Heavy on the weapons, action and fun
Weapons. I adore them. What I adore most about them however is when people take the time to develop something new. Take Turok for example, easily my favourite weapon based game for its sheer volume of original and unique designs for culling the masses. While it was a FPS genre, here in a top down ship based shooter I felt right at ease.
The weapon effects were clean and 'pretty', and menu screens that showcased polish. While the majority of the backgrounds for the action were indeed lovely, a couple of them were a touch plain jane. The black on wireframe made for a nice challenge in locating the spawn points heh.
Another fine aspect to the action was the arcade-like sounds of the weaponry. In a game that is going to sound repetitive after long amounts of play it didn't nag for a moment. Along with the mild ambient music accompanying the fire fight it made for pleasant enjoyment both on the ears and eyes, but consider perhaps more 'energetic' music options for some users who like it a bit faster paced.
For the majority of the weapons I say well done. My weapons of choice ended up being lighting, rail and the laser cannon towards the end, but it was fun to mix it up and try new types time to time. Device weapons like the Vortex and Slow Time I also appreciated for their ability to change gameplay. I felt that some weapons however were a little too sluggish for their own good (and ultimately my good). Sadly I agree with others in wishing Duck Death to be improved. Going back through earlier stages or not, for 500k it lacked when compared to its cheaper and highly more functional brother Big Laser.
While it was a intensely enjoyable game with long playability, it needs additional features. I know you feel standoffish over ship/weapon upgrades or temporary power-ups, but don't be afraid to introduce them. They would add another dimension to gameplay and a source to sink the high amount of credits remaining towards the end of the adventure. Even a level system with tech trees would give players the chance to create different builds and increase re-playability tenfold.
In the end I enjoyed it very much and my hope is that you will take back what feedback you get from this release and provide a sequel with even greater options and of course, greater weapons. Thank you both.