Goubakuran ~RumbleStorm~ is a vertical Shmup that finds humanity on the losing end of a war against a mechanical species which suddenly appeared one day. In their desperation, they send out a lone pilot on a suicide charge against the increasingly encroaching alien armada. This pilot, named Reika, has more than the weight of humanity’s future on her shoulder. The talented engineer that developed the space-vessel Reika commandeers is her lover and recently fell into enemy hands. With nothing left the lose and everything to gain, Reika’s ship is launched right past the front lines and into entirely hostile territory.
This game has never been translated from Japanese, meaning both the story and the ensuing tutorial messages will not be understandable to those unfamiliar with the language. It is simple to control. You only have a button to shoot and another to drop a projectile-clearing bomb. What you’ll want to know is the effect of all the power-ups that enemies may drop. Let’s start with the keycard-looking objects, which control the type of projectile you’ll be shooting. The Yellow one is an auto-targeting laser that seeks hostiles on its own. It is the least powerful but easiest projectile to make use of. A Red-colored one is a spread shot, and the Blue fires a narrower yet more destructive pattern.
These colored keys appear frequently and have no additional benefits to collecting more than one. Interestingly enough, they never despawn. They’ll stay bouncing around the screen until you pick them up and change color over time. If you are not liking your current projectile type, simply waiting until the key turns into something you want is a valid tactic. On that same note, if you actually like what you currently have, it’s best to pick it up while it’s on that color, or you will risk accidentally switching weapon types later. There is no superior choice, yet there are occasions when you really wouldn’t want to use a specific projectile. For instance, in a place full of mines, you wouldn’t want that yellow auto-tracking shot to activate all of them unnecessarily and flood the screen with deadly shrapnel.
It only takes three shots for your ship to explode. We are given several lives and three continues. Every time we clear a stage will get us an extra continue, but our stockpile will quickly whittle down if we play carelessly. There are three difficulty settings to choose from, ranging from Easy to Hard. They affect the amount and the speed of enemy projectiles. It doesn’t reach bullet-hell levels, yet they are directly aimed at you, and this is a fast-paced title. Leaving a lone foe at your rear could quickly spell your end, no matter how insignificant they otherwise would be. Situational awareness is one of the most important things to train yourself on. No matter your reaction time, you can’t evade something you didn’t see coming.
Initially, our ship is painfully slow. That is where the other power-up types seen as either an S or a P icon come into play. The S will increase your speed. Picking up the P will beef up your overall firepower, on the other hand. Over time they alternate between the two letters, so it isn’t always wise to pick them up straight away. Depending on the situation or your playstyle, you will have the opportunity to either increase your speed or damage output. Both can stack up to nine times total, yet it will be quite the feat ever reaching that. As soon as you lose a life, it is back to your peashooter projectiles and lumbering movement. Goubakuran isn’t merciless, though. It actually wants you to succeed and will give you decently powered stats directly after using a continue.
Whether you are playing on Easy or Hard, you are given more than enough leeway to complete it if you have some experience in the genre. The real challenge comes in trying to 1CC it. That would take quite a bit of skill and is something Goubakuran also encourages. Within the main menu, you can practice on any stage or with any boss in whatever difficulty mode. It will take around an hour to blast your way through the 8 levels on offer, yet that accessibility for practicing makes the prospect of replaying it skyrocket. This has full controller support as well. One thing that isn’t made apparent and you may miss if you don’t translate the read-me file is the option to go into fullscreen. You can access it by pressing F1 and choosing the Screen tab.
My opinion on the story is entirely superficial, considering I didn’t understand a thing since I can’t read Japanese. If the ship is powered by the energy created from human orgasms, then what are the breast pumps for? Is the lactated milk like oil? Does it function as a windshield cleaner? Those questions will keep me up at night.. in more ways than one. Joking aside, there is not much text throughout. Your reward for completing a stage is a cutscene of your girlfriend being tortured by the aliens. I can’t say I’ve ever seen the top of someone’s skull removed and had a dildo repeatedly stuffed into the brain, but now I have. From that description, you will be able to tell whether the hentai aspect is for you or not. There is some regular mechanical-based penetration, though it leans more towards the extreme end with acts like shoving a stun baton into her vagina, causing her to urinate.
Whatever your opinion on ryona may be, some of these scenes go on for too long without enough variance to justify the length. They are unlocked to freely view in the main menu after your first time seeing them and equate to eight scenes in total. That may sound like a lot, but a couple only last for a few seconds, and there are none lewd cutscenes in the mix. Overall, they aren’t terrible, yet that 50% price increase over the all-ages version is a really bad value. It was a neat gimmick for the first playthrough. However, I have zero intentions of going through the Story again instead of picking Arcade mode. With all of the hentai content being contained to cutscenes, it ends up feeling shoehorned in and is not implemented into the core gameplay at all.
The developers over at Studio S have a knack for sprite work, and that is no different here. Goubakuran is visually a very pleasing game. This is some quality art, from the menacing-looking enemies to the stylish interface surrounding the gameplay. After over a decade and a half of creating Fighting titles, it was pleasantly surprising how well their first attempt at a Shmup went. It is a high-intensity experience with next to nothing in the way of filler. This is all too happy to keep the player briskly moving from all types of situations, be it shooting incoming asteroids or dodging barricades on what seems to be a highway. Even when not facing one of the eight bosses, you’ll have your eyes glued to the screen due to all the unique circumstances and enemy patterns.
One feature I’ve yet to mention is how time slows when you are near a projectile. That helps the player avoid it. Depending on your ship’s current speed stat, it may not always be possible if it came at you from an unfavorable angle. While it can occasionally trip you up instead of helping at first, it does allow you to perform some pretty impressive maneuvers or squeeze through a tight barrage of incoming projectiles. As difficult as it can be, it holds a helping hand in many ways. This would be a rather solid title to help hone your Shmup skills for those relatively new to the genre. Because enemies aim directly at you, it will grow one’s ability to lead shots and graze incoming shots. For the veterans, good luck getting a 1CC on the Hard difficulty. It will keep players of all skill ranges deeply entertained.
The audio featured in this title is a mixed bag. Much of the sound effects are underwhelming, especially the explosions and projectiles. Meanwhile, the music is top-notch and matches the action you’re seeing on screen. All told, Goubakuran is a simple yet competently made game. Nothing here will blow your mind, but the tight gameplay and varied stages will keep you coming back for more. With the ease it lets you practice either a stage or a specific boss, this is a title that excels at encouraging repeated playthroughs. Once you figure out what all the power-ups do, the language barrier becomes a none issue. If you enjoy Shmups, this is a title that should be on your radar, whatever your opinion on Adult titles may be.
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