Middling. It's got a lot of silly stuff in it, which is good to see once or twice and makes for a fun two-player mode, but other than that, I wasn't sold on it. Not like Dynamite Headdy.

My favorite part was the title screen -- it's a polygonal title done in Soviet Russia type letters against a huge explosion, and in the middle of it, the end-boss stands in a beam of light looking he could take on God himself without even trying. Of course when I reached that boss, he was more of a daffodil lots of hit points than a planet crushing badass.

In fact, that screen is the only thing from the game that stands out in my memory. It's a mediocre Metal Slug where precise strategies aren't often needed, basic enemies come in, like, two types, and midbosses don't put up a challenge . So it all just runs together for me.

Some of the weapons are so powerful, I feel cheap after using them, as though I need to play it again without them to see if I missed all the challenge. But I shouldn't have to handicap myself like that. Changing the difficulty level - fine, that I'll give you that, but not avoiding the most powerful weapon combinations on purpose.

One phase of the much touted Seven Force boss is so similar to a Metal Storm boss that it can't be accidental (the stage 3 boss of Metal Storm, I believe?). For a game that is considered original, I'm surprised no one has brought this up before. You can even gravity flip in almost the same way at this particular point (the only difference is, you have to do it in mid-air).