I'm probably one of the most conservative writers here at PEOWW. I knows what I likes and likes what I knows. It usually takes the encouragement of a more adventurous, knowledgeable or wealthy comrade, before I take a risk on a title that's come from nowhere to middling reviews from the mainstream press. So what in hell am I doing reviewing Bangai-O Spirits at the behest of no-one but myself?

Bullet Hell, it's Soft Cell!

Three things, actually. Firstly, my DS phat is wholly undernourished with a 'collection' of three games (inc. an unwrapped TWEWY). Secondly, the game is developed by ol' reliable, Treasure; whose games have always been just the right side of Japanese for my tastes. Gunstar Heroes; Dynamite Headdy; Astro Boy... all classics. Last and by all means least - it was cheap. Well, only in comparison to the regular overpriced DS games the majority of which could justly appear on download services for fraction of the price. In fact, it's on that very point where most of my issues with Bangai-O Spirits (BOS) rest.

Small breasted girls with pink hair - yep, it's a Japanese game.

For those unfamiliar with the series, I'm in the same boat as you. From a cursory glance at Wikipedia, the original on Dreamcast had a story and was, quote, "dogshit", whereas this one is simply a collection of levels with the campaign mode condensed as the tutorial. The three-way anime dialogue between two kids and mad scientist does a good job of explaining the move-set in an amusing fashion. Beyond the classroom there's more than one hundred and fifty rooms to complete, ranging vastly in size and difficulty and the only common recurring requirement is the destruction of one or more targets. It's like each level is another attack on another Death Star; each trench-run just keeps getting more bizarre and obtuse.

The sheer range of levels is amazing with stages as bizarre as boosting a dozen baseballs past a phalanx of bat wielding robots toward their intended target about fifty kilometres east. None should take you more than a minute to complete, but how many attempts that takes you is entirely dependent on you. There's enough content here to last you longer than most story-driven games and it's all laid out from the start.

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