Hell Blasters

Very tightly made indie shmup, you can tell the developer is an avid shmup player. The controls and mechanics are spot on, although the balancing between the selectable characters is a bit off. On top of the usual arcade mode there is practice mode, a very addictive score attack mode, and a content rich story mode which also functions as a training mode. The art style is basic but charming and very functional. Same as the music which is retro style but very good.

Hell Blasters is a more of a classic shmup borders bullet hells to match its gimmick of managing the players bullet canceling shots and bombs. Which may be polarizing for an otherwise mediocre shooter. Hell Blasters is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up that offers the player a wider 'Rapid' shot as well as a slower moving, narrower focused 'Shot' for its basic attacks. A nitpick of mine would have called 'Shot' Focus instead, as I am too conditioned from Psikyo Games to think of Shot as anything but tap to fire or hold down for charged shot. In addition to these attacks, the player has limited resource bullet canceling large damage bomb attacks common to STGs. What really sets Hell Blasters apart from most shmups is the 'SPC' or what I assume is special attack. This is limited attack based on a recharge meter. It seems to deliver additional damage, but more importantly, it cancels enemy shots regardless of color. As orange bullets are basically popcorn enemies, that become rarer the higher the diifculty. Where as purple enemy shots aren't canceled by the players normal attacks. It's using this bullet canceling special that the player has to master as some bullet patterns don't appear to be dodgable at all. Though, this may happen more frequently due to poor player routing or memorization of the stage that actually getting trapped. This bullet cancel special does make fights, particularly boss fights, much easier even if they aren't needed to get out of a jam. And I think the game's overall enjoyment hinges on this mechanic. I personally don't care for it much. I'd rather search for a path to avoid taking damage rather than have a weapon that clears one for me. Otherwise, I don't see much to Hell Blasters to hold interest. The enemies and bullet patterns beyond making use of the games' gimmick aren't anything special or that memorable. They aren't bad by any stretch. They just don't push anything. The graphics aren't particularly interesting with what feels like 8/16 bit backgrounds with Flash sprites/elements for the ships. And the Flash animation elements largely being simple shapes of various triangles, rectangles and circles. Defeating the stage bosses are particularly underwhelming consisting of some flashing and an image of the a wrecked part of the boss. I found the music and sound fine. The music particular was good with a few tracks, but nothing overly standout. Nice little chip tune type stuff that works well for the game. I've certainly heard worse from the era of games I feel Hell Blasters is trying to invoke. Overall, I don't think Hell Blasters is a bad game. It's just not one that I particularly enjoyed. Well, beyond the Journalist difficulty level, that's funny. While it's pretty simple. Which I want in my shmups. I didn't care for shifting away from dodging to properly making use of your bullet cancel special to clear path mechanic. If that's sounds neat to you, than I actually recommend it. But since Steam doesn't have a neutral option, I'm going to give it a thumbs down. Due to Hell Blasters ultimately not being that fun to me.