Ginga Force

Ginga Force really is an excellent game. With well-designed stages, an enjoyable plot with decent voice acting, fantastic music by Yousuke Yasui and plenty of gameplay variety and longevity throughout, it’s one of the best value shoot ’em ups out there, and a great complement to the other excellent titles by Qute. Highly recommended.

Ginga Force is one of the better shoot ‘em ups I’ve played. As someone who traditionally is not a fan of the genre, this game absolutely gave me reason enough to play each of the levels. It is a shame that the narrative is too difficult to follow as it happens alongside the action. The ability to upgrade weapons and purchase bonus items, even after failing a level, is a welcome ingredient to allow people who only casually play within the shoot ‘em up genre the ability to enjoy the game enough to get through to the end, but the fact that a lot of the good stuff is locked behind "for genre veterans only" difficulty settings does whittle down the game's potential audience a little.

Ginga Force is one of those shoot-em-ups that gives you exactly what you want all while giving just enough variety to the formula to keep things feeling fresh. A few choices along the way don't meet the mark, but nothing gets in the way of Ginga Force's fantastic gameplay.

Out of the hundreds of shoot 'em ups that I've played in my decades of gaming, I can easily say that Ginga Force is one of the best. Its combination of skill-testing stages, rewarding customisation, and lively presentation make it one must-have shmup.