As a shmup noob, this game was the perfect level of forgiving and achievable. I felt like I actually earned my victories rather than pumping continues (even though I did have to continue more than a few times). It also has a lot of mechanics that grew on me. There's certainly a feeling that the game has some depth beyond surface-level. That said, the story is a bit nonsense and it's difficult to follow because it's subtitled as you're trying to avoid hundreds of bullets. On top of this distraction, there's a lot of visual clutter which can at times make it difficult to concentrate. Astebreed still looks great and I loved how perspectives would shift, but it would have been nice to have foreground elements more distinctive. I can see why shmup fans love this one so much and as a mere visitor to the genre, I also enjoyed it a good deal.