The schmup (Shoot Em' Up) genre has had a rather iffy relationship with me; generally how most of them are brain-melting difficult in their bullet hell, or are yawn worthy boring. Many 'modern' schmups take the former option, where one stray bullet to your ship has you screeching in agony as the game over screen pans up time after time. Thankfully, Shoot 1UP has the frusterating rule where one hit destroys your ship, but the ability to control a whole armada at once makes it far more forgiving, while jacking the strategy up to allow more risky gameplay.
For starters, you can adjust how hard/easy you want the game to be, choosing from various difficulty settings to denote how many enemy ships you'll be dealing with, and how fast/slow you want the game to run, either at half speed for precise dodging, or crack induced speed if you're twitchier then a meth head. It's great for new schmup players (Like myself) who want to start slow, then work up to the harder ranks, or for veterans who (Retardedly) want bullet hell. Beginning the main game starts you off with three ships, and killing certain enemies will spawn the 1UP power-up, which is where the main appeal to the game is; you get multiple ships to control at the same time. The more ships you gain, the more powerful and versatile your armada becomes, allowing you to naturally shoot more bullets forward, as well as being able to fire from the sides and behind you. While your bullets don't do too much damage, the 'phalanx' option allows you to expand your formation of ships, where the more you expand, the more points you'll get from kills (Which has a odd, but clever way of working; high point kills drops a icon with a point value, and you must fly into it to get the bonus), as well as improves the power of your laser beam. Expanding all the way allows for maximum charge, where keeping contracted makes only a small beam that does far less damage. A handy bar underneath your status tells you how far or small your formation is, showing the minimal range you have to be to allow your laser to fire. While being expanded allows for power, your ships are extremely vulnerable to stray fire, so contracted allows for defensive dodging, but minimal damage from your basic bullets, as well as it drops your multiplayer to near nothing. This gives the game it's delicious risk versus reward style gameplay, where expanding gets you points and power, where contracting keeps you safe and nimble. Even when a ship is destroyed, it gives you a big explosion to hide in for brief breathing time, and allows you to keep playing. The only way to really lose is if your last ship is destroyed, but seeing how often the game throws 1UP's at you, that rarely happens on lower difficulties.
Completing the main game opens a Score Trek mode that follows traditional schmups; it's one lone ship, and collecting 1UP's improves your laser. It removes the phalanx ability, but it's a great addition for those wanting the usual norm, even though it has no extra lives. If you get killed, it's game over, but you are able to go back to the beginning of the level to try again, complete with all the 1UP's you gained previously. Generally, the only real complaints I have to the game is how short it is, having only six levels, where the enemy design gets somewhat redundant until you reach the large, crazy bosses (See Tits McLaser Face) at the end to each level, and the fact that you can only unlock one other ship.
But for a unique idea on schmup's with its phalanx and multiple ships, plus a traditional mode, the price tag of $1 (80 MS points) is more then enough to forgive its short, six level campaign. Besides, having that few levels, including detours for a harder flight, allows perfectionists to quickly memorize and master the levels.
$1 for good, schmup fun; why the hell not?
