Rockin’ Android licenses Doujinshi games from Japan. These games are fan made and usually involve existing characters from other franchises.  Because of copyright issues they don’t license games with existing characters but instead go after games with original characters.  This gives us a chance to check out games we normally would never have heard of here in the U.S.  Currently all the Rockin’ Android releases fall under the ‘shoot ‘em up’ genre more commonly referred to as ‘shmups’.

The Gundemonium Collection is compromised of three separate games all developed by Platine Depositif.  It’s only fair I talk a little about each game and my over all impressions of the collection itself.  First and foremost, the art throughout each of the titles really stands out.  The backgrounds are good but what really stands out is the character art.  If you’re an Anime fan you’ll definitely appreciate the art.  Now, if you’ve ever played a shmup before then you’ll understand how frustrating it can be when you die after one hit.  Hitogata Happa is an exception to this rule because it allows you to be hit a few times before you die and even then the game has its own spin.

The first game you’ll probably end up playing is Gundemonium Recollection. It takes place in an alternate 18th century universe where mankind has discovered 6  Philosophers Stones which have revolutionized Alchemy but they came with a price.  Now, mankind is at war with an army from the very same place where the stones were discovered.  The game-play is pretty straight forward.  You move around dodging your enemies bullets while at the same time shooting and destroying as many of them as you can.  You get three types of attacks:  standard attack, a special attack based on how much mana you have and a bomb.

The second game you’ll end up playing will be Gundeadligne.  It takes place ten years after the original story and plays pretty much the same as the previous game except you get to choose what you want your third attack to be at the beginning.  This also happens to be the only one of the three games that supports co-op play.

And finally we get to my favorite game in this collection and that is Hitagata Happa.  The story for this game takes place years before the first two games and revolves around a girl named Rosa who controls deadly flying dolls created by Kreutzer.  Each of the dolls has its own ability that you can use once you fill up the Flowmax gauge.  When you use that ability the doll dies.  The game can be pretty hard at first but once you get the hang of it it becomes a lot of fun.

If this is your first introduction to the world of shmups don’t hesitate to pick up this collection.  If you have to choose between any of these three titles go for Hitagata Happa.  Unless you want co-op in which case Gundeadligne is the way to go.  One added bonus to this collection is that it gives you the option to save a replay of each stage you complete and you can upload it to You Tube for the world to see.  You can pick up the collection for your PC or download it from the PlayStation  Network.