Also On: PS4, Switch
Publisher: NIS America
Developer: Cubetype
Medium: Digital
Players: 1-2
Online: Yes
ESRB: T
When reviewing games, I prefer not to read other peopleโs reviews of the same game. I do this partly so that I donโt copy what other people have to say (either consciously or unconsciously), and partly because thereโs just something fun about the joy of discovering a game entirely on your own.
In the case of Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle, however, I had to make an exception. Not because I was lacking in inspiration, but because my initial experience with the game was so terrible, I needed to make sure I wasnโt playing it wrong.
Turns out: no, Iโm not, Touhou Kobuto V really is just a bad, bad game.
See, while it describes itself as a โbullet-hell battle gameโ, the more accurate description would be that itโs a 3D fighting game. Or, even more accurately, itโs a 3D fighting game that probably wouldโve seemed dated and dull 20 years ago.
To put it simply, Touhou Kobuto V is a repetitive, simplistic snoozefest. Whether youโre playing the arcade mode or the story mode, things unfold in pretty much the same way: playing as one of nine pretty much interchangeable schoolgirls, you get plopped down in a generic arena, and you pick one of three basic attacks against the other character. Repeat that a bunch of times, and you have the game in a nutshell. Iโd like to say that the story mode adds some depth, but really, it just adds a tiny bit of plot and some trash-talking, and thatโs about it.
I wish I could add something nice about it, but Iโm really at a loss to name anything it does that merits praise. Touhou Kobuto V is so boring that it makes me long for the days of the relatively stellar mediocrity of Touhou Double Focus and Touhou Genso Wanderer. Those games, at least, had some interesting ideas, whereas thisโฆthis is just about the least interesting game you could imagine.