Judgement Silversword -Resurrection- is a vertical shmup in where your spaceship is as powerful as it is ever going to get from the very start. There are no power-ups and no bombs to clear the screen of bullets, just you and your skills is what can get you through this game. While the first dozen or so level may seem like a cake walk, things will quickly escalate from there and you will have so many projectiles shot at you that it nearly feels like it belongs in the Bullet Hell genre. The game features 30+ waves of enemies to get through and using one of your two continues will start you at the beginning of that wave. Using a continue usually means something went really badly for you as lives are rather plentiful and you will constantly see them drop. If the extra life item reaches the bottom of the screen then it will bounce back up for a short while but will be lost if it reaches the bottom of the screen again. It is a very real possibility to lose extra lifes to the abyss of space due to all the things on screen trying to kill you, so it is best to find an opening and retrieve it as soon as possible.
To defend yourself you will have a wide shot attack that fills the screen with your projectiles and works great against a swarm of weak enemies or if you are too focused avoiding bullets to use your narrow shot. Your narrow shot is exactly what it sounds like and shoots a condensed wave of projectiles at your foes that will quickly annihilate them though it is best used against the tougher enemies since it can be easier to get overwhelmed by numbers if you don’t use it effectively. If things get too hectic and you have no means of escaping projectiles your spaceship also has a shield that can disintegrate certain projectiles and slow the others down. It is a small, front mounted shield however, so you are still vulnerable from the sides and the back. It does have an energy meter that quickly refills itself but you will likely never run out due having a ton. That doesn’t mean you can just sit back and shake off the all the projectiles however, as that will more likely then not result in you being overwhelmed. This is the kind of game where you want to shoot the enemies as soon as they appear and are able to attack you. One bullet is all it takes to do you in so it leads to some rather intense moments of switching from offensive to defensive at a moments notice.
One thing that gave me a bad first impression was the ear-grating music that plays from wave 1-20. It is a song with a rather short loop and quickly grew annoying. The rest of the songs are fine and kind of catchy strangely enough, though most of your time will be spent hear that single tune. There is no story to speak of here, just you, your spaceship and tons of enemies to shoot down. There is a decent amount of enemy variety and they all have their own style of attacking. Some may try to crash into you, other will surround you by flying in a circle around you and one particularly nasty fellow will shoot unblock-able beams at you. None look visually memorable but it is still rather important to learn how they fight so you can be able to plan ahead and now what to expect. Bosses are rather hit or miss. Some are fun to fight like a sword carrying mech and others like a small unappealing cube are rather lame. They will all be the end of you if you don’t focus on the fight and can take a heck of a lot of punishment. Barraging them with your narrow shot is far more effective than slowly damaging them with your spread shot though not suggested if you don’t think you can navigate through all the projectiles. Some form of indication as to how damaged the boss is or a simple life bar would have been a nice addition as it can drag on a bit.
Another oversight of boss fights are that they are introduced via text on screen but that very same text can hide projectiles that are shot at you for the duration that it is there. The graphics of this game are pretty outdated and unappealing though they do the job. It is a port from a portable system called the “Wonderswan” and was released in 2004 to it’s defense. In the options menu you can rotate the screen if you like to pivot your monitor for that arcade like experience and it does support HD resolutions like 2560x1440p nicely enough. Not many environments to look at I’m afraid. Most of your time will be spent in the blackness of space though you will see some planets from time to time and have an space battle on the moon. One thing that may be a deal breaker for some is that there are no online leaderboards so you will have to compete against your own scores or of those that play on your PC.
The other game included in this title is called “Cardinal of Sin” which has you completing objectives like killing enemies as fast as possible or collecting as much gold as you can. Each objective is centered around one of the 7 deadly sins like Sloth or Wrath. The meaning of your objective is not clear at times and in others you may not be able to read what you are meant to do since they quickly take the message of the screen. It is still the same game as Judgement Silversword however, it has the same music, enemies, bosses and everything else only that you now have objectives. After you complete all the 7 Sins you will be graded as to how well you did and go on to fight a boss. The way you go through areas have been remixed and the only other difference I could spot was that you now have less invincibility frames after respawning so get out of the way of projectiles if possible. All in all it did feel like a neat little side mode, not so much a two games in one package type of ordeal. Was not expecting much from Judgement Silversword -Resurrection- to be honest but to my surprise it turned out to be an addictive pleasure. It is a fast paced game that pulls no punches, even on easy mode you will need lots of skill to beat the game. Your arsenal of weapons and a shield you can use at anytime always makes the deaths feel like your fault alone making it so you can’t help but to take another shot at the game and maybe this time you’ll be able to take the douche in wave 31 down.
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