Satisfying shoot-'em-up action with tight controls, but underwhelming upgrade options and story that’s the same for all characters.
For fans of the classic shoot-'em-up experience, this game delivers both a classic arcade mode and a more narrative-driven story mode. If you're itching to dive straight into the action, arcade mode is your best bet. Here, you’ll blaze through stage after stage, dodging a storm of bullets and blowing up anything in your path, with no distractions. You can also opt for the "training" feature, which lets you tackle any stage.
But if you crave a bit more purpose behind your mayhem, the story mode offers a light narrative to accompany the explosive action. The plot follows four female pilots, each hailing from different nations but united in a common cause: taking down the ruthless mercenary group known as the Skulls.
While the story treads familiar ground—good versus evil—it's presented with voiced dialogue, anime-style character portraits, and occasional cutscenes. These short cutscenes appear mostly when significant events unfold, but don’t expect deep storytelling. Thankfully, they can be skipped if you’re more interested in getting back to the action.
Story remains identical regardless of whom you select. The same goes for the nine available aircraft, though not all are accessible from the start. You'll need to unlock some by completing playthroughs with different characters. Unfortunately, these unlockable planes don’t always feel rewarding, as they often perform worse than those available at the outset. While each plane varies in health, ammo, and speed, the actual shooting mechanics remain largely unchanged, limiting the sense of diversity.
The control scheme is intuitive and easy to grasp. Your primary fire mode comes with two variations: a concentrated shot for pinpoint accuracy and a spread shot for wider coverage. Beyond that, you have a secondary weapon, a game-changing special attack, and a shield mechanic that introduces a tactical element to combat. The shield not only blocks enemy fire but also recharges your special attack, allowing you to store up to four charges. However, the shield only works against a colored type of enemy bullets.
Each pilot boasts a unique special attack, but aside from the French pilot’s ability to slow down time—a genuinely useful ability—the others feel underwhelming. So, the American pilot’s ability calls in two large planes that block bullets but barely deal damage, the Japan pilot spawns three ray guns in front of you, and the German pilot creates an electricity ball around the plane.
Secondary weapons, while limited in use, recharge quickly, ensuring they remain a viable option in combat. However, they must be purchased first using upgrade points, which are earned after each stage. Unfortunately, the upgrade system feels shallow due to the limited selection of upgrades.
Worse, by the halfway point of the game, you can afford every available upgrade, removing any sense of meaningful progression. The only plane upgrade—adding extra hits before destruction (max of five)—feels basic, and the three available support weapons (bombs, homing missiles, and a wingman) don’t add much variety.
Stages are relatively short and straightforward, without any collectibles or power-ups, keeping the focus entirely on dodging enemy fire and racking up points. The environments are visually appealing, and while the structure is largely traditional, there are a few welcome surprises—such as an “open” mission where you must hunt down bombers. There are eight stages in total, with auto-save after each completed level.
Enemy variety, however, is somewhat lacking. You’ll mostly be facing a mix of small and large planes, helicopters, turrets, and tanks, with only a few surprises thrown in. Difficulty increases mostly by ramping up the number of enemy bullets, with homing missiles posing the biggest threat.
While healing isn’t an option, you do have multiple lives per stage. Importantly, dying doesn’t weaken your firepower, so you won’t find yourself in an unwinnable situation. However, death does erase all accumulated special power charges, which can be a real setback—especially during boss fights.
Boss fights, as expected, arrive at the end of each stage and follow familiar archetypes: a flying fortress, a massive tank, a battleship, and so on. While not groundbreaking in design, they offer a satisfying challenge, requiring you to destroy multiple components to progress through different phases of the fight. Their difficulty is just right.
To shake things up, the game occasionally introduces mini-games within missions. One standout moment has you protecting a battleship, while another places you inside a cockpit for a first-person dogfight sequence. These moments are short, and they only show up in story mode.
While racking up a high score is always a thrill, your end-of-stage grade is based on two medal systems: skill (determined by how many hits you take) and rank (based on how many enemies you eliminate). Both medals have three tiers, providing a small incentive for perfectionists, but ultimately, the grading system is just a bonus for those who care about it.
