Umihara Kawase BaZooKa!
- May 28, 2020
- Studio Saizensen
A fun arcade-like party game in the Umihara Kawase series, the fishing rod and lure are back, but crazy knockback animations and underwhelming boss battles make the game drag in parts.
Get on SteamAt its core, Umihara Kawase Bazooka!! is a fixed screen action game. Perform combos with the new “Bazooka” action and aim for the high score. With over 40 stages (planned), plenty of challenge awaits. Up to four players can play together in local cooperative or hindrance play. The game also offers a versus battle mode. Up to four players can play against each other, locally or online, and aim for…
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Playstation 5
Windows
PlayStation
Reviews
- The game features a diverse character roster, including the beloved Cotton from the Cotton series.
- It can be a lot of fun when played with friends in co-op or 1v1 modes.
- The gameplay adapts the Umihara Kawase mechanics into a Smash-like format, which may appeal to fans of that genre.
- The single-player content is very short, taking only 2-3 hours to complete, and lacks depth.
- The PC port suffers from technical issues, including being locked at 720p with no resolution options, resulting in a blurry experience.
- Many levels feel repetitive and uninspired, leading to a lack of engagement and excitement during gameplay.
- gameplay4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Bazooka" is closely aligned with "Umihara Kawase Fresh," featuring similar art styles, controls, and mechanics, while successfully adapting its gameplay to a smash-like format. Although the gameplay is straightforward and matches the trailer's presentation, it offers a unique experience within the arcade-style single-screen action-platformer genre, appealing to fans despite its high launch price.
“My personal favorite is 'Umihara Kawase Fresh', and 'Bazooka' carries the same art styles, graphics, models, controls, gameplay, and all other aspects from 'Fresh'.”
“It adapts the gameplay of the Umihara Kawase games to a Smash-like game pretty well.”
“As arcade-style single-screen action-platformers go, this is a good one with unique gameplay, so fans of that sort should go for it if they can swallow the steep launch price.”
“As for the gameplay itself, it is nothing to write home about - what you see on the trailer is exactly what you get.”
- graphics3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics in "Umihara Kawase Fresh" and "Bazooka" are praised for their consistent art style and model design, creating a cohesive visual experience. However, both games are limited to a resolution of 720p and offer minimal graphics options, only allowing fullscreen or windowed modes and vsync.
“My personal favorite is 'Umihara Kawase Fresh', and 'Bazooka' carries the same art styles, graphics, models, controls, gameplay, and all other aspects from 'Fresh'.”
“It's locked at 720p, there's no graphics options beyond fullscreen/windowed and vsync, and it uses Switch controller icons.”
Critic Reviews
Umihara Kawase BaZooka Review
A fun arcade-like party game in the Umihara Kawase series, the fishing rod and lure are back, but crazy knockback animations and underwhelming boss battles make the game drag in parts.
60%Umihara Kawase Bazooka! Review
Umihara Kawase Bazooka! is a niche title in a niche genre featuring a niche franchise. As arcade-style single-screen action-platformers go, this is a good one with a unique gameplay so fans of that sort of thing should go for it if they can swallow the steep launch price. Anyone else though, including fans of said franchise may have reason enough to be on the fence as this is definitely way different from the rest of the series. This is a rather unique game that will appeal most to score chasers and not the core speedrunning fanbase of the series, although one could imagine speedrunning this all the same of course. There is a demo available but, at time of writing, only on the Japanese eShop for some reason. Players still on the fence with a Japanese eShop account may check it out and decide for themselves.
70%Umihara Kawase BaZooKa! Review
Is Umihara Kawase BaZooKa! fun to play? Sure, a little. It's inoffensive, but it never grabbed us. Even though it's a short game, we never felt that burning desire to get to the end that is typically present in other titles. There are many characters, but none of them was really interesting. Cute, yeah. But not enough to mitigate the central problem that this isn't an interesting game. We're not sure why this is the direction the series has gone in, but could it go back to the lovingly-crafted, intricate rope courses, please? Far be it for us to call for a regression, but sometimes going back to the well is a good idea.
40%
