Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Personaly, I love music and rhythm games. Now I'm talking about games like Frequency and Amplitude, where it made you feel as if you were creating the music and/or a part of it.

-bunny starts playing Dance Central then hops on Rock Band- Those games, make you feel like you're a rock star or a hip-hop dancing machine. Nothing wrong with that, but SHMUSICUP short for Shoot Music Up, attempts and hits with trying to be a different rhythm game. -bunny looks at me and pouts as he slams the Rock Band guitar on the floor- If you break that bunny, I'm not paying for it.

Anyway, at it's core SHMUSICUP is a vertical scrolling bullet hell game. -bunny grabs a hand full of bullets tosses them into the air then tries to dodge them all- You're on the right track, bunny. That is the main objective of SHMUSICUP, avoiding enemy bullets all the while firing back at your enemy. Now you're asking "Ok, so where does the rhythm aspect of the game come in?" It comes in the music itself. See, SHMUSICUP allows you to upload you're own music or even choose the music already loaded with the game. Even better the enemies will fire bullets on the pattern of the music you've chosen. -bunny turns on country and tries to dodge bullets to the beat but utterly fails- Nice try, bunny.

Like some other vertical scrolling shooters i.e. "Jade Penetrate", "Castle Shikigami", you play as an actual character. There are 3 to choose from, but only 2 if you don't pay the $9.99 charge. -bunny gasps utterly shocked- Yes, it's a bit much for a flash game as this, but I would say it's worth it. As not only do you get one extra character. But you get 2 extra stages as well. There is a lot that the free version of the game doesn't come with, which sorta makes it seem like they are swindling you into buying the whole game, but in my opinion it's pretty worth it. Each character has a different play style in terms of increasing their multiplier. One character has to be close to the enemy, one has to avoid or "graze" enemy bullets without being hit, and the last has to repeatedly hit the enemy building up their multiplier.

At first the game may seem like it doesn't really match the beat of your music, but once you get into it you'll be like "Oh wow this is really cool". There are 6 stages for each of the 3 difficulties. And a single enemy for each stage : "Chill", "Normal", "Intense". Each of the stages is visually different as well as offering a different "feel". It's pretty awesome experimenting which stage, music and character fit with the music you choose. Also there are some pretty cool in-game achievements to unlock.

You can either download SHMUSICUP or play it from your browser, either way it offers some really smooth bullet hell game play with a great fun factor. The limitations of stages and only 3 characters are made up for by the sheer fun and enjoyment I had. -bunny hops up and down- Ok, bunny, let me finish.

If you're looking for a game to unwind with or just something to test your finger reflexes. SHMUSICUP is a great game if you choose to pay or not.