Article - Kamui Review by Dingo

The first title released in what would become the Altynex Trilogy

Kamui  is a vertically scrolling STG (shooting game) developed  Japanese  Doujin (the common label given to independent Japanese game  developers)  team Siter Skain. The title was originally released for  Windows in  1999. It has since been released for Steam as of December  2014 courtesy  of Nyu Media.

Critically, the  game is very well received, with it being viewed  widely as a top notch  entry in the shmup genre and heralded as an all  time great from some  outlets. I personally enjoy the game very much and  find it to be an  excellent mix of what makes the genre appealing to  begin with.  Challenging without feeling oppresive and a nice  presentation with an  impressive amount of shifting in both distance and  location in the  background. The scoring system, while fairly straight  forward, is  robust as it pertains to the game play and requires the  player to  juggle risk and reward a good bit to succeed in obtaining  truly high  scores.

The gameplay is often said  to have similarities with the “Ray” series  of games from Taito. This  is largely due to the different planes of  combat and how they utilize a  lock on system as the means to combat  enemies in the background plane.  The lock on systems are fairly  different in practice though. There is  no painting or highlighting of  targets in Kamui. The game employs a  grid which covers the entire screen  and any enemies within sight will  usually be destroyed immediately when  attacked with the lock on  lightning attack. The attack is regulated via  a meter and has to  recharge briefly when used.

By  holding the lock on and pressing your regular attack button, you  are  able to fire a lighting like beam that kills enemies and projectiles  on  your plane. The beam attack also triggers the lock on system so it  is  the only way to simultaneously attack enemies in both planes. You  also  have your primary weapon that can be powered up with additional  pickups  throughout the stages. It can be leveled up significantly and   increases dramatically over your starting fire in regards to spread and   power.You have a set amount of lives before you must continue.

Kamui  also employs a shield system that begins you with 5 bars of  shield.  Having this depleted will result in death. It sounds forgiving,  however  the game does not utilize extends. Compounded with the fact you   receive shield drops quite sparingly and they aren’t always able to be   reached in time if they appear more than a half-screen away. While I’ve   heard it referenced as a forgiving game compared to others, I’m not in   full agreement as the shield effectively acts as extends that are  harder  to obtain than in most other STGs I’ve played. It is a fair  challenge I  think, but a challenge all the same.

The  scoring system briefly touched on earlier is quite fun to utilize  in  game. It is almost completely dependent on your lock on shots  (outside  of not continuing which like most titles destroys your overall  score).  The multiplier given to your locked on kills is entirely  dependent on  the meter that powers it. If it is full, you are granted  the maximum  lock on amount (x16) to any destroyed enemy/object visibly  on the  screen. Making good use of this in key situations is critical to   racking up massive scores. This system is heavily employed in the boss   battles as well and gives you a substantial amount of points, as you can   imagine.

While not a full-on  Danmaku (barrage, bullet hell, manic) shooter,  the game definitely has  several instances where the screen is filled to  that degree, but i’d  say it falls somewhere in between overall. Your  ship’s hit box is  bigger than Dodonpachi and other similar games, but  certainly not full  sized either. You can still squeeze in between pretty  tight bullet  windows with the edges of your craft.

All  in all, I have really enjoyed Kamui and intend to keep playing it  for  high score as well as obtaining a one credit clear. Having spent   sometime with the scoring system, I’m definitely improving my score   steadily, but as it requires more risks to wait for the maximum   multiplier on kills, the difficulty increases a decent bit. I have not   been able to get further than level 3 end boss when playing for score.

I  hope that gives some insight into Kamui. It is a very fun game, I   fully recommend it based on quality above all. Also, the price is hard   to beat selling for at most $8 in most instances. I look forward to   playing more of the title, as well as playing the other two games in the   trilogy.

-Andrew “Dingo” O-X T.