‘Cotton Fantasy’ Review (Nintendo Switch)
The Cotton franchise goes back 30 years and has appeared on many early consoles and computers including PC Engine, Neo Geo Pocket Color, right through to the early days of the original PlayStation. And throughout the years Cotton has received acclaim for its fast action, its colourful and detailed presentation and its cast – especially its endearing cute central character, the young witch Cotton and her little helper fairy! However, Cotton – as a franchise – had, until fairly recently, been quiet for some time since, at least in the West. That changed last year with the release of Cotton Reboot and now comes a new iteration, Cotton Fantasy.
Cotton Fantasy sees Cotton and Silk embark on another adventure, once again in HD, as per Reboot. The game adds several new shoot ’em up mechanics to the iconic Cotton playstyle, providing a modern gameplay experience, more precise than ever. Featuring 6 iconic playable characters, 16 colourful and varied scrolling stages, with vertical, horizontal and 3D movement, and an exhilarating soundtrack with iconic remastered tracks from past games, Cotton Fantasy offers a lot of variation and replayability on your hunt for the high score. Packaged with a light-hearted story full of charming, fun cutscenes, fully-voiced in Japanese, this is a great and accessible new shoot ’em up game for fans of the series and newcomers alike.
By now gamers should know just how good the gameplay in the Cotton series is, because like a lot of its bullet-hell shmup brethren it’s – as usual – fantastic and graphically, Cotton Fantasy looks stunning, with absolutely no slow down during the bullet-filled firefights (and by bullet-filled I mean bullet-filled, between the enemy fire and you’re own levelled-up weapon the screen can be VERY cluttered!) and a crisp vibrant look to both the scenery and the truly beautiful explosions – yes, I did say that. Plus this time round there are 3D into-the-screen bonus levels which see you collecting tea and feels very much like old-school shmup Space Harrier!
On the plus side, unlike other remastered shmups that have been released over the past couple of years, Cotton Fantasy makes the most of its screen real estate. Which is a blessing when you’re faced with a never-ending barrage of bullets and really need to see what the hell you’re doing! However, there is a downside to the game… It’s too damn easy. Like Cotton Reboot, Cotton Fantasy might be a bullet-hell style shooter but it’s still remarkably easy to finish the game in one sitting – though unlike Reboot, there is a higher chance of you dying from the ridiculous amount of bullets, but with infinite continues it still means you can get through this game in about 30-45 minutes from start to finish… Even more so if you DO use the continues, which brings you back into the game with a remarkably highly levelled-up weapon and makes killing enemies even easier!
I’m pleased to say that yet again this is another fantastic entry in the franchise and one that left me gagging for more. Cotton Fantasy is, for me, an essential purchase.
**** 4/5
Cotton Fantasy will be released on May 20th.
