feel intimidating, as you could never really see the full threat that was right in front of you. Not to go back to an earlier point, but if this game went for that more standard vertical layout I mentioned earlier there'd probably be more room to put the entire boss on-screen. This aside, the bosses also have a sort of sameness to them that I could never quite get over. I kept hoping that the next one would look more unique to the one before it, but they never did. Even the final boss didn't feel any different than the previous four, besides the fact that the game randomly stops the level to load them in. It's not the biggest complaint, but the generic bosses made me rethink all the enemies, and I slowly began to feel that perhaps ALL the designs felt somewhat uninspired. I'm almost definitely being a bit too harsh, but I couldn't help but think it. Anyhow, uninspired enemies or not, this game looks beautiful. It ran smooth on the Nintendo Switch, and looked far more detailed than it had any right to be considering how much is going on at any given time. I didn't play it on the PS5 or XBox Series X|S, but you can apparently play the game in full 4K and in 120 FPS there. I can't confirm that, but I honestly don't doubt it considering how well it runs on even the least optimized setups.

All those arrange modes!

Pigs!

Since we sort of just talked graphics, let's cover music real fast. I did enjoy the music, and it has that remixed "shooter metal" feel that one would find in the Raiden series perhaps, but it had a slightly more... background feel. To say that music never really stood out would be incorrect, but I never really noticed it unless I was making a point to take note of it for the sake of this review. The music is really well-done, but I'd be lying if I said that any of it stuck with me once I had put down the game. Sound effect fare a bit better, and I'm always one to note when the sound mix is spot on by default, which is the case here. Shinorubi's music isn't going to make me rush out and buy the game's soundtrack, but it was never bad or distracting.

I haven't talked about controls much, but that's because they pretty much just work. I have nothing really to say about them that is good or bad. Everything flows smooth, nothing ever felt unintuitive to me, and you can even modify the controls in the options menu if you so desire. I just felt that this had to be covered since I have played more than my share of shooters where tapping a direction sends your ship flying, or where you can hold a single direction with all your might and feel like you're only crawling across the screen. None of that is here, and even though some of the ships do control a bit differently to each other due to their individual stats, they all handle perfectly. There are some times when I felt the game was a bit unforgiving, but it was never due to the controls or overall gameplay letting me down.

This tank is hard to take out from the front.

Gold stars mean points!

I've only been talking about the main game mode so far, but Shinorubi offers a lot more than that. First up is the Boss Rush Mode. This is a standard, and doesn't really need much explanation beyond that it has three difficulty settings, and still features the generous continue system as the core game. There's also two Caravan Stages (for two and five minutes respectively) that are basically time attack score modes. Besides these there are several other Arrange modes that change up the core gameplay. The Journey Mode sees you complete the game three times, with the difficulty ramping up each time. Shield Mode gives you an actual shield, but it's only forward facing. This means you have to stage yourself behind it to survive. This is actually a cool mechanic that I wish made its way into the main game. Super Rank Mode sees you alter the difficulty by playing well. Basically you do what you would to get a high score in the main game, but here that raises the difficulty or "Rank" meter. Scratch Mode sees you get more points if you risk your life by flying as close to bullets as possible. Cancel Mode is the main game, but you can clear the screen of all bullets by taking out the red enemies that appear in mobs. A nice alternative to using bombs if I do say so myself. Laser/Shot Mode is also the main game, but you can only take out enemies with each respective weapon if you're currently in that weapons "Mode". Pink Pig Mode is definitely the silliest and turns all the star points grabs (which I think I failed to mention earlier) into pink pigs. This gives the game an almost Parodius-like feel that I very much appreciated. In case that rather long list didn't make it obvious, there's a lot to do in Shinorubi, even though all the aforementioned modes still only give you the same five stages.

The final, very colorful, boss.

Look at that score!

I don't think any game has brought me such shifting opinions as this one. I honestly thought it was unplayable when I booted up, then I grew to love it and feel that it was one of the most unique shooters that I've played in years. I then calmed down a bit once I felt that the enemies and level design left a bit to be desired, but I never actually fell out of love with it. It's a rather short game, and you can see most of what is has to offer in a few hours, but it is extremely replayable and more than worth its current $19.99 price tag. Grab it on whatever console you can, and be sure to pick Vippyer, he rocks!

For More Information on Shinorubi:
https://www.lastboss88.com/

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Story: B (Does it REALLY need one though?)
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: A-
Music/Sound: B
Value: A+

Overall: A-

Pros:
+ A robust shoot 'em up that has very high replayability due to several difficulty settings and arrange modes.
+ The eight different pilots are all very different from each other and offer their own gampeplay variants.
+ While the game can be challenging in some modes, it is very welcoming to newcomers and casual players.
+ Everything looks colorful, beautiful, and runs very smoothly, even on the Nintendo Switch.
+ While not exactly attached to the gameplay very well, the game does have a surprisingly deep storyline.

+/- Some of the arrange modes play so differently from the core game, that they almost feel like could've been their own thing.

Cons:
- The boss, enemy, and level designs leave something to be desired.
- Even though the shot shield mechanic makes up for it, the game field does seem a bit too squished and zoomed in.
- While there are a lot of game modes that change up the gameplay mechanics, they all center on the same five stages.
- The scoring system is a bit confusing to me as sometimes it would just skyrocket even though it didn't feel that I was playing any better.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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Being a robot is complicated.

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