Those were the Days when we layed classical side scrolling space-shooters like R-Type, Gradius or Katakis, but those days are over. Now ego-shooter, RPGs and Action Games are flooding our houses

but wait! One Programmer is still left, doing awesome STGs.

Imperishable Night is the eight TouHou Game made by Zun and is most likely the best of the whole Series (there are 11 main Games published by now and they are still more to come!)

Back then, STGs were simple, just manuvre your Spaceship through caves, bases and so on and blast lots of alien hordes to hell. A story? not really neccesary... its good to have one but its not that important.

Now Zun is rewriting the Gerne, his games are not just STGs, they are "Bullet Curtain" or "Curtain Fireing" games, and youll see for yourself, what this means!

The Game features 6 individual Characters plus 3 Teams with two characters each, 9 different playing stiles in total, each with own range of attack and very own "Spell Cards" (a Bomb that kinda clears the field, depends on the character. but all of them do a awful lot of Damage to your enemys)
You can test your Skills in four different Difficulties "Easy" (for those ,who dont know the TouHou series. I recommend starting with this- it is pretty hard for "Easy")
"Normal"(For those, who play STGs alot), "Hard" (For those who play TouHou alot) and "Lunatic" (Not suitable for anyone!).

Gameplay is pretty much like any other STG exept three facts:
first: you can "Focus" with the shift key pressed: in Team Play you switch to the second character and therefore to a different shooting style , in Single Play you'll just change your shooting style. Also when in focus Mode you are slower and you can see your Hitbox
second: Your hitbox is only about (2~5)² pixels, but is hit very easily. also every hit means immediate death!
and third: boss battles are far more exciting!

Bosses have two regular ways of shooting: first a semi-random pattern of Bullets, flying around and try to hit you and the "Spell Card" Mode.
A "Spell Card" is a logical pattern of shots, often flying in beatyful formations. Here you can show, if you are a demi-god, because every Spellcard beaten without losing a life or using a bomb will bring a huge boost to your score an if you beat every Spell Card of a Boss that way (and fulfill another condition)- you'll face the "final Spell"- a more brutal pattern of shots with an ever bigger Bonus!
Show off the Semi-god you are or be the lucky sucker you've been up until now! because you got this only chance- once hit you'll not only lose a Life, no the Spellcard will dissolve and you'll also lose the Bonus.
When you play on lunatic, you'll not face the final Spell, but the Enemys "Last Word"- the most gruesome pattern of all (in some LWs you won't see yourself), but beating this will give you not only a Bonuf ob about 80.000.000 Points, it will make you a god amongst all Players.

So give it a try and strain your reflexes, dextirity and Eye-to-Hand Coordination.

pros: long time motivation through 9 different playing styles, 6 beautyful Levels, Great OST, interesting gaming expierience
cons: VERY difficult!

Overall: 9/10 Pts

300 Viz.