Tag Archives: Shade

Cover Games, Shade

Bullet Girls Phantasia: A Tale of Three Worlds

5 Comments

shadeheader-3172714This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
<< First | < Previous

One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about Japanese popular media is how it blends disparate, seemingly incompatible things together to produce something altogether unique.

That’s certainly the case with Shade’s Bullet Girls Phantasia, a game which pops elements of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, military action, fantasy fiction and Norse mythology into a big bowl and then whizzes it all around into a fine, blended paste.

It works. It really works. So let’s take a closer look at what you can expect from the narrative, themes and characterisation of this unusual game.

Continue reading Bullet Girls Phantasia: A Tale of Three Worlds →

Cover Games, Shade

Bullet Girls Phantasia: The Art of Erotica

5 Comments

shadeheader-3172714This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
<< First | < Previous | Next > | Latest >>

There’s a distinct lack of nuance in a lot of modern video game analysis when it comes to anything even the slightest bit erotic, and, as we’ve previously discussed, this is something we could all stand to be a bit better at.

With this in mind, Bullet Girls Phantasia seems like an ideal candidate to look at closely from this angle: without tittering childishly, without knowing nudge-nudge-wink-winks, and, of course, without censure or shame for either what it is doing or the people who might enjoy it.

The reason for this is that Bullet Girls Phantasia represents a solid example of erotica done right: it stops short of being outright explicit pornography — partly for stylistic reasons and partly out of necessity due to its host platforms — but anyone playing it will be left in little doubt that a particular, specific side of the game is very much intended to provoke an intense sexual reaction in anyone engaging with it fully. And there’s nothing to be ashamed of there. So let’s explore it further!

Continue reading Bullet Girls Phantasia: The Art of Erotica →

Cover Games, Shade

Bullet Girls Phantasia: Enlisting for Duty

8 Comments

shadeheader-3172714This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
<< First | < Previous | Next > | Latest >>

When I started this Cover Game feature, I figured that these two games by Shade would be fairly similar to one another.

After all, they’re both third-person shooters featuring cute girls and a certain amount of fanservice to enjoy. Taking games with what I assumed to be a similar “feel” to them as a guideline, I estimated that they’d both be reasonably short affairs that I could romp through quickly.

After 45 hours of pursuing all of Gun Gun Pixies’ endings, I realised that I might have been wrong. After starting the rather more mechanics-centric Bullet Girls Phantasia, I confirmed that yes, indeed, I was very wrong. And, as such, because I want to do a proper job of this… it’s going to take a few articles to do the latter justice. So let’s begin today with a look at how it plays.

Continue reading Bullet Girls Phantasia: Enlisting for Duty →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Amayo Sato

1 Comment

It’s not something I see people talk about a whole lot, but I get the impression the fantasy of having a sibling you don’t already have — particularly an older sister — is quite a popular one among certain portions of the population.

I’m not even talking about a sexual fantasy here; I’m simply referring to the idea that some people seem to find the idea of having an older sister quite pleasant. And yes, I’m one of those people.

We’re certainly well-catered to when it comes to Japanese popular media, at least, with a whole host of charming onee-chans out there just waiting to take care of us. The most recent I’ve encountered? Amayo Sato from Gun Gun Pixies.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Amayo Sato →

Cover Games, Shade

Gun Gun Pixies: Tiny Girls, Huge Hearts

9 Comments

shadeheader-3172714This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
<< First | < Previous | Next > | Latest >>

One thing I always like to see is when developers get a bit experimental.

Idea Factory and Compile Heart have always been good at this, and their numerous experiments over the last ten years or so have really allowed them to hone their craft, showing marked improvements from their earlier PS3 titles up until today. And when you partner up with an ensemble like Shade, who, as we’ve already seen, are certainly not averse to doing things a bit differently from the norm, the results can be very interesting indeed.

One such result is Gun Gun Pixies. So let’s take a closer look at what’s going on with this unusual game.

Continue reading Gun Gun Pixies: Tiny Girls, Huge Hearts →

Waifu Wednesday

Waifu Wednesday: Bee-Tan

3 Comments

I respect anyone who knows what they want, and who is not afraid to freely express those things that they want, regardless of how it makes them look.

Pixie Team’s Private Usamael, better known by her codename Bee-tan, certainly falls into this category. Despite hailing from a planet that has largely lost the knack of everything to do with interpersonal interactions and relationships, Bee-tan is a libidinious young woman with a penchant for lusting after anything in a skirt. Including her own partner Private Kameriel, or Kame-pon.

She’s a colossal pervert, as gay as a window and I love her to bits. Let us celebrate this tiny little Pandemonian ahead of our in-depth exploration of the game in which she appears.

Continue reading Waifu Wednesday: Bee-Tan →

Cover Games, Shade

Shade: A Brief History

9 Comments

shadeheader-3172714This article is one chapter of a multi-part Cover Game feature!
Next > | Latest >>

This time around, we’re taking a close look at a couple of games from a specific company. The two games aren’t directly related to one another, but they’re both from the same rough “era” of gaming, and I thought they both looked interesting.

The two games are Gun Gun Pixies and Bullet Girls Phantasia from Shade Inc, and I wanted to explore these games not only because they were appealing to me, but because I found the fact that they were developed by Shade to be fascinating.

Not sure who Shade is? That’s what today’s all about. Let’s have a little history lesson.

Continue reading Shade: A Brief History →

Community, One-Shots

Let’s Respect Each Other’s Tastes (Or: “This Game Isn’t For You, and That’s Okay”)

25 Comments

Whenever any creative person sits down to compose something, they inevitably do so with a particular audience in mind.

Sometimes that audience is as simple as the creator themselves; they want to write something that simply expresses themselves, and if it happens to resonate with anyone else, that’s a happy bonus. Sometimes a creator makes an attempt to appeal to as broad an audience as possible — though it’s very difficult to please everyone. And sometimes that audience is a specific group of people.

Whatever a creator decides to create, we should respect their intentions. And, by extension, we should respect the audience it ends up attracting — even if we find ourselves outside that group.

Continue reading Let’s Respect Each Other’s Tastes (Or: “This Game Isn’t For You, and That’s Okay”) →