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This vertical shooter features no power-ups to collect. It was the second shooter by the developer inspired by several classic titles such Mars Matrix and Dodonpachi. In it's place is a shop that sells weapon upgrades provided that you have the credits to finance your purchases. One can snap up new primary and secondary weapons, and even new ships, among other goodies. It's a bit reminiscent of Area 88 / UN Squadron on the SNES in that regards. Thankfully, much of the writing in the shop is in katakana, so if you can read that, there shouldn't be much difficulty in discerning what weapon does what before purchasing. It isn't terribly long, with only a handful of levels, but they are fun and stretch out for quite some way before reaching a boss. The combat also scales quite well as you progress through a stage. It starts off slow, and gradually builds up as you progress. By the end, players will find themselves weaving all sorts of incoming fire while trying to get in some shots on their enemies. As all of this is going on, there are two bars on the right hand side of the screen that gradually fill up as players blow up more and more baddies. As the bars fill up, they can help you get extra ships, as well as replenish your special attack. It's a pretty neat way of getting extra lives, and bombs, as opposed to chasing down icons zigzagging across the screen. It's definitely worth spending some time with this schmup. It's well laid out, looks and sounds very good, and makes for a nice way to kill an hour or so when you have some free time to relax. |
