Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet

The Western debut of this franchise is not the best possible, but we hope it's just the first game of many to come. At least, it's quite enjoyable with another player.

Bullet Ballet has a lot of depth to it and even is fun in short bursts but is let down by a dull story mode and annoying controls.

Touhou Genso Rondo Bullet Ballet is an original mix of shoot'em up and fighting game. The gameplay is fun and sharp, but there's a lack of content and uncharted online servers.

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet is a crazy Japanese mash-up between a fighting game and a bullet hell shooter. Its gameplay mechanics are pretty good, but the lack of a good color code for letting player recognize which bullets are good and which will hurt him when the screen is loaded with any kind of stuff, may hurt the experience.

If you’re looking for a game that will completely sell you on the Touhou series and turn you into a fan, Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet probably won’t do it, as it really feels like a weak entry with a lack of substance that doesn’t show off a lot of Touhou’s potential beyond the ability to have a massive amount of bullets appear on the screen.

It’s a tad short on content and the gameplay does have a number of balance and technical issues, but despite these problems, Bullet Ballet is an enjoyable if ultimately short lived experience. Its low rent visuals certainly don’t help, but if you can enjoy it as an arcade-style curio, there is still quite a bit to like here.

Touhou Genso Rondo: Bullet Ballet is a niche title, mostly enjoyable with other players. The idea of mixing shoot’em’up and fighting mechanics it’s not so bad, even tough there’s not enough contents to play.

It’s not really “bad” or anything; it’s just too niche for its own good. I found some enjoyment in it, but after a few times playing through the story, it felt more tedious than anything. There’s not enough here to make me want to strive for greatness. Maybe if the devs had strived for it first, I would’ve stayed glued to my controller a bit longer.

Touhou Genso Rondo is a funny mix of bullet hell and fighting games, which can grant a small amount of satisfaction in mastering its frantic gameplay. However, no one could be really feel involved in this boring, repetitive title, except for shooter's fans.