Beat. I used the Triton for most of the game because of its vertical shooting. It ended at level 11 and I used the shield to great effect to avoid damage. Panthera was useful to hit low enemies that the Triton could not hit, but it did not even kill enough to reach level 2. I did not even realize there were health pickups and that they respawn, so I stopped using Panthera when he was near death. I did not bother with Alcedes at all except to try a few abilities in boss fights that were giving me trouble; they did not help. After checking a walkthrough, the freeze ability might have been useful a few times but I managed without. I used Xardion for the end game due to it's much higher damage per shot, but still preferred the Triton, and ended at level 6. I had to check the walkthrough after getting Xardion's 1st upgrade because I did not know how to access the map. Oh there is level select fast travel to replay levels, cool. The only boss that gave me trouble was the spitting heads because the shield could not block those projectiles. It took a few tries to figure out the fight is more like a puzzle about where to stand to avoid damage. The final boss was fairly good. The 4th phase was annoying due to the random nature of the attacks. Even though I save state scummed to avoid damage, it was likely unneeded. For the final phase I used Triton's shield to block the energy wave while focusing on avoiding the balls, then switched back to X to put on the hurt. I used a few heath and ammo kits and had more than enough.

Game was fun with very interesting environments, but too short. It seemed kind of pointless to have multiple characters and rpg mechanics in such a short game, but it does give some replayability. The dialogue during the game was pretty inane, but the exposition during the ending was really cool. The story could have been far more fleshed out and not all provided at the end. Probably the worst thing about the game was how bullet spongy the bosses were. They follow the same simple pattern over and over, so the biggest danger seemed to be getting bored and losing track of the pattern.

7.5/10