Even though I haven't tried Hardcore mode, I'm going to assume you accidentally switched the two modes. In Standard mode, not only do the bats and birds actively change course and speed up to attack you, and not only do the meteors steal your gears(money) when they hit, and not only do you have no defense against these things except for happening to catch them beneath you with your jump jets, the game ISN'T EVEN POSSIBLE TO BEAT, because at the very top there are no platforms to jump on, forcing you to rely on your ability to create platforms to save yourself, and the gap you have to cover this way is too large for even a maxed-out energy meter to get you all the way to the spaceship.