All my 5 R belong to this Almost flawless classic.
This review is going to sound mean. I usually start with all the compliments, but in an effort to sound like a nicer person than I really am I'm going to switch it up this time. This means I will be running out of characters when I get to the nice stuff though. If you become discouraged, glance up at the score, and the summary line and continue. This is neck and neck with "Star Bounty" for the best shooter I've ever seen on Newgrounds, but there are a few glaring flaws that keep this game from getting the covetted 10 stars from me.
Let's talk about weapons first, specifically the guidence systems on the lightning gun and missile launcher. The lighning gun seems to be attracted to enemies in the order in which they are spawned, which is dangerous since some enemies are faster, and more aggressive than others. Basing the guidence system on proximity would not only allow for more control (switching targets by letting your finger off the key and moving closer to an intended target), it would make the weapon far more useful in later levels.
You've followed the classic R-Type principal of making the missiles the worst weapon in the game, though I don't think that was your intention. The missiles seem have the same "home into the targets in the order of appearance" guidence system with the added quirk of only seeking targets in front of the player. The result is a weapon that I swear has developed self-preservation instincts, and will go out of its way to not hit a target. When it does hit something, its all rather anti-climactic as all three missiles slam into one little bitty star-fighter.
The other weapons are quite well done, though I fail to see the point of making the underpowered single-shot cannon available as a pick-up when all other weapons except the missile launcher are superior. Each of the weapons in this game, apart from the gun variants drastically changes a player's tactics, which is impressive in a shooter, but it means I may not want to pick up a particular weapon, and thus the pick-up becomes a new obstacle. One solution for this is to employ a tractor beam feature, like the claw in Galactix to pick up any power-up you find in the game rather than a collision-based pick-up method.
The characters are a little unbalanced. The green ship isn't just slower than red or blue, she's flying through a cloud of tar, and her trade-off seems to be a paltry (and quickly depleated) six hit-points.
Ah... pressure fading... okay enough negativity. The power-ups in this game come in two flavors really. Blow apart a cargo ship and you either get weapons or health. A novel little script has been added so that you get the powerup you need. Or at least that's the intention. If you are down below a certain amount of health you'll always get health, and if you're above that certain level you'll always get weapons. Though there were times when I really needed a different weapon to save my hide, I was always happy for the hit-points.
You have a great selection of features here, with enough intricacies that 250 characters isn't enough to go through them all. You have an excellant variety of weapons with real tactacal considerations, and the only "insta-shield" feature I've ever found useful.
The graphics aren't the best I've ever seen, but you've struck a good balance. Generally because of file constraints, very impressive graphics leaves you with a very unimpressive game. The best graphic feature in this shooter is it's backdrops. Environments are important. They keep the player from realising that they're basically facing the same enemies over and over, and thus becomming bored. I could have done with a little more flight animation, but the crashes and splashes more than made up for that.
It had good music and nearly complete sound effects. The only sound effect missing is the sound of enemy fire apart from the laser blasters. Strangely though, the red-ball-of-death gun is silent in most classic shooters so I guess it's historically accurate.
Dammit... 68 characters! Er... Good job! Voted 5! Fix the damn missile launcher!