Ghost Blade

Sega exclusive

The Ghost Blade – Caravan Shooting Game -- is an ace shoot 'em up for the Sega Dreamcast with focus on arcade action joy and elaborate scoring system. And various player ships too choose from and a load of game modes, such as five stage game mode or challenging caravan game mode and last but not least: time attack.

Released: 17 September 2015
Platforms: Dreamcast
Genres: Shooter
Developers: Hucast Games
Publishers: Hucast Games
Modes: Single-player
Themes: Science fiction

About

Ghost Blade is a 2015 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and originally published by German studio HUCAST Games as an independent commercial release for the Dreamcast. It was re-released between 2017 and 2018 by JoshProd. A high-definition version titled Ghost Blade HD was also released for PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Controlling one of three fighter crafts, the player fights to protect Mars against the corrupt artificial intelligence Shira. Its gameplay consist of five stages, with players gathering collectible items and defeating enemies to build combos and maintain a high-score, while avoiding collision with their projectiles and obstacles.

Ghost Blade was created in conjunction with Neo XYX (2013) and Redux: Dark Matters (2014) by a separate team at HUCAST that branched off to work on the project. It was produced by Tulio Gonçalves, one of the creators of Pier Solar and the Great Architects (2010), with NG:Dev.Team co-founder and HUCAST founder René Hellwig serving as game designer. The soundtrack was composed by Rafael Dyll, who had collaborated on other NG:Dev.Team projects. The game is heavily inspired by the Star Soldier series, while its art design was inspired by Halo 4 (2012). The original Dreamcast release was met with average reception from critics, while the PS4 and Xbox One version garnered mixed or average reviews.

Keywords

shoot 'em up
spaceship
homebrew
unlicensed game
development hell

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Ghost Blade is a vertical-scrolling shooter video game. The plot revolves around an ancient artificial intelligence known as Shira, which became corrupt and started terrorizing the residents of Mars. The Earth Defense Force is called upon for help, sending one of their pilots to fight against Shira. Gameplay is compared to shooters by Cave such as Mushihimesama (2004).

There are two modes of play: arcade and training. Controlling one of three fighter crafts, the player fights through five stages over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a boss is reached, which must be defeated in order to progress further.

Development

Ghost Blade was created by independent German studio HUCAST Games, which had previously made DUX (2009) and its remake Redux: Dark Matters (2014) for Dreamcast. The game was developed in conjunction with Neo XYX (2013) and Redux by a separate team at HUCAST that branched off to work on the project. It was produced by Tulio Gonçalves, one of the creators of Pier Solar and the Great Architects (2010). Team and founder of HUCAST, served as the game's designer and graphist.

Daniel Lancha, who had also worked on Pier Solar and other titles, acted as the game's sole programmer. Team projects. Other staff members also collaborated in the game's creation. The staff recounted the project's development cycle in interviews.

Reception

Ghost Blade on Dreamcast garnered average reception from critics. Hardcore Gaming 101's Kurt Kalata felt that it was a good entry point for players inexperienced with titles such as Mushihimesama (2004), citing its straightforward scoring system, but remarked that it lacked in originality and refinement. Kalata found the overall visual design to be cool but "muddy", and Rafael Dyll's electronica-style music standard fare, but criticized its technical issues and noted the lack of caravan mode. Hardcore Gamer's Bradly Halestorm concurred with Kalata, finding the game's graphical presentation middling and inconsistent, and the audio fidelity unimpressive.

Halestorm also criticized several aspects such as its short length, lack of extra modes, difficulty to distinguish enemy bullets on-screen, and inconsistent frame rate. Despite finding its gameplay easier compared to Bullet Soul (2011), he nevertheless regarded it to be an enjoyable and accessible vertical-scrolling shooer.