This game has been around since 2005, but yeah, it's still pretty awesome.
What is Touhou Project?
It is a series of games created by only one guy called ZUN from Team Shanghai Alice (which the team consists of only him) and most of the games are of the vertical shooter or "bullet hell shooter" genre.
Today, I'll be talking about the 9th Touhou Project, Phantasmagoria of Flower View or PoFV, because it is competitive and has multiplayer.
(You can download Touhou games here!)
Main Menu
Phantasmagoria of Flower View
Basically in the story, something happens in every 60 years, and this time, there seems to be a lot of flowers blooming! So it's called Phantasmagoria of Flower View and you get to use a bunch of characters to go through the story.
PoFV's gameplay is a little different. It has 2 side-by-side screens in which you play normally by shooting stuff that comes to you and prevent yourself from dying. The person who dies first will lose. In the process, you can destroy special stuff to create attacks for your opponents and even cast spells to send bullets to your opponents. So it's basically sort of a versus-like game.
The HUD and what it means. Number 9 is Cirno, Ice Fairy...the japanese letters read, "Baka"
So that's basically the general layout of the game. Two screens and a bunch of HUD. The game has Story Mode, which allows you to select characters to go through a story. It also has Match Mode which allows you to fight with other players, AI or even network play. Lastly, it has Extra Mode for players who want to try very challenging levels.
Opponent, Reisen casting a Level 4 spell on me, Tewi.
Spells can be casted by holding down the Shoot (Z) button until it charges up. How much you can charge depends on how much you have in the spell bar at the bottom. A Level 1 Spell will release normal attacks and doesn't deplete. Level 2 / 3 Spells clear up some bullets in your screen and creates specific attacks on your opponent's. Lastly, a Level 4 Spell (Boss Spell) will summon a copy of your character to release a huge and deadly series of bullets in unpredictable ways.
The laser beam on the left side is one of the attacks my opponent, Marisa sent to me, Reimu. The right side has my character in it spamming bullets because I casted a Boss Spell (Level 4 Spell)
Destroying certain entities in your screen also sends attacks to your opponent. So, this game is all about dodging hundreds and thousands of bullets while trying to create hundreds and thousands of bullets for your opponent to dodge till he/she dies. It is quite competitive and fun especially when you get to cast spells and screw up your opponents. It is also quite challenging.
Dodge this...
Yes, I wasn't joking about the "hundreds and thousands of bullets" part. This is one game where Easy Mode can kick your ass. It provides fast action and really helps on your hand-eye coordination too. Simple to play, yet very challenging and fun. I recommend it! It's addictive too...try playing it with your friends!
How To Play?
Detailed information on Controls are already stated somewhere, so there's no point stating it here again. I'll just give you links to see them.
http://www.giantbomb.com/touhou-09-phantasmagoria-of-flower-view/61-21289/
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Phantasmagoria_of_Flower_View:_Gameplay
Videos
Just some videos to show you how it is like. You'll feel the adrenaline rush...first one's a 2-Player just-for-fun game and the second one's some serious netplay.
Love,
Nicholas.
