Score: 8
"Whelp, whelpity, whelp whelp whelp."
date: March 5, 2007
Find a thesaurus, dude.
Anyhow, this could be a really cool game, but as it is right now, I'm not really feeling it. Don't get me wrong; it's fantastic work compared to most Newgrounds content, but it's not living up to what it should be. Not to mention that the games and series that their authors let trickle out like this usually end up never being completed. Don't be one of those people. If you don't follow this all the way through, you shouldn't have released anything at all.
The track movement is a bit irksome and limiting (duh), but that's your gameplay choice, and it would be far too much work to do away with it at this point. The main problem with it, really, is that it doesn't feel very intuitive. It would go a long way towards remedying that if it was more directly responsive to your mouse movement.
Next: People love ridiculously complex upgrade systems. That you have one at all is a good thing, but it's too simple the way it is right now. It doesn't have to all be literal and upfront, either... Lighter armor at the expense of defense to improve speed, heavier armor at the expense of speed to improve defense, different materials that will affect your weapon stats like range and damage, or grips that would affect both range and fire rate. Quivers, hilts, bags and whatnot that determine how many of a weapon you can carry, and ways to switch between them at And collecting all your gold at the end of a level... meh. Level bonuses are fine, but you could perhaps collect gold or experience or what have you with every enemy defeated, based on how far away they were. Just tossing out suggestions. Make of them what you will.
This is a very ambitious project, and I hope you intend to see it through. Cheers!