A very long, hard last battle...
...tops this okay overhead-scrolling shooting game. I liked the rpg-style upgrade system, but the game could have used some better upgrades. Your "fully-upgraded" ship doesn't really feel like the 'ultimate' version, and some upgrades (like the extra HP/MP) don't really seem to add much. The graphics are acceptable, but not very eye-catching, with a simple polygonal style that reminds me of another shooter, the classic Alien Invasion from javagameplay. The controls are responsive and gave me no trouble, although I would have liked to be able to change to WASD style. The gameplay is pretty simple, you only have a basic gun that shoots in bursts, and a secondary laser weapon, both of which can be upgraded. The laser upgrades ARE pretty killer, but the gun upgrades are give-and-take: I stuck with the second one which makes you shoot three beams right in front of you, which seemed more useful for killing enemies (one-on-one at least) than the two-in-front, two-or-more-on-the-side version of later upgrades. All in all, this a decent effort and I'd be interested in a sequel which gets rid of some of the things that held this back from a better score. On a final note, that last battle is waaay too long and there is nothing at the end to make it worthwhile, kind of like an NES game ('thanks for playing', game over, and then you get kicked back to the menu screen). Maybe the ability to continue with all your upgrades from level 1, or something to justify such a prolonged fight would have made me feel better for putting in the time.