Before I begin my review of Suguri Perfect Edition there are a few things I have to mention about the game. First, Suguri is a doujin game created in Japan by a group known as Orange-Juice. For those of you not familiar with what this means it’s actually pretty simple; a doujin game is a fan created game. The majority of the time a doujin title uses pre existing characters as their source but that’s not always the case, as we will soon see. Although developed by Orange-Juice the game was released in the US by a company known as Rockin’ Android whose purpose is to release and expose US audiences to these types of games.

When you buy Suguri Perfect Edition you actually get two games, an expansion pack, and two soundtracks. The first game is an above average shoot-em up game. The graphics on the game aren’t amazing but the other things that Suguri offers more than make up for that. You see, Suguri is able to make the game more accessible to casual fans while at the same time making the game challenging enough for everyone to enjoy.

For starters, the game controls are pretty easy to pick up so there isn’t a giant learning curve. The game also automatically locks onto your targets for you and unlike most other shooters you don’t just die after one hit. However, the game doesn’t offer multiple lives or any continues so once you die you need to start all over again. The game also has an ability called dash that lets you move at high speeds to avoid getting hit by beam attacks but the more you use it the more your heat gauge fills up and the more damage you take.

Aside from the game play there were a few other things I feel I should mention about Suguri. The first is the fact that the character designs are fairly well done and in my opinion pretty cool. The second is the fact the music is pretty good. Usually when I play games like these I tend to turn off the volume and play some of my cd’s as background noise but the music in Suguri didn’t want to make me do that. Finally, the back story for Suguri is pretty interesting and left me wanting to know more of it, perhaps in a different media. Maybe as a one shot manga?

As I mentioned earlier you also get another game. The second game is called Acceleration of Suguri. Now the game mechanics are pretty much the same as the shooter but this is a fast paced fighting game and definitely enjoyable. You can either play against the CPU or against a friend.

All in all for $19.99 you really can’t go wrong with this purchase and I can’t recommend it enough. You can purchase the game directly from Rockin’ Android here or via Direct 2 Drive.