Gamer--freakz

Gamespot score: n/a

My score:7.2

(+)Pros:-3 games in one,-Gundemonium recollection and Gundeadligne are fast, frantic and fun,- bullet hell action is over the top,-some ridiculous boss fights,-provides one hell of a challenge,-different playable characters with different playstyles.

(-)Cons:-Graphics don't look very polished,-happa64 is downright insane in terms of difficulty,-poor storytelling.

 

Gameplay time:Less than 10 hours

I love indie games for the PC. Games like super meat boy and Limbo always crack me up and get me all excited. Gundemonium collection isn't exactly the most popular of games, and when I picked it up, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. These 3 games are some of the most ridiculous, frantic and nonsensical games I have ever played..that is a good thing. While I never got into the bullet hell genre, this was quite the trip. While there are many things unimpressive about Gundemonium collection, it is still something that is undoubtedly fun and crazy to play.

There is a story going on, but its very minor and poorly told. It basically talks about a bunch of girls going on missions to stop the 7 sins from devouring the world. Its hard to grasp, and all story is told in text..plus they don't really go in depth. Each game has its own story of course, and Gundeadligne is the continuation to Gundemonium. Happa64 is just a "spinoff" game.

Gameplay in Gundemonium  recollection and Gundeadligne is simple and fairly similar. Basically you pick a character (each having different playstyles), and go on the game's basic campaign, depending on what difficulty you choose. Both Gundemonium and Gundeadligne are fast paced, frantic and fun. Enemies fill the screen, jamming your screen with projectiles, bullets and obstacles of all kinds. The objective of the games are similar, you just kill all that stand in your way, get to a boss, kill it, rinse and repeat until you face the level's true boss. This is also the case with Happa64, though in happa64, its more like a retro style plane game, where you pilot your character left and right instead of up and down.

Of course you are allowed to imply various special moves varying on your character. You can stop time or fire at rapid speeds, switch weapons, charge shots and many more. Plus, the most important thing in bullet hell games, the bomb. Since you die in one bullet, and bullets fill up 90% of the screen majority of the time, the bomb is your insurance. Bombs clear all bullets on screen, and deal massive damage to your enemies. The games becomes intense when you are fighting bosses or swarms of enemies filling up your screen with dangerous hazards, then clearing them all with a bomb saves your ass and gets you right back to the fight. Still, bombs are limited, and spamming them will only lead to your certain demise.

In these 3 games (or any bullet hell game), dodging bullets is key to your survival. And since bullets are filling up your screen all the time, it soon becomes intense and over the top. Dodging waves of bullets, decapitating enemies, and living through without dieing is a satisfying experience. As levels get more challenging and you actually start getting game overs, the experience only gets better. Same goes to the bosses. While some of the mini bosses die almost instantly, the real bosses of the game are insane and incredibly fun to fight. Most have multiple forms, and they generate bullets faster than any of the minions you have faced. They are crazy as hell, but nonetheless, they are good fun and are just part of the experience.

Its obvious that the graphics of the game don't looked very polished. For a remade collection in HD, I kind of expected more. The games look like old PS one classics. Another is the poor storytelling. This was already explained earlier. There is nothing more than occasional walls of text and in the ending, all we get are additional pictures to explain the ending scenarios (with text of course). The games felt like they had something going on, and its a shame that they explained the story so poorly. Lastly, Happa64. Happa64 is a masochist's game. Its so hard, its torture. Its on a whole different league from the other 2 games in the package, and I must say, I never finished it. ITS JUST TOO MUCH!

For a 3 in 1 package, Gundemonium collection is good. Gundemonium and Gundeadligne are good, frantic and fun games, but Happa64 is little too punishing for the likes of me to enjoy. Its a good choice to get this if you're a fan of the bullet hell genre, or if you're in for a good challenge, otherwise, this may not appeal to many others. Check it out if you want to taste what bullet hell games are like.