Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 19
  3. Negative: 6 out of 19
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  1. 4P.de
    Sep 23, 2016
    40
    The interest that gets sparked by the sheer “weirdness” of Touhou Genso Rendo goes as fast as it appears. Lack of content, lack of variation and especially lack of balancing take this generally interesting bullet hell mix out of the skies.
  2. PlayStation Country
    Sep 12, 2016
    40
    There's probably a very small, hardcore audience for Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet but if your logic is 'Great! I like fighting games and I like shoot 'em ups' then, seriously, buy a fighting game and a shoot 'em up and stay away from this silliness. This is a bit like kittens and ice cream. Keep them separate. Don't blend them together and try to tell me that's a good thing.
  3. ZTGD
    Sep 12, 2016
    40
    Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet has something going for it and it is honestly something I had never seen before, but the way it plays mixed with a confusing tutorial that doesn’t explain things in the best way it could really make this game feel like I’m slogging through an interesting game while in the dark.
  5. TheSixthAxis
    Sep 12, 2016
    40
    It’s a real shame that the first Touhou game to officially come out overseas is Touhou Genso Rondo. It really doesn’t capture the appeal or the magic of the mainline Touhou series, and there are plenty of other fan-games in vastly different genres that are at least much more mechanically polished than this one. Touhou Genso Rondo is a mild disappointment for fans of the series, but despite the broad marketing efforts of NIS America, it should simply be absolutely avoided by newcomers.
  6. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Aug 30, 2016
    35
    Besides the core concept being interesting, I really don’t have any other compliments to give Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet. It’s a disappointment for a number of reasons, and it really sucks that a lot of North American gamers’ first experience with the Touhou series will be this bad spin-off.
  7. We Got This Covered
    Aug 30, 2016
    30
    A few players will absolutely adore Genso Rondo, of that there’s no doubt. For most though, this is an interesting concept that falls short on quality.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 37 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 37
  3. Negative: 14 out of 37
  1. Kidhut1
    Sep 7, 2016
    0
    This game is boring after 5 minutes of playing. Its not worth $30 and it should be free. Touhou is a great series but this game is completeThis game is boring after 5 minutes of playing. Its not worth $30 and it should be free. Touhou is a great series but this game is complete garbage. Hopefully no one wasted their money on this crap.… Full Review »
  2. AzureSoul
    Sep 7, 2016
    9
    The first Touhou game in the west with a physical release and it's already getting unfairly review-bombed on Metacritic? Why am I notThe first Touhou game in the west with a physical release and it's already getting unfairly review-bombed on Metacritic? Why am I not surprised...?

    Anyway, this game is a good, fun multiplayer experience in the vein of Senko no Ronde starring the cast of the Touhou Franchise. The goal is to use danmaku to outmanuver and box in your opponent to whittle away their life bar. You can use Spellcards to act as a 'Boss Character' to force your opponent on the defensive. Every character has unique properties, like Reimu's smaller hitbox or Utsuho's shots covering more screen real estate.

    The game includes a story mode and an Arcade Survival Mode where you face random opponents, as well as a Boss Survival Mode where you have to survive against spellcards for single player content. Although singleplayer is bare-bones, where the game truly shines is multiplayer. While the servers had issues on day one, human opponents are smarter than the AI, and even then, a high level AI is brutal and fun to fight.

    As far as visuals go, they're what you'd expect from a doujin developer worth their salt. The visuals are beautiful for what the devs could pull off, and the artwork is very nice. While occasionally you will get lost when a melee attack is performed, characters rarely get lost in the hail of danmaku. There are only a handful of stages, but aside from the grid, they all look very nice and true to their locations in the canon games.

    Finally, and an important note, the dialogue in story mode is amusing, even if it leans a little too close to Touhou fanon for my tastes. Story Mode is very lighthearted and a good way to kill an evening. In all, this is what a fan game should be: A love letter to the fandom.

    The game has it's share of flaws, mostly being the servers on launch day being a little buggy in some cases. Also, you cannot just pick up and play this game. You will need the tutorial if you don't want your rear handed to you on a silver platter.

    This game gets a 9/10. I would have given it a more fair score, but considering my contemporaries, I felt that the game needed a kinder review to begin with. At worst, it's an 8/10, and worth your time if you want a good multiplayer experience and am a Touhou fan.    … Full Review »
  3. PotatoJ
    Sep 7, 2016
    0
    I actually thought this game was going to be good but it isn't that great. Its so lacking in content and I didn't really enjoy it for thatI actually thought this game was going to be good but it isn't that great. Its so lacking in content and I didn't really enjoy it for that long. I like how its unique to other Touhou games but other than that this game isn't that great at all.… Full Review »
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