I'm not normally into the whole Japanese retro shooter homebrew scene, but some guys on the Quarter to Three forums were raving about this one, and I was bored this weekend, so I figured what the hell...
Woah.
Okay, so it's yet another arcade shooter with vector-looking retro graphics, right? Except, there are a few things which make this one stand out. First, it's ONLY boss battles. You fight exactly one enemy at a time, and each one is bigger/badder than the last.
Second, each successive boss evolves based on your tactics. Wipe one boss out from the front, and the next boss will have a better-protected front. It's almost like you're selectively breeding them. Create your own monster, so to speak.
Third... it has BEAMS! Actually the whole thing has kind of a "if Freespace 2 was a top-down arcade game" vibe to it. The larger bosses look vaguely Shivan (in a green sort of way), and are armed with all the weapon types we've come to love-- beams, lasers, homing missiles, flak... it's all there. And just like Freespace, you can choose to plink off individual turrets or just go for the whole subsystem.
It does have a somewhat odd aiming scheme -- a cone extending from your ship that you sort of drag around by moving. But once you get used to it (and fire up some good blasting music in the background, since this game comes with none), it's digital crack.
Warning Forever
(player is that little guy up at the top)
