EG:Kokuga landed on the eShop recently with alarmingly little fanfare. In ordinary circumstances, that would be understandable: publisher G.rev isn't likely to have any kind of marketing budget to give it a push, while many will be put off by its ostensibly expensive £13.49 price tag (although it received a full-price retail release last August in Japan, which helps explain it).
With all the recent buzz going around the gaming spectrum about how games might actually be less challenging, something we’ll talk about later in another feature, one might wonder where to find the games that require actual skill to win. Good news, masochists, Kokuga is the newest game for the 3DS eShop to rise to the challenge in proving to players that it can, indeed, deliver gratification via a punishing level of difficulty. One that I believe will keep players hooked, despite some of its production flaws.
A truly punishing shooter can feel like something of a dance - a series of carefully choreographed numbers that rely on you watching the steps of those around you and taking your own accordingly. Getting through without stepping on someone's dangerously explosive toes is more often a case of learning those steps rather than improvising.
Nintendo Insider writes:
Having directed esteemed genre classics Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun, news that Hiroshi Iuchi and his team at G.rev were to shape a shoot ‘em up experience for Nintendo 3DS was understandably met with feverish anticipation by many.
