Shoot 1UP DX is the remastered version of Shoot 1UP, a SHMUP / martian that saw the light of day on the Xbox 360 indie bazaar more than 10 years ago.
Shoot 1UP DX, Reviews: SHMUP with 30 ships
Shoot 1UP DX is the remastered version of Shoot 1UP, a title that originally came out on the now defunct Xbox 360 indie bazaar. It is available on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. As was the case with the original, its way of standing out in a genre as niche as SHMUP (in which there are very great works such as Radiant Silvergun or Ikaruga) is the fact that we can handle up to 30 ships at the same time. Here is his in-depth Reviews.
Shoot 1UP DX, Reviews: kill-kill remastered
We control, at the same time, a phalanx of up to 30 spaceships
2020 is being an extremely rare year. Apart from the obvious, in video games we have also had unexpected returns, such as the remake of XIII, or the release of this remastered version of Shoot 1UP DX. In other words: we did not expect a re-release of this title on current systems ten years after the original came out.
This is not to say that the title is bad; It happens that we are facing one of those titles that, within its capabilities, and created by a humble studio (the Shoot 1UP development team is made up of three people, to which we must add another two in charge of the port for consoles), The last thing you can expect is to see it on the market again.
We face Mecha Lilith, one of the bosses
Shoot 1UP DX belongs to the genre shoot ’em up, or SHMUP. That is to say, it is a “ship game” in which we handle a fighter with which we must annihilate the hordes of enemies that appear on all sides of the screen while dodging their projectiles. As we discussed in the introductory paragraph, its defining characteristic is the fact that when we gain an “extra life”, instead of being saved in the player’s “inventory” to give us one more chance when our ship is destroyed, this additional ship enters the game immediately, allowing us to accumulate up to a total of thirty ships.
In other words: instead of managing a single ship, we have the opportunity to control a phalanx of space fighters of up to thirty of them. On paper, this is interesting, although the novelty wears off quickly, as the gameplay does not offer excess depth.
The screen fills with projectiles
The grace of the game is to use this tool with coconut; If we expand our group of warships, we can launch a powerful laser beam that causes massive damage, although we risk that some of the ships will be destroyed and therefore lose firepower. We can expand and contract the fighter group at will to have control over the situation. Another attack option is an explosive shield; if we go a few seconds without firing, we create a short-range shield around our ship. If we shoot, we cause great damage to everything near us, and the enemies eliminated by this method will give us a lot of points. When one of our ships is destroyed, it causes a massive explosion that causes great damage to the enemies that are in its range of action. We can purposely lose ships to take advantage of this.
Shoot 1UP DX has a cooperative mode for up to two players, so the chaos is doubled, with the possibility of having up to sixty ships on the screen. It is an interesting addition that gives it some vibe. To modify our combat experience we can modify the speed of the game between 25 and 200%, although our score will not enter the leaderboards if we drop below 100%.
Two-player co-op can be really crazy
Among the improvements of this remastered version we have the fact that now the game runs at a native resolution of 4K (on supported systems, not on Nintendo Switch), and the frame rate does not suffer at all; Rocky 60 FPS, just like it happened in the original title a decade ago.
Visually, it remains faithful to the original since, as we have emphasized throughout the text, it is a conversion of the base title on current machines. However, we must not overlook its artistic section: the game seeks to provoke by provoke; from the fact that the standard ship has a blatantly phallic shape, to other enemies with an appearance based on the female reproductive system. It is not excessively uncomfortable, but the intention is not entirely clear to us.
In some levels we can choose alternative routes where the advance will be horizontal instead of vertical
The music, on the other hand, is decent, if somewhat pounding. Being before a short title (there are only eight levels, although in each game we will only see six of them), there are very few different audio tracks. It would have been nice, even so, if each different scenario had its own melody to avoid repetition.
Apart from the standard game mode, we have another called “Score Trek”, in which we control a single ship, but the progress is saved level after level. Basically we get stronger as we go, including loops when we take out the final boss. The game will “restart” and we will begin a new route with greater difficulty.
At Score Trek we manage a single ship that we improve as we move forward
And it was time for the “buts”. Shoot 1UP DX is terribly short, straightforward, and lacking in options. There are only two game modes, as we discussed before, and two types of ships, one of them blocked by default. It is perfectly possible to complete this title in just a quarter of an hour, without too much effort, at its maximum difficulty, so it will not satisfy the most staunch fans of the genre, although precisely for this same reason it can become an accessible entrance door and interesting for the novice.
In the same way, more elements of the genre are missing, such as power-ups (there is only one), more final enemies, or more varied scenarios. Shoot 1UP DX is not a bad game, but it is terribly handicapped by how limited in options it is.
Note: this Reviews has been possible thanks to a game download code for your version of Xbox One provided by the developer.
THE BEST
- The gameplay is simple and straightforward
- Stable at all times
WORST
- It is very short, and it lacks options
- Lacks depth at the playable level
- Artistic section of doubtful taste
CONCLUSION
Shoot 1UP DX is a relaunch in full 2020 of the original from 2010. Its main asset at that time was its price: 80 Microsoft Points, which would be one euro at the time, and which made it extremely interesting for the content of the package . This remastering asks us practically six times more, and without added weight beyond a couple of levels and extra bosses. The Mommy’s Best Games video game is not bad, but, without a doubt, it can be greatly improved.
Improvable
It may have acceptable elements and be entertaining, but overall it’s an experience that won’t leave a mark.
