Blast’N Bounty is a bullet hell 2D vertically scrolling shooter with a neat gameplay gimmick.  You can choose the stage you want to tackle, and when you beat the boss, you can choose a different subweapon to take into the next level, like a homing shot or spread bullets.  Kind of reminds me of Mega Man in a way.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

When you start the game, you can choose a stage and the subweapon you’ll take.  Move around with the control stick and rapid fire by holding down the button.  That’s it.  There are no screen clearing bombs or anything like that.  When you pick up a power-up, a little ship will appear behind you.  Whatever sub weapon you took with you, those little ships will fire out.  You can have up to three following you.  When you get hit, you’ll lose a little ship.  And when they are all gone and you get hit again, you’ll explode.  You can continue right where you left off three times, though.

While the game is very hard, one thing I do like is how generous they are with power-ups.  You can even get a bunch during boss battles!  It makes the game feel doable at least for a little while.  Ultimately it got too hard for me unfortunately.  I also didn’t really notice special weapons being useful against certain bosses, like a Mega Man game.  But at least this one kept me interested more than other bullet hell shooters usually do.

Kid Factor:

Blast’N Bounty is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  You shoot spaceships that explode and that’s it.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary to play.  Younger gamers may find it too difficult, though.

Tags: Game Reviews