Ghost Blade HD (Switch) Review
Release Date: October 24,2019
Publisher/Developer: eastasiasoft/Hucast Games/2Dream
Platform: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), previously on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Wii U
Price: $14.99
The Switch seems to be an unstoppable juggernaut selling like wildfire. While it may never pass the lightning in a bottle that was the Wii, it has already surpassed the number of Wii U’s sold. With that, we are seeing a lot of games being ported over: from competing systems’ games the Wii U couldn’t handle to simple arcadey games looking to get a second life on a more popular system. Ghost Blade HD has been out for a couple years on older systems, but is getting a second shot here on Switch. Given the Switch’s unique capabilities, it may be the ideal place to play.
Ghost Blade HD is about as boilerplate as an arcadey SHMUP can be. Choose a ship, blast baddies, kill a boss. With five levels, the game can be over quick for a pro, but there isn’t a story to go for, it’s more the challenge of going back through the levels and aiming for the best score on the leaderboard. On the Wii U the storefront offered a minimal storyline: a rogue AI was destroying Earth and prior to it’s defeat it ran to the edge of the galaxy, and it’s up to you (and potentially a Player Two) to hunt down the AI and destroy it. The Switch game store just has some bullet points on the game. Heck, a copy/paste from the previous entry could have been more informative. Another change is the price: Ghost Blade HD costs $9.99 on the Wii U, but Switch Tax brings it to $14.99 on the Switch ($11.99 if purchased in the release window here).
Owners of the awesome Flip Grip will be pleased to know that there is a TATE mode for vertical use in handheld mode (or if you are fortunate enough to have a rotatable TV or monitor). There are several options on how to orient the screen, where to place the HUD, background wallpapers, and options for opacity of powerups and the like. You can tweak these to your heart’s content. There are three difficulty options. While I spend most of my time in Easy Mode, what I see on Hard doesn’t look impossible. “Bullet Hell” games really are more about learning how to get through a maze than anything else, as tons of bullets scream through space you find yourself weaving in and out of hazards while trying to shoot the enemies yourself. The game has plenty of extra modes, like a score attack or even practice modes that allow you to go straight to bosses. Competitive gamers will have plenty of chances to attack the leaderboard to memorialize their achievements. Unfortunately, as I said, the game only has five levels and bosses, so even though you are aiming for a high score it may get stale. Given the age of the title, I would have loved to see a sequel or maybe an enhanced port with extra levels, but this is a straight vanilla port.
Gameplay is fun and exciting, with challenging but fun boss and bullet patterns. The three ships have varied attack patterns that spread shot in different patterns, but all ships have the ability to focus their shots into a single powerful beam. Perhaps it is because I spent time on Easy mode, but I felt like power ups were plentiful, and that I rarely ever was below full power. In fact, the screen is so busy that I had times having trouble seeing the power ups I was picking up. There were pink bullets, green orbs, grey/green rocklike balls, and stars all over the place. With the lack of a tutorial or instruction manual I had a hard time knowing what was to be found and what was to be avoided. As I got powered up I found myself vacuuming up all the things I could collect anyways.
Ghost Blade HD is exactly what you would expect in a Bullet-Hell SHMUP. On the Switch, you have several bonuses: TATE mode works wonderfully in handheld, even better with the Flip Grip, and the splittable Joy Cons means you’re always ready for some two player action. If you’ve played it before, you won’t be finding anything new, which is extra frustrating when you see the price went up for this edition. True SHMUP fans aren’t going to care much though. Even with the price increase, Ghost Blade HD offers an exciting package at a value price. It may be an older title, but it is still a solid entry to the Switch library.
Pros:
-TATE Mode and a Joycon pair means easy access to all possible combinations of play styles
-Plenty of options to tweak the display, difficulty, and game modes for the value price
-Arcade action feels like a throwback ot the 90’s
Cons:
-Very busy screen (and lack of story) could have benefitted from a classic instruction manual
-It’s just a port-if you’ve played it before there’s nothing to see
-The game can be found for cheaper than here on the Switch
Special thanks to eastasiasoft/Hucast Games/2Dream for providing a code for review!