[Review] - Shoot 1Up

Shoot 1Up

Developed by: Mommy's Best Games

Platforms: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Indie Games)

Players: Singleplayer and 2-Player Local Co-Op

Unrated by the ESRB

Link to Purchase from Microsoft

The Breakdown

Beached whales, pies, random ships, and a gigantic metallic breasted woman that shoots glowing bullets. Those are just a few of the enemies you’ll face in this shoot ‘em up. The game can draw comparisons to Ikaruga, but strays from the normal conventions of a shoot ‘em up style game or shmup as they have become known.

The Important Stuff

Described by the developer (Mommy’s Best Games) as a “shoot ‘em up for regular gamers”, this is one of the best Xbox Indie Games I’ve played to date. You take control of not just one ship, but your initial 3 ships right from the start. As you pick up extra ships through 1-Ups, they are all on screen at once. You can have up to 30 of them on screen at one time and potentially up to 120 if you play the local only co-op and get the “Mirror” power up.

You determine how far apart or close together your ships are using the right and left triggers. This is a risk/reward scenario, though. The further apart your ships are the harder they are to maneuver around the enemies, but you get a more powerful plasma shot. This definitely brings a new level of strategy to the game play. The bullet patterns aren’t entirely crazy in this one, as they are in most shmups. If you want more of a challenge you can crank the difficulty and the game speed for more of a challenge.

Tips and Tricks

- Make use of the larger plasma cannon when you can, but do it safely

- As with all shmups, try and learn the enemy attack patterns

Reaction

While the game may be on the short side, it is definitely a great top down shooter. The new gameplay mechanic of having all your ships/lives on screen at once is really fun and can get pretty intense in the later levels. The risk/reward of the more powerful plasma shot versus maneuverability is something I think other games should try and add. For a small developer, this is a pretty big idea for the genre and for only 80 MS Points ($1) this is one that everyone should try out. Give it a demo at the very least.

Spawn gives this one an 9 out of 10

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