Great if you grew up playing these games, but it loses its charm after you beat it once.
The game is a pure arcade with no story. The goal is to simply complete around 15 stages and collect as many points as you can. The gameplay and controls are simple because you drive a ship with nothing but thrusters and rotation. Physics handles the rest.
The objective in each stage is to find a container and return it to the base. Because levels consist of tiny tunnels and terrain that can cause significant damage to your hull, you must maneuver cautiously to make it out alive. Dying is very easy because of sensitive and fragile objects. A single touch with a structure blows everything up. It gets harder when you’re carrying a container whose weight can pull you in the wrong direction.
The most important consideration is fuel, as you begin each stage with very little in the tank. In addition, it runs out quickly. Although fuel tanks can be used to refill, they add little to nothing and disappear after use. The last thing standing in your way are turrets. They can take you down with a single shot, but you can use a shield to deflect all bullets. However, this wastes precious fuel. It's easier to destroy them with your guns.
The stages are short so the lack of an overall map isn't an issue. Fortunately, a minimap with a limited range shows everything important. Unless you select the hardest difficulty, the game does not end when you blow up. At the cost of your overall score, you respawn near a checkpoint.
You get a score for different things, such as time, lost ships, fuel, etc. If you lose too many ships, you’ll get zero points. This matters only if you want the achievements. Since there are limited number of stages, you can’t afford any mistakes.
Art is limited and repetitive through stages, but animations looks really good. Because the game aims for an old-school atmosphere, graphic options allow you to tweak a few things to get as near to sitting in front of an old TV as possible. You can add static lines and select a different color palette to accommodate the limited color capabilities of older consoles.
