Azure Reflections is a bullet hell shooter that features a cast of pretty anime girls. But instead of those lovely ladies piloting ships or some type of vehicle they simply floating about being all magical and stuff. On first glance these magical girls seemed like a problem because of their size but Azure Reflections manages some interesting gameplay to make all this weirdness work –mostly.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]Publisher: UntiesCategory: Shoot ’em Up
Platform: Switch
Release: August 30, 2018[/perfectpullquote]
Azure Reflections is a SHUMP but more than that it’s part of the bullet hell sub-genre. This means the game is brutal and isn’t afraid to send you home crying like an anime fan on prom night. It cares little for your pitiful skill set, instead taunting you with how cute it is as you die over and over again. The first few hours of gameplay will be spent screaming at the little girls on screen which does feel really weird.
The size of the playable characters is going to be the biggest thing to get used to with Azure Reflections. Characters’ whole bodies are on screen but only a small portion of them are considered a hit-box by the game. Right about in the center of each lady is glowing strip that acts as part of their outfit that also serves as the hit-box.
It takes some adjustment time to really understand this as chances are you are going to be freaking out as bullets fill the screen. A lot of the game is spent just trying to get to grips of where the hit-box is because it becomes hard to see as the screen fills with all manner of colored items, bullets and death.
Each stage is broken up into a side-scrolling section where enemies from from right and left sides of the screen. You can’t turn around but you can shot right or left depending on which fire button you press. It’s a bit weird but isn’t hard to wrap you head around once the game gets going. Enemies fire all manner of bullets as you fire at them, and when they die they spit out icons for you to collect.
This is all fine but as you can imagine things get really busy really quick. Your eyes are going to be fighting to keep track of everything going on and it almost always feels like a losing battle. The brain can only process so much information at once which means Azure Reflections isn’t a game you play for fun, rather one that you sit down and practice like it’s an Olympic event.
Your arsenal consists of firring projectiles at enemies in a few different ways. Before the game starts you can choose your fire type including direct, spread, or homing. Each of these can serve as difficultly level of their own as you are going to have to play differently with each. Homing is much easier and lets you focus more on you movement and avoiding enemies while direct requires an almost zen-like touch.
But since there is so much being thrown at you in Azure Reflections you’ll need more than just fast fingers to bring down these adorable anime bosses. You have access to a shield that can absorb attacks as well as serving as a power dash that is essential to taking down bosses once you weaken them enough with normal attacks. You don’t have an unlimited amount of these dash moves but you can earn more by collecting icons to fill your meter.
You have a small clear move that acts the same as the shield but won’t force you to dash when using it. It sounds unnecessary but it helps give you an extra layer of safety that you can use if you are trying to be strategic and junk. Look, Azure Reflections is a brutal game so I’ll take all the help the game wants to throw my way. Lastly, you also can earn spell cards that act like bombs or special abilities.
These cards damage enemies and absorb projectiles all in one go. The controls for the game work great and I didn’t have any problems with them, something vital for a bullet-hell game of this nature. Getting used to your hit-box is the hardest bit as it’s easy to lose it when the screen fills up. You can take some damage but taking a big hit will stun you and this stunned state nearly kills the entire experience.
You see, when you take damage and become stunned you won’t be able to move. This would be fine, but Azure Reflections doesn’t feature any invincibility time making a hard game almost unnecessarily hard. With bullets coming from everywhere getting stunned is almost like signing your death warrant. It’s not uncommon for a single stun lead to you losing your life because of follow-up damage, especially in the games later levels.
Azure Reflections is a game you practice and beat simply to show off to your friends and fans of the genre. This isn’t the sort of title you sit back with a beer and simply enjoy. Having a practice mode should be enough to show you how brutal things are going to be. It’s not often that a traditional SHMUP has a mode to practice boss battles like a some fighting game.
When I started playing Azure Reflections I hated the experience and almost dreaded writing this review and see my sheathing anger come through. But the more I played the game, the more time I spent learning pattens and memorizing stages I began to have a lot of fun. Beating a boss was a call for celebration and seeing that I got a little bit farther on each game over made me feel like I was improving.
The game is really bright and colorful and looks great on the Nintendo Switch. I suggest keeping this one on the television simply because of the amount of stuff going on, but if you have better eyes than me you can still have a good time in portable mode.
Graphically, Azure Reflections is really pretty. The anime girls are all cute and full of life on screen. The enemy types are on the bland side of things but chances are you won’t notice them, only their bullets. Backgrounds are detailed if a bit lacking as to not take away from the core action. You actually don’t want a hyper-detailed world when the screen looks like a Skittles factory is exploding.
The music is solid, if not memorable. It fits the experience and isn’t offensive or overly cute. I’m so used to these anime games trying too hard and almost trying to prove how “weeb” they are. Thankfully, Azure Reflections uses the anime aesthetic to great effect.
Add in a bunch of collectibles and accessories and you have a fair bit of content, if you manage to “git gud” enough to unlock it. And these accessories aren’t just for show and dolling up for favorite lass, but they each have unique abilities that makes your adventure an easier one by giving you all manner of advantages.
There aren’t a whole lot of negatives outside of the brutal difficulty which is intentional thanks to the genre Azure Reflections sits in. If I did have a complaint it would be in the story department. It’s nothing special and pretty disposable, but every cut-scene seems to drag on for ages.
This really kills the pacing as it feels like a boring visual novel when you aren’t shooting and avoiding all those bullets. It’s not engaging and I found myself skipping through dialogue and still feeling like it was taking ages. I can only imagine if I sat through that contrived mess that I couldn’t follow because I was new to this series.
Azure Reflections is not a game for everyone but for those looking for a real challenge it should be right up your ally. I don’t know thing one about these Touhou games but this one is solid enough to make me want to check out others from the series.
Final Score:
3.5/5
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