Accurately-Named: Gundemonium

A few people have nudged and winked us in the direction of Rockin' Android's (and there's a name they must sort of regret, given they specialise in PC and PSN titles) Westernified J-indie bullet hell series Gundemonium Collection, which recently released on Steam. I quietly sneered my way through the big -eyed, Renaissance-frock loading screens and menus, and was rewarded by something delightfully ridiculous on the other side of it. Its base look might clearly declare which nation it orginates from, but it wastes no time in becoming absolutely batshit crazy, both in terms of the enemies it throws at you and in the powers it's granting your floating gunwoman.

You're up against a wall of death, but fortunately you can provide similar. Some by choice like the spinning cartwheel of doom which takes the place of the standard shmup bomb, and some automagically, like the giant laser cannon that pops up behind you when you suffer a wound and launches fury upon the other side of the screen. With the right character and the right weapon, a bloody great dragon flies on and biffs all and sundry.

Here's a trailer showing off the stuff they've added for the Steam version:

I'm quite sure Gundemonium collection becomes masochistically tough after a while - this genre does so like its suffering - but the demo of the first game in the three-title package (and all I've played so far) made me giggle and succeed. Do try the Practice Mode too, wherein you can experiment with some of the bigger weapons.