Aksys may have released Deathsmiles in North America, but Cave is taking care of Deathsmiles 2X themselves. The news comes from the ESRB, which rated Deathsmiles 2X and listed Cave as the publisher.
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/04/24/cave-releasing-deathsmiles-2x-in-north-america-hells-christmas-has-frozen-over/This is pretty good news. Cave publishing it themselves is pretty interesting; that means they might bring over their other Japan-only like games, Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu, Daifukkatsu Black Label, and Akai Katana Shin. Ketsui and Dai Ou Jou are probably a no go since they were licensed to 5pb, but who knows.
My impressions of the Japanese version (having cleared both modes on it):
- There's a decent variety of characters to choose from (in Arcade mode you have Windia, Supe, Casper, and Lei), but the only one I find fun to play as is Lei because he builds the multiplier extremely fast, which means you can focus on scoring for most of the stage.
- The scoring system is fast-paced and fun. I'm not sure I'd call it an improvement over the original game, but it's different and it's just as good. You have to focus on building two different multipliers, and then you use the lock-shot throughout the stage to kill enemies and spawn suicide bullets. Once you release the lock shot, all of the suicide bullets turn into items. It's great.
- Unfortunately, the Arcade mode was tacked onto the port at the last minute, so the graphics are still low-res and there aren't many options to mess with.
- The graphics (in Arcade mode) are entirely 3D and it looks pretty ugly.
- Overall, it's maybe slightly more challenging than Death Smiles 1 while playing ranks 2 and 3 (which means no suicide bullets and no EX stage). There are no adjustable difficulty ranks in the DS2 arcade game, so what you see is what you get. Still, it's pretty easy to clear.
- 2X mode is exclusive to the 360 port, and this is clearly the mode they spent most of their time on. The graphics are HD widescreen and look very nice, there are two more characters to choose from (Follett and Rosa), there are two more stages (a medieval castle and Satan Claws' theme park), adjustable difficulty ranks have returned, and it has a new scoring system. The new scoring system is decent, but it's not as good as the Arcade game's and it's not as exciting. Suicide bullets now have a colored trail behind them, which indicates how many points you'll receive when you launch them. It starts out green, then moves to yellow, and then finally red (IIRC). They disappear if you keep them on screen for too long, so you have to launch them once you've got as many red trails on screen as possible. And once you launch them, the screen gets completely covered in point items, so it's very satisfying. Unfortunately, Follett kinda breaks the scoring system, since her familiar can milk items out of enemies like nobody's business.
- Tsukaima Race is some weird arrange mode where you control one of the girls' familiars and try to reach the finish line on a bunch of different stages. It's bad and Cave should feel bad.
- The art is nowhere near as good as the original game. It looks kinda cheap and rushed, which can also be said for the game itself.
- The music is great.
TL;DR, it's a good game, but it's not as good or refined as the original. I'd give it an 8.5/10 (whereas DS1 would be a 10).
Anyway, I'll double dip for sure (once it hits the bargain bin) if it has a separate achievement list. It's pretty easy to 1000.
