izigame.me

(It's no fun being a contrarian, but I gotta do this.)
I want to love every shmup I've never played before, especially since I've rediscovered my love for this neglected genre after burning myself out on AAA movie-games, walking sims, Simon-says mechanics and all-around boring non-gameplay-fests that define modern gaming. It's been such a blast, I've even held myself to purchasing shmups at full retail price as often as possible to show my support, including recent compilations, new indie releases and M2's PS4-exclusive imports. This game is among those I bought at retail cost and no, regardless of my review, I'm not refunding it.
But DU3 falls short for me for two huge reasons I keep coming back to play a game: the audio design and the art design.
Whether or not you like the genre of music they went for, Blankfield's soundtrack pummels the ears from the word GO. This trve cvlt instrumental metal music amuses at first, but quickly becomes tiring on the ears. And considering how draining an intense shmup session can be at higher difficulties (let alone multiple runs), music that aims to exhaust the ears doesn't help the player... it hinders them. And even if the style is up your alley, where's the memorable melodies that characterize indie shmups? Where's the exciting panache of an Andro Dunos II, a Ginga Force, an Eschatos, a Rolling Gunner, or a Blue Revolver? All those shumps contain musical earworms that pop in my head at random, which is surely indicative of higher art. But the best I can recall here is the drummer's blast beats during a boss battle. (Not exactly a musical revelation.) Even worse, when you swap in your own music or turn it off entirely, you'll notice how weak the sound effects in this game are. They just simply don't have the impact they should. Frankly, they sound wimpy. And that's bad in an action game.
Speaking of, Doragon advertises this as a "Classic Japanese Bullet Hell Action" game... yet for all its polish, it lacks all the aspects of great art design that gave those Japanese classics the status they rightfully deserve. Strictly taking away the bullet hell part, you're telling me that visually this reminds you of a CAVE game, a Raizing game, or a Psikyo game? This reminds you of a Taito, a Toaplan, a Treasure, or even a Seibu Kaihatsu? Then where's the tasty art designs at? Where's the wild explosions? Where's the color and definition? Where's the style in this game?! I mean, it's not like they have to plaster the game with fan-service-y waifus, but DU3 has a sterile, comparably dull visual design. This doesn't remind me of Japanese shmups, it reminds me of EastAsiaSoft ones!
Ultimately, both of those issues clash rather than unify, which (to me) is a pitiful waste of its unique selling point: the Bullet Graze system.
The irony is that this game is an example of the opposite of AAA development; whereas big-budget titles effortlessly nail every single thing except a consistently satisfying gameplay loop, Danmaku Unlimited 3 gets said loop right, but nothing else. (In that sense, it reminds me of another fun game with unappealing aesthetics: Pixeljunk Monsters.) And games like that remind me more than ever of how important all the elements of a game are, otherwise even the target audience themselves won't stick around for the long haul.
So, check out a no-commentary, full-game run on YT first. See if the style appeals to you and go from there.