Solid with a few missteps, but as it's early access the dev is taking lots of feedback and seems to be implementing it bit by bit before the next major content update. I'd say the biggest thing that needs to be reworked before this gets a full release is the level balancing, as both the main stages and the secret stages vary wildly in difficulty and don't do so in a particularly linear fashion either despite the game currently being two parallel straight lines. The controls do have to be polished as well; while they feel mostly fine right now, they're almost a bit too tight for their own good, particularly in the bonus stages. The lock-on missiles are also a little bit clumsy in terms of implementation so I hope they're reworked as well. The current option of button remapping for it doesn't seem to work as well as I'd hope.

I'm also a little disappointed that the animal picked to be a protagonist ex-member of the organization ZODIAC is the monkey rather than the rabbit or cat, as the cat and rabbit being interchangeable in some nations' zodiacs makes a lot more sense to me for someone leaving an organization than randomly picking the monkey. I can only assume the monkey was picked for vaguely anthropocentric reasons, as at least the headshots for the main characters seem the most clothed/accessorized of the ZODIAC members so far. It's not really a big deal as it's still a fine enough choice, just comes across as a missed opportunity that's a little misguided or shallow. But who knows, maybe there's some random real-life zodiac lore or story stuff that would explain the choice that I'm just not aware of. I suppose we'll have to see if there are other particular reasons for it in the full release.

Meanwhile, the presentation for this game is pretty great so far. Pretty much everything about it looks and sounds awesome, being somewhere between retraux and a proper modern-feeling indie in a good way. The character designs are fun too, though I do hope there will be some way for them to be brought back later on in the game or in side content; right now the ZODIAC characters only show up as brief boss fights with like 4 or so lines of dialogue. While that makes sense for a more retro-feeling game, I do hope the modern sensibilities of more character-focused game storytelling lead to them being brought back somehow even if only in background lore. They clearly show potential!

Aaaanyway, I don't think it's right to give this a rating just yet since it's still early in its development and has yet to work out the sorts of kinks you'd see closer to a full release. It's fun to be sure even with its light amounts of content, and I'm certain that with time it'll be all the easier to recommend to people as it becomes more and more whole and polished.