Windows Phone Xbox Live Review: Shoot 1UP

Shoot 1UP

Xbox Live isn't exactly flood with shoot-em-ups. Subsequently the pretty merely generic and sadly unsupported by its programmer OMG: Our Manic Game came along, it took over a year for the more serious Dodonpachi Maximum to arrive. Thankfully Shoot 1UP from indie developer Mommy'south All-time Games launched less than a year after its predecessor, though but after experiencing several delays on the evolution side. But it's hither now and hands qualifies as the virtually fun shmup this reviewer has played in years.

Origins of a shooter

Shoot 1UP started its life in 2022 every bit an Xbox Live Indie Game on the Xbox 360. Nathan Fouts, formerly of Playstation developer Irrational Games, created the game entirely on his own – quite impressive, simply not unheard of in the shoot-em-upward genre. The Windows Telephone version of Shoot 1UP loses the console game's 2-role player co-op mode (necessary due to WP7 restrictions in place when development started), only gains a fair helping of new content in render.

Nosotros'll have many more insights in our adjacent Xbox Live Developer Interview, coming this weekend!

Shooting on the go

Like Dodonpachi, Shoot 1UP is a vertically-scrolling bullet hell shoot-em-upward. Your send(due south) automatically fire, so you lot mainly demand to worry nigh moving around and dodging enemy bullets. To motion, press and concord anywhere on the screen. Y'all needn't keep your finger straight on the ship; somewhere just below it works all-time. Belongings your telephone upside-downwardly flips the screen; practice this to avoid hitting the capacitive Windows Phone buttons by mistake.

On top of the normal shot, players likewise have admission to a recharging flash shield. The shield doesn't actuate manually though; you have to tap the screen in order to employ it. This damages nearby enemies and eliminates any bullets within its radius, making it an essential survival tool. The shield does so much damage that it's practically essential for taking out tougher enemies and bosses apace. But y'all might take burn before you're able to activate it, so lookout man out.

The power of xxx

Shoot 1UP's large innovation comes from the titular 1-up system. Collecting the 1-ups that occasionally appear doesn't requite players an extra ship in reserve similar it would in most games. Instead, the actress ship immediately joins the existing transport(due south) on-screen, increasing the player's firepower. If whatever send gets hit by an enemy it is destroyed, and losing all ships results in a game over. It works sort of like gaining an actress ship in Galaga, merely on a much larger calibration since you lot tin have up to 30 ships at in one case.

Not just does each new ship add an extra bullet to your stream of fire, but collecting enough ships can likewise bestow a powerful beam laser called the Plasma Auger, depending on ship formation. Yes, you can adjust the width of the formation by grabbing and pinching with ii fingers. I observe the pinching motion less convenient than it would be to merely printing a push button on the console version, simply what tin can you do?

The wider the formation, the larger the beam light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation you get. Enemies will as well drop more than valuable score medals. But spreading ships apart also makes them more likely to get hit, creating a nifty risk-advantage mechanic. I tend to keep my ships at the minimum altitude to enable the axle laser and and so spread them out for a more powerful shot at the starting time of boss fights.

Game structure

Shoot 1UP's story manner offers three difficulty selections: Chilled, Normal, and Serious. Each difficulty level increases the amount of enemy burn down as well as how much damage enemies take to kill. You lot tin can also turn the game speed all the way down to 25% or up to 200%, allowing for unprecedented control over the game's challenge.

Most of Shoot 1UP'southward vii stages offer a option between two paths. The left path is ostensibly easier, while the right path increases the difficulty past shifting the scrolling management. Instead of scrolling upward like normal, the hard paths generally allow the player to turn the ship (and thus the direction the screen moves) in any direction. Steering gets awkward in the hard paths, just they incorporate the but 1-upwards and medal-spawning pies in the game.

Pies are necessary for both a scattering of Achievements and unlocking the 2nd of the game's three ships. Playing with transport number two in plow unlocks the last i. Neither ship is more effective than the starting craft. They're more for variety and challenge than anything.

In fact, the third ship (Windows Phone exclusive) is downright hard to employ because the direction of the pinching motion used to set up transport formation really changes the ship's management of burn down. This makes formation command more unpleasant, but I suppose the ability to fire in other directions could be useful in a few circumstances.

Score Tilt

The Xbox 360 version's endless Score Expedition mode becomes Score Tilt on Windows Phone. Rather than allowing players to change the difficulty, Score Tilt actually varies the game's speed depending on the angle of the phone along the Y axis. Tilting the phone abroad increases the game speed and activates a score multiplier – both to diverse degrees, depending on the angle. Tilting forward slows the game down and reduces the multiplier. This adds even so another layer of risk-reward.

Immigration the terminal stage in Score Tilt starts a new, more challenging loop through the game, just like many Japanese shoot-em-ups. The game saves your progress and so you can play as long as you want while chasing high scores. Score Tilt even has its own friends Leaderboard.

Surrealist shooter

Shoot 1UP stands out from other games in the genre thanks to Nathan Fouts' foreign and surreal art fashion. The best examples are huge bosses like Stage 5's Warship Globula - a naval battleship overgrown with alien tentacles, and Mecha Lilith, the robotic female person dominate of Phase 6 whose breasts fire shots from the nipples and tin can even launch correct at the histrion. How can anyone not smile at that?

A few criticisms: first, the intro and ending haven't been optimized for a vertical display. Here they are much besides tiny, lessening their impact.

Second, while the sprites are interesting and detailed, everything in the game has a very apartment wait. This is truthful of every game from Mommy's Best, and maybe that'south just fine. I'd still like to run into more than parallax and representations of depth though.

Also, each phase'southward background consists of a few tiles pasted over and over in different combinations. Information technology doesn't feel similar you're really flying anywhere because one part of the level looks just like every other part. Still, given the game's indie origin and incredibly small team, we can't agree that against it too much.

Censored!

Shoot 1UP censorship comparison

Speaking of the backgrounds, one of them picked upward some needless censorship during the trip from Xbox 360 to WP7. Phase 6 has always featured a diverseness of sleeping female androids in its backdrop. While the ladies were indeed nude, screens covered their naughty bits. Now some blimp shirt has chosen to pigment on black undergarments, alas.

Achievements

I merely scraped a measly 85 GamerScore out of Dodonpachi Maximum, but reaped the full 200 from Shoot 1UP. Why? Turning the game speed downwardly doesn't disable Achievements! Completing the game with 30 ships and without losing a single ship is then much easier when playing at 25 or 50% speed. Really, it took me a few tries, just only because I made a fault here and there. In short, anyone should be able to earn all 20 Achievements.

Overall Impression

Shoot 1UP may be a less serious shmup than Dodonpachi, but I find it so much more than enjoyable. Instead of making the hardest possible game and asking players to arrange to the challenge, Mommy's Best focused on making sure the player is really having a good time. Yous can however creepo up the difficulty and speed if y'all like, simply nobody'due south forcing you. Shoot 1UP is a fantastic game for beginners and veterans alike. The genre needs more games like this.

Shoot 1UP costs $2.99 and there is a free trial. Get it hither on the Marketplace.

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