Ah, the noble shoot 'em up. In my opinion, some of the greatest games ever created operate under this name. These games tend to be created with only one objective in mind: fun. It's not about telling a story or advancing the medium, both of which are very venerable and worthwhile endeavors, mind you, but the shoot 'em up says "forget all that for now. You deserve to unwind, so here are some 'splodable things. Enjoy."
One branch on the tree that is the shoot 'em up is the bullet hell. Typically top-down shooters that flood the screen with so many enemy projectiles that attempting to follow them all will probably result in a brain hemorrhage. Done well, the bullet hell will allow the player to step back, analyzing only vague patterns along the screen, and enter a state of flow unlike any other. Done poorly, it's a frustrating, stressful mess that will have players throwing their controllers into various inorganic substances, screaming "I quit!"
Promethia7 is, thankfully, an example of a good bullet hell...half of the time. Essentially, there are 2 portions to each level in the game. There's the very short, enemy-filled pathway leading up to the boss, and then there's the boss battle, which is clearly the focal point of the level. In this way, the level structure is kind of similar to that of the Joe and Mac games.
Now, here's my question to the developers: what did you intend the player to do in those short passageways leading up to the boss? Did you want the player to actually take time dispatching each and every enemy? Because I just ran right past them as soon as I figured out that was an option. Sure, the enemies drop health and ammo when killed, but you'll spend way more of that stuff killing all of them than you will ever gain. Besides, the boss fights all have smaller enemies within them, whom you can kill and reap the same benefits.
See, in Joe and Mac, the pre-boss level made sense because there were powerups for your weapon and such that you could get there. These would in turn make the boss fights easier, but only if you were skilled enough not to lose half your health fighting the smaller guys. In Promethia7, there are no powerups, just items to replenish what you lost by being there in the first place. Thus, there's no reason to actually take out the guys before the boss.
That said, the boss fights are done pretty well. There's enough stuff on the screen to make the whole thing challenging, but not quite enough to drive the player into sensory overload. I still haven't come close to beating the third boss, but hey, that doesn't mean the game is unfair. Just that I'm not good enough to conquer it. If you just ignore the parts before the boss battles, this game ain't too bad.
That's all I got for now. Until next time, stay a'shootin.
Links
Esoteric Word Followed by Number: https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=26661
PS- there's a SWORD in this game? I only figured that out after I replayed it and clicked the "how to play" button for kicks and giggles. Good conveyance there, guys. 5 stars...
