not exactly sure how interested i am in grinding out runs of this (it takes far too long for stages to really provide much friction, scoring doesn't seem to have an interesting hook, it suffers from having a prototypical f2p progression system that ensures playing the game a lot is enough to play the game more effectively, etc.) but it's a genuine shame a title this inventive from someone as generally renowned as yu suzuki will no doubt crumble to dust in the wind after it inevitably stops being supported after a few years. this is nothing new for mobile games i suppose, and it might just be that the control scheme of this one is more-or-less intrinsically tied to the hardware it was built for, but there's no doubt in my mind this game will inevitably die with the iphone.

no clue how this plays on mac - i just found out as i'm writing this that there's a version for that device - but the control scheme for portable devices genuinely delights me and honestly is enough to carry the whole experience for me. having to constantly handoff control of moving and shooting between hands is a really cool idea that i haven't seen elsewhere, and one that i don't think would translate quite as well to two analog sticks, at least not in quite the same way. it feels really cool to have a new game with juggling control of your character being at the forefront of the experience, so many modern titles are obsessed with having such modular and customizable controls that naturally lend themselves to easier preservation and portability, but rarely if ever provide an inventive play experience like one you’d see in a fucked up little mobile game. give it a fair shot and you might be surprised!

despite all that, the biggest surprise was easily the soundtrack and general sound design. whoever decided enemy plasma shots should sound like blowing bubbles while layering queen knockoff music on top of the whole thing deserves the nobel prize