Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle

Fans of the main Touhou games may find this an amusing diversion but there is very little of worth to recommend this to anyone else. Ultimately, unless battling stunted characters with clunky 3D models in sparse arenas is your idea of a good time, Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is a deeply unnecessary title to invest in.

If the game was considerably cheaper you could potentially justify a purchase for having quick, easy-to-set-up fighting rounds; as it stands, though, this may well be best left alone.

If you like the previous 4 games I will have to trust your recommendation as I do not know how this game relates to the others. But this is not a game I will be recommending to anyone. This is not a series worth new investment. It is at best incomplete and at worst an embarrassment of a game in its current state. Tohou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is an unnecessary game, a game which is not worth getting.

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle is one to give a miss, then. That’s something that I take no joy in saying, either, as I had looked forward to checking it out when NIS America had announced that it was on the way to Nintendo Switch. There are certainly flickers of magic to be found, but this is a game that feels a generation or two behind where it needs to be.

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle could have reached something with its interesting idea of playing a story with different characters and their own perspectives but the combats quickly become repetitive and underperforming. While the Arcade and Score Attack modes are challenging, the audiovisual component seriously needs a brush up and the game just doesn't perform the way it should.

Fans of Touhou games may find more enjoyment than others with Burst Battle. If you are looking for a hard-core fighting game with solid controls, a deep story and a very active online player-base then I wouldn't say this game was for you. If you don't mind clunky controls and a serious challenge in completing everything game has to offer, then this one may be for you.

Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle originally started out as a PlayStation Vita game, and would have released there a few months ago but for NIS America's desire to do a simultaneous multiplatform release. A game of this quality wouldn't have been acceptable on the Vita, and being on the Switch is only serving to expose its myriad flaws to more people. If you need to see girls beat the snot out of each other on the Switch, there's already plenty of better options.

Despite accurately interpreting a respected franchise and having solid foundations for a fighting game, Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle delivers a slither of content that is not only disappointingly lacklustre. but also unwelcoming for newcomers and littered with inconsistencies and glitches that further hinder the quality of the experience. Local multiplayer is where this may redeem itself, but even that's stretching it for a retail game. For the price, it's not something I'd recommend.

The main issue is lack of of modes, variety and repetitiveness, question is is it worth the $60 price tag? Well i would only recommend the game to hardcore Touhou fans, who know what to expect and could get far more enjoyment that a non fan would. That aside the game is flawless, no bugs and glitches, i don't think i've seen any problems in past NISA games as far as i can remember so that is a big bonus!

I'm trying my best to think of some kind of clever joke or metaphor about Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle, but I don't even think the game deserves that kind of effort on my part. Burst Battle is an awful video game. Without a tutorial, learning to play is no fun at all, and I had an equal sum of zero fun playing it when I actually knew how to play. If you're itching for a Touhou fighting game, run to your PC and download one of the official 2D fighting games from the main series. Never touch Burst Battle. Learn from my errors, and live a long, healthy, fulfilling life.