I was laughing out loud at the music in the title screen. I just sat there waiting for the whole thing to loop, and it was amazing. It also just generally set the scene for how playful the game was.
In terms if gameplay, I felt as if I was primarily chasing the powerups in the hopes of finding something that would heal me, or for more damage per tentacle, or more range. I think next to those the other powerups I seemed to get didn't feel very meaningful.
I think that the popup for what happened might be good to show above where the gift gets opened (since it's easy to miss the text in the side of the screen when there's action going on). I was also hoping for more ways to use skill to survive. I felt that my move speed was slow enough that dodging cannons didn't seem viable, and I couldn't seem to hit the cannons back at ships (which would have been quite spectacular).
I didn't get past 16 ships, but I had a good time, and I laughed more than I did in any other game I played.