Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire

“Side effects of playing Sisters Royale include not being able to close your eyes without seeing clouds of neon projectiles flying everywhere but when you're a shmup fan, that's a good thing. In the end, I'm glad to see Alfa System back doing what they do best.”

“Sisters Royale is a colorful, tongue-in-cheek take on the classic shmup format. On the upside, you get to play through the game as five different player characters. The down side is it doesn't take very long to play through, so the replay value is in trying to beat your last score and to run through the levels on harder settings.”

“It is a game for a specific audience that likes to play alone or in company and enjoy this type of mechanics as well as its particular aesthetics.”

“When it comes to shooters of all types from traditional to modern, bullet hell to roguelike, the Switch has you covered...”

“Sisters Royale sticks to established shoot-'em-up conventions, but it nonetheless provides an entertaining time with a diverse roster of characters. These characters' interactions and over-the-top firepower are amusing and worth experiencing.”

“Although Alfa System has dabbled in the genre before with the likes of the Shikigami no Shiro franchise, this is definitely not a stand out new entry for the shooter genre, but it’s not like there is much choice out there at present either. It’s definitely a decent effort and one that casual players could enjoy, but fans of the genre will not find it as challenging.”

“Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire is Alfa System's first bullet hell since the interesting Castle of Shikigami III, from which it inherits the entire playable core, which is to be safe. What already remains to the player's taste is the packaging that has been given, which lacks ambition in my opinion. Regardless, danmaku fans are going to enjoy it without hesitation.”

“Make no mistake; Sisters Royale isn’t a bad shooter. The TBS system is a really cool feature that adds a welcome layer of risk versus reward to the frantic action. However, those hoping for a spiritual successor to the excellent Castle Shikigami series will likely be disappointed thanks to the game’s gimmicky stage designs, lackluster enemies, and a story that’s borderline painful to suffer through for all but the most shameless weebs out there.”

“Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire doesn’t do anything to really make it stand out from other shmups out there but it does play well. The story is pretty uninteresting but the different characters and their firing styles do offer a lot of replayability and could have you spending some time with this shmup.”

“A well-meaning shmup with interesting mechanics and level design, yet slighty limited on the long run.”

“Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire is a solid shmup, albeit one that plays things a little too safe. The power shot mechanic has merit, but the inclusion of summons makes the overall package far too easy.”

“It is difficult to recommend Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire, especially when the Switch has many solid bullet-hell shooters. The level design feels basic, and the combat isn't exciting. Even if you take the terrible cut scenes into account, the game is woefully short for something without an arcade origin. This may still be enjoyable for bullet-hell shooter fans, but most people won't be missing out if they pass on this.”

“If you’re a hardcore shoot ’em up fan and are desperate for something new to play, Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire might scratch that itch. For a little while, anyway.”

“Sisters Royale is a decently fine title for die-hard bullet hell fans (or those that yearn for the craziness of Castle of Shikigami), but some glaring issues and uninspired presentation makes this a quarrel from which you'll want to step away.”

“Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire isn’t a bad game by any means. It struggles to impress, however. It’s just too light on features and content, and its gameplay doesn’t excite on the same level that many of the other shooters currently available do.”

“When it comes down to the basic fundamental aspects of the genre – visuals, music, stage design, gameplay flow – Sisters Royale feels unfinished. It’s hard to care about the scoring system when the structure it is built upon doesn’t satisfy enough to encourage players to spend hour after hour routing and experimenting.”

“There are some amazing examples of the genre out there, Ikaruga, Sine Mora and going further back, the wonderful Axelay on Super Nintendo. These are what I’d call the Prince William and Kate of the shooter world. Loved and held in high esteem. Sisters Royale I’m afraid is the Prince Andrew, dull and too busy hiding in Pizza Hut to be of any use to anyone.”