Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Review

Character-swapping arcade action

Reviewed by A.J. Maciejewski playing a PS4 on August 28, 2022 ⭐

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath is also available for Nintendo Switch

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Here's a shoot 'em up with a name that's as long as it is fun; it's the cute Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath.

│ One of Video Chums' core principles is "it's better to be late and thorough than it is to be early and misinformed". 🧐

What's this all about?

I wanted to play Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath because I love shoot 'em ups, especially ones with personality and this definitely has plenty to spare. What I didn't know is that it's based on a manga series simply called Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Now that I think about it, that makes a lot of sense because the characters in this game are very fleshed out and obviously have a lot of back-story, especially when it comes to their relationships with each other. Anyway, it's cool that this shoot 'em up exists because whether you're a fan of the manga or not, you're bound to enjoy your adventures with the bubbly cast of characters. v1d30chumz 3-235-173-74

Arcade shooting action

At its core, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath is what you'd expect from a vertical shmup as you dodge enemies and their projectiles while shooting. With that in mind, there are supplementary mechanics that do an excellent job of elevating the gameplay to new heights. One of the most unique gameplay gimmicks is that you can warp to and strike enemies with the Striking Blow attack. Doing so may sound risky and you may take some damage so thankfully, the Backstep dash helps mitigate the repercussions. There's also the titular Choro-gon Breath attack that's a stockable and rechargeable bomb for when you're in a tight spot. 😅

Character-based mayhem

Even with all of these elements in play which come together quite well, the mechanic that I appreciate most is that you can swap between 3 distinctly-playing characters whenever you wish. Whether you're utilizing Tohru's straightforward barrage of lasers, Elma's wide spread shot, or Kanna's homing missiles; it's a lot of fun to blast enemies away. Plus, not only does swapping characters make for a strategic advantage, it also allows unused characters to slowly replenish HP so regularly switching is definitely a good idea. 💡

Tracking treasure down

One area in which Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath excels that you don't see much in the genre is the fact that it features oodles of rewarding replay incentives. The most fruitful of which are the collectible treasures and Memoria Pieces that come together to form cute pictures. There are also multiple endings, an illustration gallery, character profiles, and online leaderboards; plus, boss rush mode, a practice Stage Exploration mode, and a few challenges that Lucoa presents. Wow, that's a lot! 😊

Maid required

With all of that being said, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath could use a maid to clean up some of its messes. For starters, I always appreciate a rewarding scoring system but achieving high scores here doesn't amount to much more than shooting everything in sight. One annoying aspect is that some enemies blend in with the stages a bit too well and I wish they were highlighted better because taking damage and not knowing why is a real bummer. Last but not least, there are only 6 stages to master which isn't that many at all. The good news is that you can play them on 5 escalating difficulty settings but it's still not much content. 🤏

As far as shoot 'em ups go, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath is a high quality action-packed title that'll have you frantically shooting as you swap characters on the fly and unlock many rewarding collectibles. Definitely check it out.