Burst is technically 2 games in one (Skirting Shadows and Crimson Girls), with both being pretty much identical in terms of gameplay. The first tells the story through the perspective of the girls from the Hanzo National Academy, and the latter from the perspective of the girls from the Hebijo Clandestine's Girls' Academy. It's kind of neat to be able to see the story from opposing perspectives, but really, if you've played through one arc, you've pretty much experienced the other one as well.
As the first couple of games in the series, it's quite a rough start. Gameplay consists of missions which occur in a 2.5D sort of space where you will either be fighting hordes of enemies, or a 1-on-1 battle with another character. Movement is limited, as you will mainly be running either left or right with only some space to move vertically. All throughout these missions, you will just be button mashing 24/7. There's really no strategy involved in most missions besides spamming the Y and X buttons. Yes, there's combos and aerial attacks, but they are about as basic as they can be. Even on the more difficult later missions, there are cheap ways to spam and win as long as you did some really light grinding.
Granted, the simplistic gameplay could have been fine... if it wasn't for the atrocious framerate issues. I couldn't tell you exactly how many frames you'll be getting on average, but it's pretty bad. After a while, you do get kind of used to it, but it does make the game more of a slog than it should be. What kept me going was mainly the characters, as I have come to develop a soft spot for the series as a whole, and I enjoy the silly dialogue and story to a certain extent. Also, as lame as I think the gameplay is, it's still kind of satisfying to beat up these gals. Still, if you must know the story, I recommend playing Burst Re:Newal instead.
As the first couple of games in the series, it's quite a rough start. Gameplay consists of missions which occur in a 2.5D sort of space where you will either be fighting hordes of enemies, or a 1-on-1 battle with another character. Movement is limited, as you will mainly be running either left or right with only some space to move vertically. All throughout these missions, you will just be button mashing 24/7. There's really no strategy involved in most missions besides spamming the Y and X buttons. Yes, there's combos and aerial attacks, but they are about as basic as they can be. Even on the more difficult later missions, there are cheap ways to spam and win as long as you did some really light grinding.
Granted, the simplistic gameplay could have been fine... if it wasn't for the atrocious framerate issues. I couldn't tell you exactly how many frames you'll be getting on average, but it's pretty bad. After a while, you do get kind of used to it, but it does make the game more of a slog than it should be. What kept me going was mainly the characters, as I have come to develop a soft spot for the series as a whole, and I enjoy the silly dialogue and story to a certain extent. Also, as lame as I think the gameplay is, it's still kind of satisfying to beat up these gals. Still, if you must know the story, I recommend playing Burst Re:Newal instead.