Review: Mamorukun ReCurse!

Price £17.99 (Switch/PS5/Steam) Review key provided  by Clear River

Developer: City Connection 

Publisher: Clear River Games

Players: 1

I feel strange about the term cute 'em up, but that's Japan for us. More so when its tagged with the term afterlife, not a traditional combo. I can also cope with the cutesy approach, especially to celebrate a Japanese arcade "classic."

Set some time after his unfortunate death, our primary hero Mamoru wakes in The Netherworld, where he meets three strangers.  

But there's no rest for the undead as The Netherworld is being consumed by pitch darkness. Only Mamoru and pals can seal the gate to The World of Darkness (who left that one open?) and save the Netherworld from invasion!

Avengers Assemble (Brightly)

Originally a 2000s arcade game, with a modest PS3 release over a decade ago, Mamorukun Curse gets the makeover treatment in Mamorukun ReCurse! A mythological and cheery coloured shooter, now with twin-stick controls, and branching paths through the levels. 

ReCurse provides two fire buttons, one for your regular ammo and the second for Curse Bullets. Cursing an enemy makes it stronger but you get a bigger reward for killing it. If you're feeling frisky, curse many enemies and unleash bullet hell. 

More variety is added through the different characters, with varying shot types, movement speeed and curse abilities. 

That's not a massively exciting dynamic but it does provide the opportunity to make life a lot harder. And while the screen can fill with bright bullets, there's never quite the desperate feel of most bullet hell games. 

Playable in its original format or widescreen, Mamorukun ReCurse! has a crisp 32-bit look and is packed with modes including story, arcade and challenge. The tunes are suitably cheery, but I'm not sure why the weapon sounds are like any other shooter, surely something more original would be appropriate. 

I've got to love the cheeky, stodgy enemy design and the floods of colour when bonuses come rolling down the screen. In both arcade and story mode the Netherworld is a little on the bland side, but the monsters more than make up for it in a sharp and spicy shooter. 

Score 3/5

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