Suwako-chan Cubic (aka Suwapyon 2) is the sequel to Suwako no Danmaku Pyonpyon Daisansaku, a game in which you play as Suwako in an isometric view battling against several other characters from the Touhou universe. This game was made by UTG Software, the same developers of Dangerous Patchouli, a game Superchao reviewed earlier this week.

In Suwako-chan Cubic our protagonist is once again Suwako. You can choose between two different shot types and five varying levels of difficulty. There is an unlockable Extra and Ultra modes. Extra is the standard extra stage you see in Touhou games while Ultra is Lunatic for people that are even more lunatic.

What sets Suwako-chan Cubic apart from other shoot em up games is its unique perspective and 3D gameplay. Right away you are assaulted by enemies that fire bullets using all three dimensions.

The game starts out pretty easy, teaching you that you might need to duck under bullets to dodge them....

...and jump over them too! Most Touhou games dedicate the Shift key to a slower focus mode. Not here, instead you are given a jump which can let you hop over enemy bullets. By the end of the game you will have to become a true frog god with all the hopping you need to do.

As the game progresses the geometry of the level will change as well. Each stage has a unique floor shape that will keep you on your toes. The enemies will take advantage of the terrain to either gain high ground on you or hide down lower below the hitbox on your shots. That is something I have neglected to mention so far. Suwako's attacks are all 3D too so you'll have to make sure that you're at the same height as the enemies if you want to hit them!

At her disposable Suwako also has a shield. You can see the meter for it on the lower left of the screen. Getting hit will cause your shield meter to pop rather than cause you to die. You can refill your shield by collecting points through killing/damaging enemies and grazing their shots. The game also has a built in death bomb system. If you are unfamiliar with that term it comes from a glitch turned mechanic from other Touhou games where if you press the bomb button at the same time that you die you'll cancel it with a bomb attack. Here in Suwako-chan Cubic if you don't have any shield it will automatically expend all of your bombs to keep you alive.

Things won't always be easy though, even on Normal difficulty.

Not pictured here are the additional 3D modes offered by the game. If you still have those red and blue glasses you can set an option in the configuration to allow you to use them to see the game in full 3D. There was also a version of the game that was released for the Oculus Rift, however it appears to no longer be available to purchase/download.

THE VERDICT
Like with their other releases, UTG Software's game design is on point. There are remarkable improvements over the first game and I had a ton of fun playing it. The 3D perspective adds a new twist to the genre and while it may seem pretty daunting at first is really not hard to get into given how well the levels ease you into the mechanics. The game looks kind of ugly in still shots but in motion looks great. The bullets are animated well and come in at you from all sides increasing the tension. If you like shoot em up games and want to try out an interesting and well done gimmick I recommend checking out Suwako-chan Cubic. I give it 4 Reimus out of 5.

this looks pretty cool
i've played a couple of those "bullet hell but 3D" games and most of them are either an utter clusterfuck or just let you dash through bullets which kinda defeats the purpose
this one looks like it uses the 3d to good effect? like they thought about what having an extra dimension would do in this type of game and really ran with it. i think i'll check it out