Definitely reminds me of the older Gradius and R-type games. I like the aesthetic of the 3d models and the general gameplay feels pretty good. The main thing that's making this game extra difficult is the lack of checkpoints, in games like R-type, you restart from different checkpoints in the level, with the last checkpoint just before the boss. Dying from the boss in this game is a severe punishment because now you have to go through the entire level again, which even if you can go through it easily, still takes time.
I'm not the biggest fan of the one shot death if you get hit during the danger warning on the health bar, but that might be more with how it's presented. With a health bar, I was assuming I could take that many hits before dying, but this system is more like a shield that takes one hit and the next hit to your ship will kill you before the shield recharges. I think if it was presented that way, it would make more intuitive sense. The current system gives more lenience compared to insta-death in the older games, which is nice, but the current UI/presentation conflicts with what I thought was happening.
The other note the special abilities don't seem to do anything for the bosses, which is sad. I think the beam ability was the most useful as the other two didn't feel great to use, but it would be nice if they interacted with the bosses as well. Overall, a good job with making this game!








