For DS owners craving for a good scrolling shooter, this is the game you've all been waiting for.
The shooter won't earn any points for originality, thats for sure. You control your ship with the D-pad and shoot with the A button. Collecting power-ups will add 2 more beams to the original so you'll have 3 beams shooting at things. L and R cycles the 2 other beams to shoot diagonally forward, diagonally backwards, and one shooting directly up and one directly down. B button fires your special weapon that runs on limited power. Its a formula thats been done before, but it works and its awesome.
Another thing people should know is that the game is hard, really really hard. Not quite as difficult as say, Contra 4, but this is still one of the harder games you'll ever come across. You'll be wondering if the devs tried to make the game as hard as possible in the absence of another difficult but good scrolling shooter "cough cough GRADIUS cough". If you like your games challenging, this one won't disappoint.
Technically, the game is very proficient. The graphics for the environments, beams, enemies and explosions are all extremely good. They really help bring the game from its old-school roots into the 21st century as a modern game. The sound effects are equally satisfying and the slight voice acting doesn't hurt the package but doesn't really help it either.
It goes without saying this is the best shoot em' up on the DS. The tough-as-nails gameplay really harkens back to awesome shooters of the past but the gameplay hasn't aged a bit, and the graphics and sound easily bring this game to modern standards. For DS owners craving for a good scrolling shooter, this is the game you've all been waiting for.