WARNING! SHMUP PORN!

Andrew76 wrote: »

Ah fair enough. Maybe they're trying to appeal to more mainstream folk, Geometry Wars crowd maybe, or it just suits iOS devices better.

I don't begrudge them at all for new ideas, although am more of a purist myself. Nin2Jump was a delightful distraction, I must say.

what's Arrange B all about in DDPR then? Any tuts online to say how it works or are you better off trying to figure it out yourself?

I found a general guide online here which definitely helps: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=34382 Definitely need to figure out some of the eccentricities on your own though.

Basically - you play it on an individual level by level basis - your free to play them in whatever order, or just spam one again and again. Each level has its own score which is then added to your grand total.

Twist is the more you play, the higher the scoring possibilities. As you kill enemies and complete the level again and again, various gauges increase which alters the density of budgets but also invites greater scoring opportunities. The 'bees' and various other factors also induce a colour-coding system that further alters the bullet density: if you get a green bee, the screen turns blue (or red, I forget which one). But if you get a bee while its flashing (or, alternatively, beat your own high score) you provoke 'green' uber mode - which is obviously super hard but also allows for ludicrous levels of bullet cancelling. The mid-bosses and bosses are basically goldmines of 'expert items' when you go into hyper mode (which recharges quickly but doesn't last very long). You can die as many times as you want, but you suffer small score decreases, and death reverts you back to 'normal' mode and its pitiful bullet patterns You can also choose from three ship customisation options. Hyper is the handiest - the alt option further decreases your hyper time to a matter of seconds, but gives you a brief period of invincibility where you can split bullets. You also rapid fire automatically, only using buttons to switch to laser or activate hyper / bomb (tied to the same button, which has led to some disappointment at key junctures).

It's strange and very different to standard mode, but since a run only lasts a few minutes its fiendishly addictive. I'm focusing on level one and two with an eye for moving up.