Shinorubi Review

Despite being decidedly average at them, one genre that always catches my eye is the Shump – hectic, arcade shooters that are as much about luck as they are sheer, eye-wateringly fast skill. Shinorubi landed in our inbox shortly after the new year, and so we figured we’d kick the year off proper with a bang – and then some.

As well as the five-level campaign, there are 12 “Arrange” modes to play, and we’ve sampled all of them over the last few nights. No matter the mode, the bullets come thick and fast, the scores rack up, and inevitably our ship explodes into a millions pieces. Importantly, it’s never any less than a great time.

Controlling our ship is as simple as flinging the analogue stick about, while we have two modes of fire; Spreadshot, and Concentrated. The former sends out a wide area of death dealing bullets at the cost of being slightly weaker. It’s the latter that becomes key to racking up those high-scores. Concentrated fire brings all of our attacks into one singular, forward facing beam that deals massive damage to off-set it’s lower range of attack. It’s also the only way to charge the Fever meter; killing enemies with it slowly builds this up and, upon filling, for a short while the enemies explode into massive score-boosting stars. As well as this, there are medals to collect throughout the levels that multiply our score further as long as we don’t miss one and reset our streak.

All of the above might sound a little daunting, but in action Shinorubi is surprisingly easy to keep track of and play. I don’t know if it’s the New Year me still slightly rested from a break, but even when all shit’s going on on-screen, the game remains one of the easier ones I’ve played to read and keep track of. That’s not to say it’s always crystal clear or easy by any means, but I always knew where my ship was or where the collectibles were.

We have eight playable ships/characters to choose from, each with their own shot pattern and stats that affect speed, power, and shot coverage. I definitely found myself drawn to Scratcher after sampling them, his attack pattern and ship feel meshing best with my style of playing, though I enjoyed using most of the characters really. It’s subtle, but there’s a definite difference between each that will suit certain players better than others.

It’s better to find a ship we gel with as the five difficulty modes – from Super Easy to Very Hard – will test our limits. Even the Super Easy mode took a few credits from me towards the end, and the Super Hard mode offered up a misleadingly simple opening 30 seconds before we got absolutely smashed. Normal is recommended as you’d expect, and while it took a fair share of credits from us (we can set up 99 to be in place, though we only got through about 10 here) it was a great way to open the experience, not too overbearing but also not at all a walk in the park.

Additionally, the 12 Arrange modes test us in other, more extravagant ways. One has us collecting Pigs that bounce out of enemy ships, with them initially being grey and worth less but if we let them bounce off the bottom of the screen they turn pink and are worth more (easier said than done with everything else going on).

Scratch Mode sees us building up a multiplier by actively cutting as close to enemy bullets as possible, while others still have us engaging in Boss Rushes or alternating our fire modes based on what will currently damage enemies. We enjoyed checking out these modes, and they offer up a nice twist on the relatively short campaign’s ruleset for those who might have mastered that already (or want a new way for the game to destroy them).

Throughout, the framerate and controls are super smooth and responsive, with even 60hz screens benefitting from some ultra high response times. It is, quite simply, a lot of fun to play, and despite the campaign only taking around 30 minutes to clear we can see ourselves coming back often for ‘one more go’ until the early hours of the morning.

Conclusion

Shinorubi fits the classic phrase “easy to pick up, tough to master” to a tee. For simple, immediate fun it will fit the bill nicely, but those looking to really sink their teeth (and free time) into a new Shmup, then Shinorubi comes highly recommended.