Shoot 1UP DX Review

Shoot 1UP DX is a classic old school retro space shooter with a twist. Developed and Published by Mommy’s Best Game’s, it is a remastered version of a Windows Phone game that came out in 2012.

The general gameplay is of a classic space shooter killing all the aliens that are invading and trying to save the world. The great twist is that with every 1UP you collect you’re given a new playable ship; say you pick up 5 1UP’s in a level, that means you will be controlling 6 ships at once. To get them is simple, just keep destroying the enemy and randomly they will drop as a reward.

You can keep collecting 1UP’s as you progress, but every time you get hit you will lose a ship – run out of ships and it’s game over. You can command up to 30 ships at the same time for some glorious mayhem whilst trying to constantly dodge rapid bullets being shot at you.

You can also play 2 player local co-op to help you on your journey, commanding up to 60 ships at one time! It’s not an easy task mind, normally I maxed around 20.

You will have a good few levels to navigate through, after each level there is a boss bottle which could be a massive creature or alien. (Or a woman with massive breasts which is very strange and out of place but did make me chuckle). Once the boss is killed, you move onto the next level with the amount of ships you have accumulated.

It’s a short but sweet game that’s not very taxing. I feel that it could have been a bit longer though. I was able to beat the entire game on my first playthrough in about 20 minutes.

During your journey you have a chance to either do a harder section of the game and get more rewards/ships, or keep going straight for an easier journey. When you go the harder way, the gameplay also changes up.  Sometimes your ships might just point to the right, and you are shooting in that direction, or free flight move where you move around the screen completely and shooting in every direction rather than just the standard shooting up.

There is even another game mode where you do not have extra ships, just a single one where you can continuously keep upgrading it over time but you can only get hit once for each stage or you lose that progress and have to start that level again. This mode is more difficult as you have to be careful with movement and dodge a lot of what’s coming towards you, though it can feel a lot more rewarding as a result.

You also have a chance to play the game at either 200% speed or 25% depending on how crazy you feel (or any % in between in increments of 25).

At a higher percentage it is very hectic and quick and 25% is very slow, calming and easy to avoid things but as you can imagine it will take a lot longer to complete the game.

Graphically it could have been better, but then again it a remastered version of a Windows Phone game from 8 years ago. Would have been nicer to have some more crisper looking ships but still bright and vibrant.

All in all, in a fun game for the first couple of times you play, but it only there for a couple of playthroughs. With co-op you makes it a bit more enjoyable but also easier.

Conclusion

Shoot 1UP DX is a short and sweet game that is good for a quick pick up and play session. I did enjoy trying to max out getting 30 ships at once but I actually found the mode where you only control one ship more fun.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.