Touhou Double Focus Review – Not Quite a Best Seller

<p>The <em>Touhou<&sol;em> series of games &lpar;known as the <em>Touhou Project<&sol;em> by Team Shanghai Alice&rpar; has been popular in Japan for years&period; Luckily <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em> &lpar;and <em>Touhou Genso Wanderer<&sol;em>&rpar; is finally coming stateside so we can get a piece of the action too&period; Thanks to NIS America&comma; gamers can finally enjoy <em>Touhou Double Focus&&num;8211&semi;<&sol;em>and experience the action based gameplay that the <em>Touhou Project<&sol;em> is so well known for&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em>&comma; you are put in the role of Aya Shameimaru and Momiji Inubashiri&period; Aya and Momiji are sucked into a magical book&comma; along with many of the residents of Gensokyo&period; They must figure out a way to get themselves and the city of Gensokyo’s residents back home&period; You can play as both Aya and Momiji and are able to switch back and forth between them at will&period; Aya excels in long range combat and can float and dash for short distances&period; Momiji on the other hand is more suited for short range combat and can run up walls or sprint for long distances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As you progress&comma; you can acquire skills that are usable by both Aya and Momiji&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll also acquire character specific skills that enhance their capabilities in unique ways&period; Some skills are reusable and these include both active and passive skills&period; Some of these will give you unique battle capabilities&comma; such as breaking rock walls&comma; or finding secret areas&period; Other skill books are temporary and are used up after being used once&period; These skill books provide abilities such as healing or creating fast travel points to and from the base area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121012" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121012" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121012 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;11180656&sol;Double-Focus-06&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Touhou Double Focus&comma; NIS America&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"544" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121012" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Touhou Double Focus&comma; NIS America&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em> plays out like a standard Metroidvania game&semi; you travel through the castle and other environments by following the map&period; As you progress you will fight difficult bosses and gain new abilities that will help you reach new areas and environments&period; Along the way&comma; you will run into residents of Gensokyo&comma; who will ask you to help them in various ways&period; By helping them with their problems&comma; you can get new items or open new pathways that you couldn’t reach before&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Truthfully&comma; there are a lot of secrets to find and even more things to explore in <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em>&period; Boss fights play out in a bullet hell style&comma; &lpar;which the <em>Touhou<&sol;em> series is known for&rpar; but I found myself more and more frustrated with them as I played&period; If you like Bullet Hell games&comma; then <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em> should be right up your alley&period; I also found that on the Playstation 4&comma; the controls for <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em> were somewhat clunky&comma; as I would catch myself using Aya’s float ability without really intending to&semi; even just performing evasive maneuvers and defending against attacks became an exercise in precision and frustration for me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With that being said&comma; <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em> plays well on both the Playstation 4 and the Playstation Vita&period; With the Cross-Play function&comma; you can save your game on the Playstation 4&comma; and take it on the road with your Vita system&period; I love the concept of being able to enjoy a game anywhere&period; Especially without the game being reduced or changed in any way while playing on the Vita&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;121013" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-121013" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-121013 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;03&sol;11180749&sol;Double-Focus-04&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Touhou Double Focus&comma; NIS America&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"544" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-121013" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Touhou Double Focus&comma; NIS America&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Touhou Double Focus’ storyline is mostly a jumping off point for the gameplay&period; It isn’t great nor does it make much sense&comma; but it gets you going and sets you on your path&period; The map tells you everything you could want to know&comma; including whether you have missed treasure in an area or not&period; Overall&comma; there is a lot to enjoy in <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em>&comma; even with its share of issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I enjoyed <em>Touhou Double Focus<&sol;em>&comma; but it isn’t something I would want to play for a long span of time&period; For fans of bullet hell games&comma; that might be a little different&period; I love Metroidvania titles&comma; and this one fits the bill well&semi; but with frustrating boss fights and weird Playstation 4 controls&comma; it didn’t hit all the right notes for me&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita product code for Touhou Double Focus was provided by NIS America for the purpose of this review&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;