Simply unique and amazing.
I had tons of fun with this game, although it was quite frustrating at first since I was aiming for the "Crown of the Euphony Gods" achievement, but I finally got there.
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuss is all about, in terms of difficulty. I mean, don't all games get harder as the levels go on?
- Upgrades you receive from levels should be adequate in terms of beating the next level. If they're not good enough, you can always use the upgrades you obtained from recent levels to perfect/level up earlier levels so that you have more max damage and bonus ships to use in the harder levels, since you're able to get your dead ships back from previous levels if you lost them at the earlier levels.
- Don't be afraid to use the slow down ability. It works wonders in all levels, and it's there for a reason. Sure, it uses up your charge meter, but hey, at least you won't take damage. Plus, you're allowed to use both the slow down time and fire function simultaneously, so you can aim for accurate shots with ease. During the later levels, you can actually use the slow down to gain more charge meter faster than you would deplete it by holding it down, since you'll be able to position yourself better for more bullet absorption. Slow down ends up being a double benefit instead of a double-edged sword.
- Remember, about 95% of the levels (There's only one level I can think of right now that doesn't give you this kind of freedom as much as the others do) give you more than enough time to complete it. There's no need to rush it at all. Take your time and try to find a comfortable spot to shoot, and if you can't find one, like I said before, you can always slow down and shoot at the same time for accurate and safe shots.
- Most of all, remember, your hit spot is only 5 pixels large (Correct me if I'm wrong, since it's either 1 or 5 pixels since the white spot in the circle looks like a small cross). This allows for much more freedom of movement than most would expect it to be, since the ship image gives off a false sense of danger into making you think you're too close to a bullet. Also, another small tidbit to remember is that you become drastically hard to see when you're moving up and shooting at the same time because the bullet shooting delay causes your own bullets to block your view of your ship, so always shoot side to side, while moving down, or any diagonal way. (Diagonal up is fine)
Overall, loved the game. Song selection kept me amped and pumped up for whatever level I was playing, the difficulty made it challenging enough so that I would try constantly over and over again to perfect a level, but not so much as to make me rage quit the game. I think the level that gave me the most problem, even though it had one of the most simplest patterns in the game was Serpens 15 "Clockwerk". No idea why it was so hard to pull off a circle motion in the game, but I eventually got it.
Hope to see a sequel. :O
- Nondo