Innovative gameplay? On Newgrounds??? WOW!
First, kudos on doing something new! The scene has been a bit stale around here lately. The concept is neat and adds a challenge.
Except it's over way too quickly, and like other reviewers have said, you'll rarely use all of your lives even on the harder settings. I gave it a 7 because it wasn't hard. It had such great potential to be a skill-based game (if it were being played by one person) but ends up being a timewaster. I agree with some of the other suggestions- maybe adding some kind of powerups for the weapons, or shields would add to the experience, and work on the level design (I never touched the forward / back keys, no reason to).
I really wanted to score this higher, but it's not a game I'd come back to over and over (in its current state.) That doesn't mean I didn't like it. Looking forward to a sequel perhaps?