Quick impressions of Shiki III:
Beyond the Tension gauge dynamic, it's mostly the same as the others in the series. It's still pretty fun as far as shooters go, however, and I like being rewarded for traversing Bullet Hell beyond just staying alive. It does make you want to take more chances, though, particularly on the lesser difficulties.
Overall I'm pretty happy with this game, and despite some folks' complaints to the contrary, I'm glad it's on disc where it can't muck up what little is left of my Wii storage space. Seriously Nintendo, I'm tired of complaining about this so we need to see the external or some other storage expansion solution or you won't be getting any more Wii points out of me. Download management is annoying enough as it is with all the other consoles and computers I have to deal with.
And one last rant about game industry reviewers knocking Shiki and other "modern" old school shooters: if you don't like the conventions of the genre, don't take it out in the review. Either accept it for what it is, or don't even bother giving it a score. Especially the "game too short" or "game too hard" knocks. That's what shooters are about, high difficulty and high scores. Remembering patterns and stages.
The one complaint that I might be able to tolerate is the aspect ratio. Maybe shmups do need to get a 21st century make over and figure out a way to use HD resolutions. Certainly, all these games nowdays come from Japanese arcades where the vertical screen is still king, but I can see a market for console shooters that make use of widescreen HD. We'll have to see what trends come out of Nippon, but I do believe any kind of paradigm shift for shmups will not come quickly or easily unless the fans who play provide an immediate positive response.
that.
