Developer: AlfaSystem Co. Publisher: XS Games Release: 11/17/04 Genre: Shooter
Here is a fun fact: the PlayStation 2 has one of the greatest shooter libraries of all time. By virtue of the system being more powerful than the arcade boards from back in the day there were many, many arcade perfect conversions released for the system. Damn near every major shooter from the 80s to the 90s probably exists in some compilation in Europe and Japan thanks to budget publishers. In the US you would never know the genre even existed by the time Sony’s second console hit. We did get a few good ones however and Castle Shikigami 2 is one of them. And as a bonus there are no localization shenanigans this time although there are still problems….
The story in Castle Shikigami 2 is slight. The titular castle appears over Tokyo in 2006 and unleashes a series of demons and mechanical war machines. To prevent the coming apocalypse a number of beings with supernatural powers rise to stop the organization behind this threat. The back story for the series is pretty complex but you would never know that. The first game in the series was butchered in the West and those connections are lost. XS Games wisely did not remove the story or gameplay features this time. But Castle Shikigami 2 has one of the worst localizations I have come across. The script is stilted and confusing and the line readings are flat out bad. It sucks as each character has their own story but you cannot enjoy it as the script is awful. At least the brilliant gameplay makes up for it.
There are seven playable characters in Castle Shikigami 2 each with their own unique weapon, bomb, and shikigami. Nearly all of the gameplay mechanics from the first game return. There is a separate button for rapid fire now so that you do not have to tap repeatedly. Holding the attack button will summon your character’s shikigami with each possessing unique qualities. Kohtarou’s shikigami will aggressively seek out enemies allowing him to abuse the TBS system to rack up points. Sayo summons a bird that circles like a shield and erases weaker bullets. In addition each shikigami has two modes that are wildly different you select at the start. The only system that does not return is leveling up weapons.
Every shooter plays around with score multipliers and Castle Shikigami 2 is no different. The system here is based on risk/reward. Destroying enemies generates coins that increase your score by 10 more than the previous. Your secondary weapon automatically collects coins from any enemy it kills. But the catch is they are almost all short range. Further incentivizing coin collecting is the Tension Bonus System. The TBS has two effects. The closer you are to an enemy or bullet the higher the multiplier. This in turn generates more coins for more points and gets you closer to an extra life. An additional bonus is hyper fire. When the TBS is at max (which only takes a second or two) your primary attack doubles in power and size which can shred bosses if used appropriately.
The various systems at play do an excellent job of getting you out of your comfort zone and in the thick of things. Even if you do not care about the score system the TBS and hyper fire will allow you to clear the screen faster and more importantly deal with bosses more efficiently. The slowdown that kicks in when the bullets start flying helps and the TBS will highlight your hit box so that you navigate the chaos. But you do not want some of the boss encounters to drag on too long. I am focusing on the boss battles as the actual levels are short. The boss fights last as long as the levels in some cases with everyone featuring multiple phases. These are where the game tests how well you have learned its systems and while they are challenging they remain fair. Speaking of which….
Although Castle Shikigami 2 is a bullet hell shooter I find it to be accessible to the average gamer. The game has a steady ramp up in challenge and does a great job easing you in to its mechanics. No matter how ridiculous the bullet pattern the intentional slowdown gives you enough time to find the path through the storm. Usually my eyes glaze over when I see the ridiculous ballet of bullets typical of this sub-genre. But here I easily navigated my way around it, guiding the spray to create openings and dodging and weaving with the best of them. When the curve hits it hits hard but it never feels like an insurmountable challenge. Of course your choice of character will dictate the difficulty of your journey but I must say I enjoyed this one more than most bullet hell titles because of its excellent curve.
In Closing
Castle Shikigami 2 is an excellent action shooter with great mechanics and a measured challenge that encourages experimentation. Even though the localization is busted the gameplay is why you are here and that shines beautifully. While the game has been ported to a number of platforms (with the Switch release being the best and feature rich) you cannot go wrong with this PS2 edition as it remains great.
