A fun little trick some really smart people like to pull is observing that the game you love maybe isn’t necessarily in the genre you thought it was. You thought Sonic the Hedgehog was a platformer? Oh my poor deluded child – it’s a racing game, where you’re speeding from one point to another as fast as you possibly can while you seek the path of least resistance. You really thought Pikmin was a real-time strategy? Well, darling, I think you’ll find it’s actually a survival horror game. And an essay on the fears and anxieties of a doting parent. And Pikmin 3 was all about what a monster Britanny is. Never forget.
Pawarumi? It’s a shmup on the surface, and a fairly interesting one at that, with a sci-fi Aztec aesthetic that feels entirely its own. It’s a handsome thing, complete with some top-tier production values, and absolutely full of colour. And colour’s the big thing, as Pawarumi is a shmup built around colour-matching, asking you to pair up one of your three weapon types and three enemy types, with each different combination having a different effect – be that charging your shield or unleashing extra damage. It all makes for a deep, satisfying alchemy.
Yes, Pawarumi is a shmup that’s also really, not-so-secretly, a puzzle game. It’s not the first to pull off that particular trick, of course – and Treasure’s 2001 Ikaruga is an obvious one that springs to mind. You could, if you’re feeling a little cantankerous, argue that there’s a puzzle game at the heart of every shmup, and point towards the scoring mechanics at the heart of every good example of the genre – so let’s just say that, in Pawarumi, that puzzle element is brought to the fore.
Source: Eurogamer When is a shmup not a shmup? When it's Pawarumi