Game: Super Bullet Break
Genre: Strategy, Action, Board Game, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on Steam (Windows, macOS) & PS4)
Developers | Publishers: BeXide | PQube
Age Rating: US T | EU 12
Price: US $19.99 | UK £16.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: August 12th, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to PQube
I’ve been bored for the past week or so, so I jumped on the chance to play a new game in the strategy deck builder category. This title is a bit tough: I only just passed the first mission! Despite this title kicking my butt, I have played enough to have some thoughts on gameplay. Let’s jump right in!
Story
We immediately get to my major issue with this game. You play as one of three gamers who, with the help of a black cat that does…something, is asked to help fix a set of games that have been corrupted by an AI from another game. Beyond that, it gets muddled for me. Maybe I’m just unusually confused, but my major complaint so far is simply that the story doesn’t feel compelling. I’d chalk it up to being early in the game, but I really tried to dig into the guide and whatnot to clarify this aspect and it didn’t seem to help increase my interest.
Gameplay
Now we get to the good stuff. Thankfully, what Super Bullet Break is lacking in the storyline is made up for in gameplay mechanics. The maps are laid out clearly so that you can chart a path to the final boss. You plan a path through rest breaks, treasures, shops, random encounters (which can range from quizzes where you can earn prizes, to free items, to people you must pay fines to), and lower-level baddies to fight.
You’re given an assortment of “bullets,” or women/animals/plushies with various abilities, to use in attacks. When you win, you recruit a new bullet or item. You can also recruit bullets in a gatcha-style system in the shops, where you trade scout tickets to recruit more bullets. No microtransactions involved (yippee!)
More About Gameplay
There’s a lot going on here so let me get into some more details. In every battle, you have a meter in the top left corner that is divided into segments. Every so many segment there is an enemy waiting its turn. Your job is to manage the segments allotted to play a strategic assortment of bullets that reduce the enemy’s HP to 0.
The bullets are in cartridges (they sort of look like wreaths) that add extra abilities. There are about eleventy billion distinct categories and abilities these bullets can have, so buckle in. You’re in for a lot of trial and error. Seriously. The game guide covers the basics and has a few strategy tips besides, but it leaves a lot of details for the player to figure out. And if that weren’t complicated enough there are also items to use as well. It’s just a lot.
Music and Graphics and Issues
The theme in this title reminds me a lot of the movie Wralph Breaks the Internet, so I was predisposed to enjoy the music. Does it get repetitive? Sure, but that’s how most video game music gets after a while.
The graphics are good. Tons of individualized illustrations of the bullets, both in general clothes and swimsuits. Yes, there is a LOT of fan service in this game, so if that’s not your thing you’ve been warned.
The only major presentation issue is that some of the text for the items is unreadably tiny. I only saw this issue on one or two items.
Conclusion
This one caught me by surprise. I thought I would like it, then got befuddled by the story so I wasn’t too sure, then sunk hours into it yesterday while listening to podcasts. It’s a little frustrating because every time you fail a map, you fail the whole mission and start over, losing all bullets and items. However, every time you fail new bullets and items become available, so it isn’t a total lost cause.
In the end, I enjoyed this quite a bit, but it’s a bit of an odd title. How much you’ll like it depends on how much you enjoy gatcha-games, how much enjoyment (or at least toleration) you have for fan service, and what you think of the genre of games where girls are collectible items. I’m sure it’s not for everyone, but I have never had to tear myself away from the game to write a review before, so that counts for something!
Overall, I’d say that…
Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot