Note: My hours have mostly been offline on this game.

Decent, fun, fast side scroller that should appeal to fans of the genre. Not as deep a game like Jets n Guns Gold but few are. Not difficult either (bordering on easy) and easily played with KB and mouse (though I prefer this method of controls to any other).

Great weapon effects, customization and mech designs keep the game interesting. 4 game modes adds to the fun as well as the replayability. Although I have not participated, I’m sure 4 player co-op is also blast.

Some of the levels are simply gorgeous and you can tell the developers took a lot of time on them.

Probably the strongest part of the game is the attention put to the upgrade path and skill tree. With several options and paths, you can customize your warrior to your liking.

I agree with all the tags applied to this game except for bullet hell. This is NOT a bullet hell game by any stretch of the imagination. Enemy fire is sparse, slow and easy to dodge which leads me to one of the faults of the game is that it really is not hard enough. Enemies are plodding and predictable and your ship, even when not upgraded, is a bullet sponge.

Characters are not funny with unnecessary presence and narration. If not included, they probably would not even be missed. You can tell there were attempts at humor which just don’t go over well.

I would have liked to see some kind of heat management system. There are literally no consequences to holding down both mouse buttons throughout an entire level.

Is it a good game? Yes. Is it a great game? No, not by any means. It is not without it’s flaws but overcomes these with a great fun factor, game modes, and replayability, which is very important to me as a person who puts a lot of hours into games that generally don't get a lot of hours from other people. Unfortunately, the biggest blemish against it is that it really looks like the developers spent more time on the visuals rather than focusing on the mechanics, gameplay, and story, except for the level progression, which is well done.

I was a bit surprised when I used the windows key to exit the game and came back to find myself dead. I would have assumed the game would have paused but this isn’t that big of a deal, just a bit surprising.

I recommend the game but with reservations. A strong candidate to pick up during sales…

6/10

Pros
Fun Factor
Fun powerups
Good character (mech) design
Weapons customization
Well thought out upgrade path
Sound
Beautiful Scrolling landscapes/backgrounds
Game Modes

Cons
Too easy at times
No heat management system
Underwhelming enemy design
Ineffective enemies
Unnecessary, uninspiring, forgettable characters
Predictable/repetitive level structure