For the first day of Touhou reviews, I will... not be going with a popular game that everyone's already heard of. Where's the fun in that? (Sorry, Megamari). Instead, I'll be reviewing a relatively obscure one that I personally find very good.
Presenting the stealth game, Touhou Splinter Cell Code: R.
![[Image: l6dbaqA.png]](https://i.imgur.com/l6dbaqA.png)
From the developer BlueMica, Code R is the story of Reimu infiltrating a ship in order to accomplish... some things. Honestly I can still only tell you the basic inklings of the plot, considering I can't read Japanese. She has to make it through without getting killed, and all she's got is various kinds of bullets - tranquilizers, EMP, and of course basic metal... not that you can shoot anyone dead here. Kinda Merry Gear-esque in that way.
The game plays out as a sidescrolling 2D stealth game, with guards and security cameras scattered around the ship, each with their own rules. Cameras, for example, can be shut off by an emp or disrupted by a barrier, while guards can be tranquilized... and some of them are just inattentive enough you may be able to slip by. Always be careful to pay attention to your surroundings, though! You don't want to wake up a sleeping guard if you can help it.
There's plenty of other gimmicks added throughout the game, as well. Blocks that disappear and reappear on a timeframe, dangerous electrical arcs, ice blocks that can be instantly melted with EMPs, pipes Reimu can hang from... Code R does a good job of creating new scenarios as you go, preventing rooms from feeling like carbon copy-pastes of each other.
![[Image: djHRovD.png]](https://i.imgur.com/djHRovD.png)
The game is laid out in the form of rooms with a connecting map of the ship - you can only move from one room to a room directly connected to it (which... makes it hard to get screenshots when you want them.) Rooms are generally just individual challenges to progression, but sometimes you can find useful items - keycards that let you progress deeper into the ship, or various items you can find to help your stealthy adventure (such as a cardboard box). Reimu can also find bullet components, allowing her to create ammo without having to find specific pickup locations for it.
In terms of replay value, the game's got... quite a lot of extra content! The main Reimu game itself has targets set up everywhere to shoot, which the game keeps track of - busting every target in a room marks it red instead of gray on your map, allowing you to keep track of how many of the whole game's shooting gallery you've cleared.
![[Image: u2FSUOf.png]](https://i.imgur.com/u2FSUOf.png)
The reason for doing this?
Reimu isn't the only playable character!
![[Image: qWBGy88.png]](https://i.imgur.com/qWBGy88.png)
Clearing Reimu mode and shooting out all 152 targets unlocks Marisa, who has a parallel story to Reimu's. During Reimu mode, Marisa shows up a couple times to provide useful gear or plot direction, and in this mode we see how she got to where Reimu met her. Marisa Mode is less extensive than Reimu mode, as some parts of the ship are permanently closed off by keycards Marisa never gets. Still, Marisa mixes it up by having rooms with the same basic layout but much different arrangements of guards, cameras, and hazards.
Beyond that, Marisa also receives a couple unique bullet types that Reimu never gets, but at the same time, she lacks several of Reimu's bullets. With the new strategies that are required because of this, Marisa Mode does a good job feeling like new content, rather than Reimu Mode with a palette swap.
Also there's more targets to shoot, and unsurprisingly...
![[Image: yfQrJuO.png]](https://i.imgur.com/yfQrJuO.png)
Clearing every target in Marisa Mode unlocks Mokou Mode. Set up far differently from the other two, Mokou Mode is a series of VR missions, each one wholly self-contained. There's no bullet assembly or resource management here; Mokou Mode is about being given a fixed set of bullets and items, and using those to clear the objection. Normal missions are just getting to the goal, but some of them are sneaking missions (where being caught is an instant loss) or weapon missions (where all targets need to be broken for the goal to work.) Just to mix things up, Mokou even gets new bullets that neither of the other two did, such as a grappling hook.
On top of that, VR missions are graded by health, number of alarms tripped, and number of targets destroyed. Go for the SS★ rank!
Besides the three main game modes, Code R comes with plenty of extra content. Mokou isn't the only one to get VR missions!
![[Image: D69YtYT.png]](https://i.imgur.com/D69YtYT.png)
Reimu gets her own set of VR Missions, separate from her main game mode. These are timed, and even add a new form - Bomb Mission, where you have to shoot a bomb in the right way to clear all the targets. These missions are quite a bit more difficult than Mokou, providing an extra challenge for someone who thinks they've really gotten good at the game.
There's also a level editor, just in case you somehow didn't have enough Code R yet. It's fully functional and lets you add anything you can think of.
THE VERDICT
Code R is a solid game for the stealth genre, and while I have seen very few sidescrolling stealth games, this is easily the best one of the lot. Not only does it have a solid core game and plenty of gimmicks to mix it up, it manages to add extra content after extra content without making it feel like it's just rehashing. My only real complaint is that the game seems to have a few Missing Secrets - the way the item menu in Reimu Mode is, it seems like there's some items you can never actually get despite there being room for them on the menu. And it's really annoying to backtrack if you miss something thanks to the lack of fast travel (which is slightly mitigated by being able to find a couple shortcuts in the latter parts of the game.)
Still though, good game. It gets 4 and a half Reimus out of 5 from me.
Presenting the stealth game, Touhou Splinter Cell Code: R.
From the developer BlueMica, Code R is the story of Reimu infiltrating a ship in order to accomplish... some things. Honestly I can still only tell you the basic inklings of the plot, considering I can't read Japanese. She has to make it through without getting killed, and all she's got is various kinds of bullets - tranquilizers, EMP, and of course basic metal... not that you can shoot anyone dead here. Kinda Merry Gear-esque in that way.
The game plays out as a sidescrolling 2D stealth game, with guards and security cameras scattered around the ship, each with their own rules. Cameras, for example, can be shut off by an emp or disrupted by a barrier, while guards can be tranquilized... and some of them are just inattentive enough you may be able to slip by. Always be careful to pay attention to your surroundings, though! You don't want to wake up a sleeping guard if you can help it.
There's plenty of other gimmicks added throughout the game, as well. Blocks that disappear and reappear on a timeframe, dangerous electrical arcs, ice blocks that can be instantly melted with EMPs, pipes Reimu can hang from... Code R does a good job of creating new scenarios as you go, preventing rooms from feeling like carbon copy-pastes of each other.
The game is laid out in the form of rooms with a connecting map of the ship - you can only move from one room to a room directly connected to it (which... makes it hard to get screenshots when you want them.) Rooms are generally just individual challenges to progression, but sometimes you can find useful items - keycards that let you progress deeper into the ship, or various items you can find to help your stealthy adventure (such as a cardboard box). Reimu can also find bullet components, allowing her to create ammo without having to find specific pickup locations for it.
In terms of replay value, the game's got... quite a lot of extra content! The main Reimu game itself has targets set up everywhere to shoot, which the game keeps track of - busting every target in a room marks it red instead of gray on your map, allowing you to keep track of how many of the whole game's shooting gallery you've cleared.
The reason for doing this?
Reimu isn't the only playable character!
Clearing Reimu mode and shooting out all 152 targets unlocks Marisa, who has a parallel story to Reimu's. During Reimu mode, Marisa shows up a couple times to provide useful gear or plot direction, and in this mode we see how she got to where Reimu met her. Marisa Mode is less extensive than Reimu mode, as some parts of the ship are permanently closed off by keycards Marisa never gets. Still, Marisa mixes it up by having rooms with the same basic layout but much different arrangements of guards, cameras, and hazards.
Beyond that, Marisa also receives a couple unique bullet types that Reimu never gets, but at the same time, she lacks several of Reimu's bullets. With the new strategies that are required because of this, Marisa Mode does a good job feeling like new content, rather than Reimu Mode with a palette swap.
Also there's more targets to shoot, and unsurprisingly...
Clearing every target in Marisa Mode unlocks Mokou Mode. Set up far differently from the other two, Mokou Mode is a series of VR missions, each one wholly self-contained. There's no bullet assembly or resource management here; Mokou Mode is about being given a fixed set of bullets and items, and using those to clear the objection. Normal missions are just getting to the goal, but some of them are sneaking missions (where being caught is an instant loss) or weapon missions (where all targets need to be broken for the goal to work.) Just to mix things up, Mokou even gets new bullets that neither of the other two did, such as a grappling hook.
On top of that, VR missions are graded by health, number of alarms tripped, and number of targets destroyed. Go for the SS★ rank!
Besides the three main game modes, Code R comes with plenty of extra content. Mokou isn't the only one to get VR missions!
Reimu gets her own set of VR Missions, separate from her main game mode. These are timed, and even add a new form - Bomb Mission, where you have to shoot a bomb in the right way to clear all the targets. These missions are quite a bit more difficult than Mokou, providing an extra challenge for someone who thinks they've really gotten good at the game.
There's also a level editor, just in case you somehow didn't have enough Code R yet. It's fully functional and lets you add anything you can think of.
THE VERDICT
Code R is a solid game for the stealth genre, and while I have seen very few sidescrolling stealth games, this is easily the best one of the lot. Not only does it have a solid core game and plenty of gimmicks to mix it up, it manages to add extra content after extra content without making it feel like it's just rehashing. My only real complaint is that the game seems to have a few Missing Secrets - the way the item menu in Reimu Mode is, it seems like there's some items you can never actually get despite there being room for them on the menu. And it's really annoying to backtrack if you miss something thanks to the lack of fast travel (which is slightly mitigated by being able to find a couple shortcuts in the latter parts of the game.)
Still though, good game. It gets 4 and a half Reimus out of 5 from me.
![[Image: NZRK1uk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/NZRK1uk.gif)
