PowerUp Forever, but move towards the sides

(tags game, shmup, Xbox Live, PowerUp Forever, Geometry Wars)

PowerUp Forever, a Namco-Bandai video game for the Xbox Live Arcade, was one of the rare games I wanted to download and try out. I successfully tried reserving the trial version through the Xbox Live Marketplace. However the buttons show "confirm purchase" (in Japanese) even though its a free item. I'm not buying anything, so don't make it sound like I'm buying... grr.

That was on a Wednesday, I think. Then, I turned my Xbox 360 console frequently in preparation for the weekend, hoping that it would just download by itself. On Sunday, it wasn't in my Demo Games area, and upon checking my download queue, it was at 20%. Oh. Do I have to get out and push? Grr.

So I'm playing it and I kinda get it. Except level 3 is pretty hard, as in, I don't have a enough time to try a new strategy. After restarting the game 15 times (this is how I try to play shmups anyway) I finally got to the end of the demo, without the boss because the demo cuts off just before it gets epic.

I like it. It feels like a Geometry Wars, because things come at you in all directions and shooting is preferred over dodging. However the camera is tightly zoomed in, which makes moving up and down on this 16x9 screen ratio game a hazard. The alternate weapons feel useless though. I'm sure there's some technique (or learning on my side) to use them effectively. And I like the randomness and visuals. The bacteria-like enemies make me squirm though. Ick.

It was worth my 30 or so minutes to evaluate, but I still haven't bought it yet. Maybe on my Winter break.