Pros:
- Nice UI, backgrounds, visual and sound effects
- Great variety of enemy behaviour
Cons:
- No music
- Slightly lacking in juice
- Bosses are a bit samey, most enemies share the same model
Here & There:
I don't usually play shmups, but when I do, they're a part of these jams. Therefore I don't really know what makes shmups good, but this seems like a good shmup. The enemy behaviours are widespread and varied, it has that familiar thing of symmetrical spawn patterns, and they're distinguishable enough by their colour. Having different models would have been nice to develop the uh, visual vocabulary (???) of the game, but it certainly functions without it. The bosses are a bit samey, especially because of the previously mentioned point, and overall the game is quite difficult, namely level 2. I never beat it. I did go and play the Sequel level and defeated that ol' familiar frog, but the lack of an ending was a little let down namely because of the nicely written Information section in the start menu. There's also a lack of juice which I think this game might really benefit from. The sparks off the enemy ships and your shield on hits are fine, but they don't produce much of a palpable sensation. The UI in game is entirely static which could have added some impact to various situations. The hitbox of the ship is also not distinguishable visually, and has to be learned through feel and experience which feels a bit unfair because there are no checkpoints, failure means restarting the level. Minor gripes aside though, this is really solid and I certainly enjoyed it when I wasn't getting annoyed at myself.