Shoot 1UP DX from Mommy’s Best Games is a crazy shoot ‘em up in which you can command up to 30 ships at once. Learn more in our Shoot 1UP DX review!
Shoot 1UP DX from Mommy’s Best Games is a crazy shoot ‘em up in which you can command up to 30 ships at once. That’s right, instead of controlling one ship at a time and then using another ship when your current one is destroyed, each 1UP you collect will be added right away, allowing you to control up to a total of 30 ships. If you take on this one with two players in local co-op, that means there can be up to 60 ships at once on the screen, which, along with the enemies you need to fight against, makes for a very hectic experience!
As you can imagine, the more ships under your command, the more powerful your attacks. The issue with this is that you’ll need to constantly expand and contract your phalanx to be able to avoid enemies and their attacks, which adds a very interesting twist to this shoot ‘em up. To be able to use the always classic bullet-vaporizing bomb that can save you when things get too dicey, you’ll have to sacrifice some of your ships.
You’ll control your ships with the left analog stick, expanding and contracting as needed by pressing the R and L buttons, respectively. They will attack with the B button and can hit the brakes with the X button if you need to slow down and take a quick moment to reevaluate your strategy. As the name suggests, collecting 1UPs is a must since you’re going to need more ships to stay alive and increase your firepower. Any of your ships that are destroyed will go out with a huge explosion that will clear any bullets within its radius, so there’s certainly an interesting risk and reward system going on.
You should keep an eye on your HUD so that you can review the spread gauge for your phalanx. Shooting while expanded increases your attack power, and it also allows you to activate the plasma gauge attack. Shoot while expanded and when the spread gauge is greater than three, and you’ll be ready to unleash the fury on all enemies. Something else to consider is that when you stop shooting, your shield will charge up. Shoot again once it’s charged up, and you’ll be able to unleash your shields and stop any bullets within their range.
When you expand your ships, your score multiplier will start to increase at a steady pace, but your group becomes a bigger target. At least enemies will start to drop medals when you spread your ships, and your multiplier can go up to x30, so you can start to rack up a solid score once you get the hang of things. On top of this, any kill that you get with your shields will be multiplied by 10. That means that if you have a x30 score multiplier and defeat an enemy with your shields, the score from that enemy will actually be multiplied by x300!
The game can be played in one of three difficulty settings: Chilled, Normal, and Serious. Chilled is the best option for those of you new to the shoot ‘em up genre since it allows you to take on a lower challenge while you learn how Shoot 1UP DX works. Normal is the standard difficulty, and it offers a good challenge. Serious features longer levels and more action, so you’ll take on a ton of enemies that will come at you with everything they got. Once you complete level 4, you’ll also unlock Score Trek, a special mode in which you have a single ship and will build its stats as you progress further and further.
Shoot 1UP DX features an in-game achievements system with 17 achievements to unlock. What will you need to do to get all of the achievements? You’ll need to kill an enemy with the best ship spread, beat a non-Trek level without losing a ship, get thirty ships in single-player, get sixty ships with two players, get 1,000,000 points in any game mode, get 10,000,000 points in any game mode, complete the campaign in the Chilled, Normal, and Serious difficulty settings, and eating two pies on a single playthrough, to name some examples.
Shoot 1UP DX is a fun shoot ‘em up that introduces an interesting twist in the genre by having you control all of your ships at once, which changes how you approach things. Sure, this is a game you can complete in an hour or so, but that’s usually the case for most shoot ‘em ups. The good news is that you’ll be able to select different paths to take through each level, which increases the replay value. And with this one being the deluxe version of the game – hence the DX in its name – you’re getting more levels and more enemies to take on. You can also play the more traditional Score Trek once unlocked. The game is available on Nintendo Switch with a budget price of only $5.99, and it’s one that you should definitely add to your collection.
Disclaimer
This Shoot 1UP DX review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Mommy’s Best Games.
