Tenta Shooter is a vertical Bullet Hell in where we play as a fairy named Kei on a quest to look for her missing friend. As she scours the forest, she will face stark resistance and the world grows increasingly more disturbing the further on she goes. Starting off, we are given two choices of how to shoot our projectiles. A narrow arc that causes more damage over a small area or a widespread cone that is ideal for dealing with large crowds. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, and cater to different play styles.
Regardless of which you choose, it will come with two firing modes that mimic each other’s strengths. Mashing the attack button will fire a more spread out projectile path and holding it will spray a more condensed beam. The most defining feature of this game comes in the form of the Bullet Counter. Activating it while there are any projectiles near you will convert them into seeking missiles that fly right back at your foes. Unlike other games in the genre, using your special ability should not be used liberally. It recharges over time and will be instantly available for use once more if you score high enough with your counter.
Ideally, you want to use your bullet counter as soon as it is ready and near a large cluster of projectiles to maximize your points. It can also double as a last resort to escape a situation where you’ll otherwise take damage. This is by no means an easy game, it will demand you get good at it. Despite the lewd pictures on the store page, it is solely focused on the core gameplay, not delivering H content. Oddly enough, you will need to download a free DLC to even add it into your game. And then you need to complete specific in-game goals to view the cards with the hentai CGs. If that was your main motivation for considering this title, I wouldn’t suggest it.
There are three modes available for us to play through. Shock mode which allows us to pick a few of the cards we’ve unlocked to power up our character. Arcade mode that throws you right into the action without any other options. And finally, you have a Score Attack, an invaluable asset to practice levels as it is the only mode where you can choose where to start. You’d think that your best bet would be to start off with Shock mode, though that is not the case. You will not have any cards unlocked and you will need to beat the entire title in one go, as you only have one life. Arcade, on the other hand, has nine continues, as well as lets you unlock cards for use in Shock.
In total, there are five stages, each containing a mid and final boss. Some are quite fond of sucker punching you upon entering, so it is best to never let your guard down while playing this. Even without any hentai CG included by default, it is still not necessarily a game for the younger gamers. What with some of the bosses being giant penis monsters and an egg shooting semen at you from within a fleshy tunnel. They are a great deal of fun to fight however. Most go down rather quickly yet fire extremely dangerous attack patterns that will have you holding your breath the entire time. The bullet counter is your best friend in these situations, though it’s important to remember you can’t absorb beams or physical attacks.
Another neat benefit of the bullet counter is that it spawns in a couple of fruit for you to consume and heal a bit. You can take several hits before going down and with bosses not having grunts fighting alongside them, countering is the only way to heal throughout the ordeal. The regular enemies you’ll be facing as you make your way to the end of a stage are no less dangerous. They will keep the pressure on you all throughout and start getting serious by stage three. Like the environments themselves, the enemies you’ll face will start getting a lot more sinister looking from the mere insects you start off fighting. The gradual change of theme is a really interesting feature.
Once you beat the game you’ll unlock yet another mode, called Dying. In it, your health will be rapidly ticking down and you will need to gather fruit as quickly as you can. All the while everything is still trying to murder your face. It is a challenge only for the most skilled of players. Also unlocked simply by making it to certain stages are new formations for your projectiles. You will have two extra unlocks on top of your standard wide shot and narrow one. One has a trident like short attack called Type C and the other has a single slim stream of projectiles. It says they are designed for experienced players, though are actually an easy mode.
Type C’s bullet counter recharges instantly, allowing you to reflect near everything that comes your way by mashing the activate button. It is an odd inclusion that breaks the game due to that. I do like its short ranged but very powerful attack, though the other aspect makes it feel cheap to use. The fourth and final Type SB is not much better. It doesn’t recharge instantly, yet it does so much faster than the first two firing modes. They are nice additions for players trying to make this difficult game manageable, though having half of the projectile formations being overpowered does limit your play options. Simply allowing players to add more credits in Shock mode or choosing levels would have been preferable.
Also worth mentioning is the lack of a Tate mode. As a vertical shooter, it would have been nice to play it in portrait for those with monitors capable of doing so. Overall, Tenta Shooter is a really solid game. It features a good amount of modes to play through and it will be quite the decent challenge making it to the end in any of them. Even when you fail you’ll likely be compelled to pick it right back up just to see how much more twisted the seemingly innocent setting gets. The focus on pushing the player into playing really aggressively via the bullet counter system also helps set it apart from the crowd. It is an enjoyable title that shouldn’t be written off due to the lewd vibe it gives off on its store page. If you are looking for a good, obscure Bullet Hell to play, you can’t go wrong with Tenta Shooter.
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