Birdcage is a 2D vertically scrolling bullet hell style shooter. But this one has some unique gameplay ideas that set it apart from the rest. It almost kind of reminds me of a PSOne shooter called Einhander from Square of all people! Anyway, Birdcage is available on all current consoles but reviewed on PS4 here.
There’s a story here, but it’s really not important. All you need to know is you are a spaceship and you blow up the other spaceships. You move with left control stick but don’t use any of the face buttons, just all the shoulder buttons. Hold down the R2 trigger button for a default spreadshot. When you hold down the R1 shoulder button, you’ll fire a more focused forward shot instead but you’ll slow down a bit. The L2 button will bring out a laser sword for short ranged attacks. It’ll automatically hone in on enemies, but you can also swing it around with the R stick. Let got of the button and the sword will be thrown in that direction. When you defeat enough enemies with the sword, a meter will fill and when it’s full, you can press the L1 shoulder button for a powerful attack that even destroys bullets!
There are three modes of play, Story Mode, Arcade, and Score Attack Mode. You can also view artwork you’ve unlocked and leaderboards. Stages have midbosses and when you defeat them you can choose to refill your health, get an extra life, or extra points. There are no other power-ups in the game. Depending on how well you do will determine which stage you go to next. There are six stages in all but you won’t go through all of them in a run. You can take a few hits before you explode but when you do it’s Game Over and you must try the stage again from the beginning. Which is my only main problem with the game is that like other bullet hell shooters, this one is so gosh darn hard even on Easy. Plus I don’t usually complain about graphics much, but here they are kind of drab with lots of greens, browns, and grays. But at the very least, this one does have some neat ideas.
Kid Factor:
Birdcage is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence. You shoot other spaceships that explode and that’s it. Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play. Younger gamers may find it too difficult, though.
