Review jay.dino 2/5 · Jun 18, 2016
Standard shmup with some flaws
Platform:
Turbografx-16 version.
Graphics/Sound:
The insectoid theme was executed nicely, everything looks entomorphic so it's got a very alien feel to it. I like how the player ship visually changes appearance with each powerup. The environments could have done with a little more detail though. But overall I would call the graphics good.
Gameplay:
It's a pretty standard vertical shmup. …
Platform:
Turbografx-16 version.
Graphics/Sound:
The insectoid theme was executed nicely, everything looks entomorphic so it's got a very alien feel to it. I like how the player ship visually changes appearance with each powerup. The environments could have done with a little more detail though. But overall I would call the graphics good.
Gameplay:
It's a pretty standard vertical shmup. The power up system features I think 4 different weapon types, color coded. When you collect more from one color it levels up a few times. Generally I liked the idea that there is a supply ship dropping off the powerups and you have to act quickly to shoot it to get your desired powerup. What I didn't like is that when you accidentally collected the wrong color your weapon level was reset to 1. Also there is a mini shield system, that ads a hitpoint when you collect powerups up to 3.
Difficulty:
The difficulty in this game is seriously broken I think and is the biggest setback for this game. Everything begins in a manner you are used to in shmups, it's hard as in every hit you take cripples you, but we have seen that in other games so it doesn't come as a surprise. What makes it bad are 2 things: 1 collecting the "wrong" powerup will set your weapon level back so essentially powerups become hazards too, and you have no means to select different weapons based on the level, because you would have to start upgrading it from the bottom again. Second the difficulty progression is like this: it's hard, staying like that until the last level... and then it becomes freaking impossible. I mean even with savestates impossible. There is a type of enemy that's just so fast it hits you unless out of sheer luck you avoided it. Trust me I have tried avoiding it with savestates, but in the end accepted to get a hit after quickloading like the 50th time.
Conclusion:It's not a bad game as such, and it looks nice enough. But it has some balancing issues, and it just pales in comparison to the systems other great shmups, like Blazing Lazers or Super Star Soldier and the like.