Now it's not the controls fault, they run so smoothly and are rather basic: the D-pad to move around whilst the action button is to shoot. At the beginning you start off with a slow ship and weak shooting range, which won't target all, if in fact any enemies and will only get better when you collect the upgrades, usually left behind when killing a combination of enemies or passing through tight spots. See, it as a reward for your troubles. Each power up gets better and better (naturally) making the levels a little easier. A personal favourite of mine are the blue missiles that fall out of the bottom of the ship taking care of the enemies below, who, in my opinion are the worst. Why?

In two of the levels there are tripod guns that constantly aim and shoot at you and are usually placed next to a big silver pod that spurts out about five enemies at a time, who target you whilst firing white bullets. As the tripod shooters are easy to shoot at from the ground as they can't aim horizontally at you, only diagonally, you would think the best tactic is to shoot them that way. Half right. It works, however speeding up from behind you is either a bouncing cylinder which forces to you jolt upwards into open fire and enemies or a creature that moves faster than other enemies giving you literally zero chance to get away. Now you can see why I prefer the blue missiles.

Although the aliens aren't exactly difficult to defeat the sheer number of them attacking you at once are. Even on stage one you are passing through the rocky surroundings and encounter so many varied enemies on the ground, above you and coming straight at you in the middle. There is some variety in regards to standard cannon fodder but a lack of varied bosses, although I do think this may have been intentional as it may be sticking to the storyline.

At the end of almost each level, you are faced with this (I cannot describe it) a sidewards fish-ship?! A combination of a blue and white trimmed spaceship in the shape of a piranha! These bosses spurt out four white missiles whilst panning up and down the screen. They become rather mundane to face almost every level. One enemy that I did like were these orbs with beaded tentacles who proved to be rather challenging but fun as the camera eagerly pushes you towards a few who are clustered together in one area as they flip their tentacles up and down to prevent you from taking them out. 

As an individual you have to think tactically and quickly to decide on how you are going to dodge the white bullets flying towards you at all angles and avoid the on coming alien traffic. Just one hit by an enemy and their attacks blows the ship up completely and from around the area you died, you have to start it again and avoid the mistakes you made. Not only this, your surroundings hate you. If you even just skim the ceiling or the ground - you die. So it's really a test of skill and patience and pattern learning more than anything. typical retro fare really. 

 Accompanying the consistent onslaught of enemies, is the camera that will constantly pan forward so that you have to keep up with it. In a way its forgiving, if you happen to fall behind it will push you like an eager parent pushing you through the school gates on a Monday morning rather than swallowing you up and classing it as a death. Despite there being a lack of cut scenes to intrigue you the colourful gameplay and upbeat music is enough to have you hooked, with the one and only cut scene being the ending - where the ship flies away from a distant explosion and you are greeted with the text 'congratulations'. Although it doesn't seem like much of a reward for the hard efforts that you put in, you bloody want that achievement as you fought so hard for that!