Galactivore

Another game that doesn’t exactly strike the proper balance between difficulty and fun gameplay.
Update: the fourth boss' difficulty has been updated. I also forgot to mention that beating the game once unlocks a new game + where you get to keep all upgrades from the previous run.
Story is simple; you’re a mercenary who gets hired by the space police. Their excuse is that you have the expertise to handle everything.
Because the entire game is simple, the controls do not attempt to confuse anything. Aside from basic movement, you only have three buttons: shoot, jump, and ammo switch. While the basic gun has limitless ammo, all additional weapons require ammo, which can be replenished with ammo canisters. This becomes far more difficult if you select the highest difficulty, which reduces the frequency of pick-ups (ammo and health) dropped by defeated enemies.
Difficulty also raises the amount of damage you receive, in some cases, modifies the situation in a stage by making it more difficult. Although your life bar cannot be increased, you can acquire armor enhancements that allow you to take a little more punishment. You can also find additional lives.
The game has five planets that you must go through in a linear order. The reward for completing a stage is a new special weapon, such as rockets or bouncing balls. You can choose which one you want, but you will eventually get all of them. These usually help you get armor upgrades because they're constantly behind an obstacle that your basic abilities can't overcome.
Stage progression is linear, involving shooting and platforming. Deadly holes are everywhere, and they kill you instantaneously. If you've played platformers before, you'll recognize the main challenge and cause of frustration: knockback that throws you into pits.
Fortunately, stages do not take long. Each includes mostly the same enemies with only a handful new ones. What's nice is that the graphics are quite gory. Most enemies die in a pool of blood, such as a worm from which bats emerge or a soldier with a flamethrower that explodes, leaving arms and legs on the ground.
Each stage ends with a boss fight. There's usually a plan for beating them, but it's all pretty obvious. You defeat them by avoiding their shots while firing at them or their weak point. They start out easy but quickly become unbearable.
The boiling point is hit with the fourth boss that has a weak point that can't be easily reached. You have to wait for blocks to drop, but they always fall at random and kill you before you even get a chance to shot at a boss.
You can replay a stage to find the missing armor upgrades and extra lives. There is no need to remember what you already have because icons in the lower right corner indicate what you are missing. Another cool feature is that you do not have to defeat the boss again.
Lastly, the price is far too high for the content it delivers. It’s very basic and doesn’t bring anything new. A more realistic price would be 60-65% lower, which is also the discount I recommend you wait for.

Great game! Nice colorful pixel art graphics, great soundtrack and the bosses are fun and challenging. Highly recommended for fans of old school platform shooters like Mega Man.

Anything negative I would have to say about this game isn't really about the game at all, but about my own shortcomings, because it's really quite challenging. It's fast-paced and really well made in terms of the overall concept, the level design, the graphic design and the music, and on top of that it's really fun! I would recommend this to anyone, but maybe even more so if you enjoy/enjoyed 16-bit consoles or nineties Apogee games!

Beautiful snes, mega drive/Genesis era design and graphics.

Tight and Responsive control and gameplay.

Really good soundtrack.

Multiple levels, all with its own different environments and secrets to find.

Unlockable Weapons.

Awesome bosses.

Cool and gory design and animations on the enemies.

Challenging gameplay (especially on hard difficulty).

It even has a good story in which you can choose side to fight for.

I strongly recommend giving this a try!

Hot dang is this an absolutely wonderful game. It's a mix of Metroid and Mega Man, and you absolutely cannot tell me otherwise. The Metroid vibe is more of a graphical bit, and the general vibe of things. The Mega Man vibe is with the level design. And I love it.
I should point out you've got 2 endings, at least it would seem. Make whatever decision works best for you to get what you want. You'll unlock New Game Plus afterwards, so you can jump back in and waffle stomp your way through the levels again.
Graphically this is one of the best pixel art games I've seen in awhile. There's a ton of detail in the levels, great enemy design, and everything just looks so dang cool. To say I was impressed is an understatement. Man, the one particular enemy that serves a pretty crucial story point? Oh man, so cool.
The level design is fairly straightforward. 90% of the time I had no issues. At least until the last level, where I spent an incredibly long time on trying to complete. It brings up one of my only major complaints. In addition to your normal weapon you'll unlock several other weapons that require special ammunition to use. Ammo drops come from enemies, but it's pretty sporadic. There are a few areas that having the special weapon is either required, or the best way to defeat the enemies in an area. And ammo's as absent as a decent Star Wars film after the original trilogy.
The combat is pretty similar to the old-school platformers of the 90s. Learn the patterns and you'll mostly do ok. There were plenty of times I was not ok because I wasn't patient, was overzealous, or just had plain 'ol bad luck. Oh, and also just not being what I'd generally consider a great player of games. Thankfully there were unlimited continues on Professional difficulty :)
Anyway, game's awesome sauce. Fantastic experience, and I think a must play.