Ketsui Death Label review

Ketsui Death Label isn't exactly the most recognized title around. For those who are willing to try out import titles, what you'll find in the cart is one of the best shmups on current gen handhelds. With tight, responsive controls, loads of unlockables, multiple difficulties, and even tutorials that are unlocked as you play, not only is KDL a great title to start getting into the genre with, it's also got enough challenge and depth to test even the most hardcore gamers' skills.

Gameplay - 9/10

Most Shmups throw you in, beat the crap out of you a few hundred times, and never let up until you learn how to defend yourself and ultimately come to grips with the mechanics. Instead of being overwhelmingly difficult from the outset, this game gives you a few different modes to mess around with, a few tutorial lessons, and one of the hardest modes already unlocked. Most of the game essentially plays like a boss rush, meaning that you go from level to level just fighting the boss from taht stage before moving on to the next. As you play, the unique thing is that you start to earn more lives based on how many times you die along with different tutorials that appear from time to time, showing you things that you might have otherwise missed. Unfortunately, all of the tutorials are in japanese, but many of them feature video clips or images with certain things highlighted that gives you a good idea of what it is they're trying to teach you. As you finish the modes that are present, you slowly unlock more and more difficult modes, each with different bosses or at least a reorganization of them, which keeps the experience fresh and gives you plenty to come back for. Instead of limiting the unlocks to new modes and extra lives, there's a gallery consists of mostly concept art of the bosses and the only way to unlock them is to break off different puzzle pieces. I can already hear you groaning, but don't worry, this isn't some sort of a puzzle minigame! Instead, each piece has it's own objective, which means that some may be simple as finishing the Hard A course while others will want you to get a certain combo on a specific level, finishing a boss without dying, etc, which gives you more and more to try to accomplish. As far as mechanics, there are two different ships that have their own strengths and weaknesses that become apparent as soon as you start getting to the harder stages along with several weapons and a chaining system for each level. The best part of all is that the last unlockable mode is one incredibly difficult level that tests all of the skills that you've been gaining as you play. Beyond that, the game tracks your stats, from highest score to number of playthroughs and finishes of each level, to how many hours you've clocked in.

Graphics - 10/10

It seems that I've failed to mention this is more of a bullet-hell shooter, which literally means that you're constantly dodging neverending streams of tiny balls of death. For most games, it's easy to get confused and mistake bullet for a power-up, resulting in death. Somehow, the graphics in the game are so well done that once you adjust to what's dangerous and what isn't, it's fairly easy to make out why it is that you died, so you'll never feel like you were cheated out of a life somehow. Beyond that, the enemy and boss designs are well done, giving each boss it's own personality and letting the player get an idea of what kind of attack pattern you're going to be facing. Instead of the bosses just having one pattern, if you don't eliminate them quickly, you'll find yourself going through different stages, most completely different from the previous and each making sense structurally in relation to the boss. The environments themselves are all varied, even though you tend to be flying by so fast that the scenery quickly becomes a blur as you focus on trying to weave between bullets. As you start to get better at the game, you'll almost be able to see the tiny spaces in between all of the fire, meaning that it's not just one lazy beam but each wave of bullets is comprised of indivual pixels. As a bonus, the artwork in the tutorials is done in graphic novel style, with someone that I'm assuming is a developer's face popping up in a business suit with various looks on his face that are all hilarious. The score counter, combo meter, lives, and everything else on the HUD is in the perfect position to keep it from obstructing your field of view, which is always a bonus. Lastly, once you unlock the concept art, you can see how much detail the artists put in to the enemy designs.


Sound - 8/10

Pewpewpew! Ketsui doesn't really change the classic sounds, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's always been something satisfying to anyone playing or watching a shmup when you deliver that last shot to a particularly difficult boss and you hear that epic explosion and points counting up. Since the sound effects and music work so well together, they never become grating or distracting to the gameplay experience, but you're not really going to find any memorable songs that you'll be humming after you turn the game off. Stage specific songs are present, meaning you're not going to be forced to endure any one song, and each feels appropriate for the encounter.


Overall - 9/10

If you've ever wanted to play a shmup or you're a hardened vet, there's almost no excuse to not having KDL in your library. Out of everything I've played, it's the best shmup on the handheld, even if most of the game is a boss rush mode. With tons of unlockables, various objectives to complete, a leaderboard, and so much more, there's a lot of content to be found here and it's got a tutorial mode for new players or people looking to brush up on there skills! While there are tons of shmups that have been out before it, this might actually be the best entry point, and the fact that you can play this anywhere as long as you have your ds is always a plus. The one major downside to the game is that if you're reading this review, you're most likely going to have to import it since there's no word of an american release, but it's possibly one of the best investments you can make on the ds.