Review: Danmaku Unlimited 3


PlatformStudioReleasePlayed
iOSDoragon EntertainmentApril
2018
April
2024

Danmaku Unlimited 3 is classical bullet hell arcade shooter. As typical for the genre the game forces the player to learn the bullet hell patterns combined with quick having quick reactions to proceed through the levels. Boss fights at the end of each stage provide an additional challenge with more complex and changing bullet patterns making evasion more difficult.

The player can drop bombs to clean the screen from enemies and as means for a final rescue in desperate situations and can switch between two beam types: A normal beam spreading from the spaceship and a concentrated beam attack useful against boss fights and stringer enemies.


Flying close to enemies and collecting spirit bullets from destroyed enemies fills up a trance meter. Once filled it starts trance mode transforming exploding enemies into gems adding massively to the high score. In the advanced Gaze-Mode a second gaze meter must be filled separately by passing close to enemy bullet and only once it is filled the trance meter can be filled. Flying close to enemy bullets and collecting as many of their remaining spirit bullets is an incredibly good design decision adding a motivating risk-reward mechanism to the bullet hell genre.

The game runs super fluent on iPhone SE without slowdowns and controls are precise via touch controls. The soundtrack is memorable with beautiful rock tracks and guitar riffs.


Positive

  • gaze/trace mode adds motivation and risk-reward system
  • excellent visuals and controls on mobile devices
  • nice rock guitar soundtrack

Negative

  • some boss fights too long
  • lack of visual variety between level

Verdict

Sample Title 86%

86

“Danmaku Unlimited 3 adds one of the best risk reward systems in the arcade action genre onto a technical flawless port lacking visual diversity between levels.”


Genre AlternativesYearPlatformVerdict
Crimzon Clover World EXplosion2020Switch93
Raiden IV x Mikado Remix2021Switch87
Danmaku Unlimited 32018iOS86
Rolling Gunner2019Switch85
Ikaruka2018Switch79
Sources:
Screenshots: own screen captures