againey 2014-04-30 05:01
The upgrades were a welcome surprise; for some reason I completely wasn't expecting them. Having to pick them without any pause in action was a bit tricky though. But once I knew what they all were, I found myself thinking ahead about what my next upgrade would be, which was a pleasant experience.
The complete lack of enemy knockback, combined with the fact that they turn around instantly in mid-air to follow you, became particularly frustrating, as it basically gave me no options once one of the enemies got too close.
I also didn't realize at first that I could fire downward; I guess the water didn't look watery enough. And I kept trying to *move* down for a while, because the intro screen mentioned S as a movement key, but gave up once I guessed that I must be stuck on the surface.
A few simple sound effects from something like sfxr and family could have gone a long way to adding much needed juiciness. Or a simple flashy visual for bullet/enemy and avatar/enemy collisions. Also for leveling up.
The stats could have been made larger too; given the pace of the action after a few levels, it was difficult to efficiently glance at them.