Why More Ships Are Better Than One In Shoot 1UP DX - PS5 Review

In the time it took to get hold of Shoot 1UP DX, I’d managed to learn a new language, sewn a patchwork quilt, and rewrote the Magna Carta but as a Kama Sutra reboot. 

Does that make it worth the wait? If you had asked me immediately after finishing the first playthrough, you wouldn’t have got a good response – especially as it took roughly 20 minutes to finish. Ah, but there’s a twist…

Whether it was my subconscious protecting my sub-par manhood or a genuine moment of stick drift, my first adventure was in the casual setting. Developers these days don’t seem to comprehend the easy settings as they’re often just as hard as the default mode. Not in Shoot 1UP DX’s case. Well done, Mommy’s Best Games.

Within the same time it took to download the tiny filesize, the credits were up on the screen thanking me for playing the game. You’re welcome, but really? Is this it? Returning to the menu, a harder setting seemed more appropriate, so when it showed ‘casual’… bugger. 

But as a man, by default, it felt appropriate to switch to the hardest setting and the fastest speed. Watch how it’s done. And that, my friends, is how you last about 20 seconds on that setting. So what I’m saying, in a very lengthy way; Shoot 1UP DX’s difficulty levels are pretty solid. If you want something easy, you’re catered for. If you’re the type that things manspreading is acceptable, you’re in for a hoot with the hardest setting.

Besides the early, easy gameplay, the visuals weren’t great. They had an Amiga feel to them with a hint of SWIV, which is a good thing, but something about the art style felt pretty poor. The enemy crafts, backgrounds and inevitable bosses didn’t cut it, nor did the power-ups at your disposal. But…

Shoot 1UP DX had a trick up its sleeve that genuinely makes it stand out. Many shmups introduce new features such as only damaging similar coloured enemies or introducing RPG levelling like in Natsuki Chronicles. Except for the latter, they’re mostly gimmicks.

With this title, it didn’t feel so much of a gimmick but a playstyle. Y’see, instead of allocating you three to five lives to play with and some continues, you go all out and stack your ships up as you go along. In the opening minute, I’d collected about four lives, so here’s what you do with them: expand your ships in a formation to do ultra damage dealing.

The more ships you have, the more of a blast you can create, and pressing the left and right triggers will bring them in or send them out. This adds some strategy to your approach as you can play it safe and fly solo, or send our 20+ ships, causing mayhem. The caveat with the latter is you’re more prone to losing crafts that way. Should you stick with the one ship, it’s like comparing a pea shooter to a rocket launcher.

Not just a vertical shooter, Shoot 1UP DX flirts with a horizontal perspective as you can take a couple of paths mid-flight: the easy way or the more challenging, albeit rewarding route. Those rewards aren’t booze and strippers but a decent hi-score to show off on the online leaderboards. 

Need a little help in reaching that scoreboard, having a wingman take the bullets for you, eh, Goose? Well, it’s a co-op too, and it was probably one of the more accessible shoot ’em ups for those not familiar or keen on the genre as it’s a very short game. Naturally, you can increase the lengths of the levels, and speed you play, by upping the difficulty.

This isn’t a game to showcase the power of the PS5, which Shoot 1UP DX was reviewed on. But who looks to a shoot ’em up for the visuals? It’s nice and all, but not that important. If fembots shooting spaceships out of their nipples is a hook for you, then go for it, though I’d reckon that Shoot 1UP DX is more for the die-hards keen on making a name for themselves, as once finished, there’s not much else to do.