Shoot 1UP Review
Shoot 1UP – The next great Indie Game hit?
I’ll be honest, I’ve never really bothered to check out the Indie Games section on Xbox Live. Oh sure, I downloaded a few trials when they were first added to XBLA, but most of what I played was sheer garbage; the majority of which still is today. Then a little game called ‘I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!1’ was released, and became the shining beacon of hope for this stagnating part of Xbox Live. Its sheer addictive (and fun) gameplay all set to the price point of a $1 made it an instant hit. Is ‘Shoot 1UP’ just as good, if not better? I think so.
Shoot 1UP is a SHMUP (Shoot Em Up) from developers Mommy’s Best Games, known for the mildly popular Indie title ‘Weapon of Choice.’ The first question you are probably asking yourself is: What sets this one apart to dedicate a review for? Well, in the majority of SHMUP’s, you get one ship and a few extra lives throughout the game. However, Shoot 1UP allows you to use ALL of your lives at the same time. So, everytime you pick up an extra life, it’s not added to some arbitrary counter. No, it is added on screen as extra firepower for you to help destroy everything on screen with.
That’s fine, but what can I do with these extra ships? Well, you can expand and contract the formation of your squad using the left and right triggers. Expanding your formation increases the power of your weapons and, if allowed to, charges up your Plasma Cannon which pretty much decimates anything that isn’t a boss. Be careful though, as leaving your formation too large can make it harder to dodge incoming enemy ships and fire. So you have to constantly balance between power and agility to make it through the stages.
There are also some secondary abilities you can take advantage of. First, if you do happen to lose a ship, it will explode and take out any enemy ships and bullets nearby. Second, if you stop firing, you will activate a shield around all of your ships that, when detonated, will also destroy nearby ships and bullets as well. You can use these two extra abilities to add some strategy when needed.
There are seven stages in total, most with branching paths that either: turn the game from vertical to horizontal, changes the movement ot a free form setting(which can be a bit confusing and disorienting), or a backwards vertical where you are at the top of the screen going downwards. Add on to that are 17 achievement-like awards you can earn for doing anything from maxing out your squad at 30 ships on screen, to beating a level without losing a single ship, or fire the Plasma Cannon at maximum power using only two ships.
The game has 3 difficulty settings AND a speed slider. What’s that? You suck at SHMUPs? then drop the speed down to 25% and slowly work your way up. Or, if you live on Bullet Hell games, then crank it all the way up to 200% and have at it. There is also an unlockable Score Trek mode, where it plays more like a standard SHMUP. One ship on screen that you can progressively power up, and the difficulty slowly increases as you clear stages.
This was the first Indie game I have purchased, and have not regretted it one bit. If you like SHMUP’s, good games in general, or just want to try something that doesn’t suck, then check out Shoot 1UP. Trust me, I think you will get your money’s worth with this one. Oh, I almost forgot the best part: IT’S ONLY $1!
