Shoot 1UP

The term ' bullet - hell ' is an unusual one . Under which conditions can be bullets flying over your head ever considered agood thing ? And what does bulletheaven look like , anyway ?

1up playing catch along the shoot - ' em - up to the convention itself drawing bullet - hell , there are swarms of glowing neon bullet around your fighter craft most of the time .

However , in some other respects the game lobs the rule book out the window . Then blasts it to smithereens for good measure .

Give it a shot

It is a solid 2D shooter where you drag your auto - firing craft around the screen , blowing up enemies , committed to the boss fights , and collecting bonuses .

The biggest twist in 2D shoot - ' em - up formula here is the 1up system - as you may have guessed from the title .

If a shmup deigns you worthy of a second or even - perish the thought - the third time running bullet - hell gauntlet , it is usually a case of reinstating your craft with a little bit of charm fetish and a hit with your highscore .

Reach 1up takes the novel approach of placing each and every one of your spare ship to operate simultaneously . Collect a 1up and the ship to join the screen to add to your firepower .

See you in another life

You can end up with dozens of space ships on the screen at once in this way , if you are good , although they could just as easily be stripped away from you with each direct hit .

The trade - off for more firepower is your expanding fleet is becoming more difficult to maneuver through the stream of bullets. You can expand or contract your star through a familiar pinch gesture , which is handy if fiddly to perform in the heat of battle .

Another fresh idea implemented Shoot 1up has the ability to blitz all the bullets in your immediate vicinity with your shield , which is achieved by tapping the screen .

Naturally this requires decent timing to perform , and a bit of a recharge in - between pulses .

Options

Reach 1up is full of clever little spins on typical 2D gameplay . With an extra mode that you can unlock after while allowing you to vary the speed of the game (so increases the score multiplier ) by tilting the handset .

Offering you the game even a branching path that reminded us of theOutrun series . Going for the trickier route is not just a case of ramping up the difficulty , either - it can lead to the action moving at a brief ( and rather uncertain ) free - roaming model .

While this idea is generally unclear , however , implementation Reach 1up is not always very accomplished . The graphics are fairly basic and inexpensive , while the aforementioned control and insight innovation is not as well integrated or fleshed out as they should.

Ultimately, something like DoDonpachi Maximum remains a more satisfying 2D blaster to play , but Reach 1up is bursting with enough fresh ideas to be well worth a download .