Vito Cassisi – Tech Blog Delving into technology

S.H.M.U.P Game Review

The enemies
Instead of using artistic representations of fictional alien scum, S.H.M.U.P features different basic shapes to represent the varying enemies. As the levels progress, the enemies attack in formation, often in an arrangement which protects the missile launching offensive shapes and exposes those which can take heavy fire. In addition to this, some shapes have circular shields which can protect them from your bullets. These shields weaken as they absorb fire.

Enemy health is represented by the thickness of the shape's outline. As your bullets hit enemies, their outline gets thinner until they are destroyed. Similarly, your ships will also lose outline thickness as they take enemy fire, or accidentally (perhaps strategically) crash into said enemies.

At the end of each level there's a boss which you must defeat in order to progress. At the centre of these shape clusters is a weak spot which effectively self destructs the boss once your bullets hit it. As easy as this sounds, it can get quite difficult to aim when you're trying to dodge waves of bullets in addition to ship-seeking missiles.

Lining up for their ultimate doom!