4.3 hours played
Written 1 year and 3 months ago
When I first started playing this I thought it was fairly bland and uninteresting, but it grew on me.
Here are all the things I really like:
[list]
[*] The level select screen makes it very handy to come back to where you are, and to replay completed levels.
[*] The upgrade system allows you to increase your power in significant ways so you can defeat harder levels.
[*] There is a variety of foes and bosses that are interesting.
[*] There are bonus levels that are really creative and fun.
[*] The music is very good.
[*] The achievements are well designed and it is challenging but not too hard to 100% the game.
[/list]
Here are all the things I wish were better/different:
[list]
[*] There are some temporary weapon "upgrades" that are worse than your main weapon, so I found myself dodging them sometimes. Maybe this was intentional, but I didn't like it.
[*] Related to the above your default weapon can shoot enemy missiles, but some temp upgrade weapon's can't making them undesirable. I just found that to be an odd design choice, possibly even a bug.
[*] Level 10 seems to be a steep difficulty bump. I was stuck on this level for a long while and almost gave up.
[*] The upgrade system is not very intuitive. Better explanations of what each upgrade actually does would help. This was part of my issue with level 10, I was upgrading things that didn't matter much.
[*] There are some bad guys that will attack from behind. This seems unfair and requires you to memorize the level. That is not always a bad thing, but I didn't like it. I prefer to have my eye/hand coordination and upgrade level of the ship to be the main factors in success or failure.
[/list]
Overall, I say this game is a winner and punches well above it's price point. It's well worth your $$ and time if you like side scroller shmups.