The positives of this game are so glaring that if they have to be highlighted for you then yes, I'd say you are obviously missing something, or the game isn't for you, or possibly the genre isn't for you if the game isn't for you. That being said, simply because this is widely regarded as one of, if not the best shooter on iOS, that doesn't mean you have to like it, even though you are in the minority. If you take a little time to read back through the thread, you'll see many examples that talk specifically about what makes the game great. Your points about no missions, a lack of epic boss fights and in-apps are all valid and have all been mentioned on previous pages as well. I adore the game so much that after you read the thread and still want to talk specifics, I would be happy to as would other members that frequent this thread I'm sure, but try reading back first and give the game another chance.
The chain gun is still in the game, but one of the four lasers was removed in a previous update, leaving only three lasers (one firing straight and the other two at an angle). Before it was two shooting straight and two at an angle. I'm sure that no one noticed the removal but me. The Sonic Cannon was in Phoenix SD, but was removed for Phoenix HD. If you've never played the original, you'd probably never know it existed.
I guess not everyone has that luxury of time to plow through the entire madness of 120 pages of this forum , so that's where I come in to provide a convincing argument to hopefully convince you. (My education level I'm taking now PRECISELY requires me to do this) Let me start off with comparisons with other shmups. What's different in this one? First, you don't have all those dumb-*** small fries who come charging at you, at an attempt to snatch some glory of damaging you (And the gloriest probably being the guy who kills you ). Do these small fries in other shmups irritate you? They do for me because I hate their kamikaze attacks. Phoenix HD takes out most of those small fries and only bring in those big baddies. Isn't it more satisfying to kill the big baddies than those small fries? So Phoenix HD is mainly boss-only. Not like the rest of the shmups who seem obssesed with those small fries. It's like they include bosses for the sake of it, because it seems bosses provides the most entertainment to us. If you don't consider those enemies bossy enough, wait til you meet the BIG baddy (That guy is damn obvious since his size clearly exceeds the screen. And that, guys, is called the Harpy ) If you aren't satisfied with only the big baddies, then there are still some small fries around for you to play with, and thankfully they reject the idea of kamikaze-ing as well. Phoenix HD only allows for damage to you via bullets, which is exactly the point of shmups, not by bringing in some stupid enemies who kamikaze (Take iFighter for example). It feels more "natural" for a shmup. What kind of missions do you want? Does the single player missions really incentivise you to play the game? Or does the prospect of topping the leaderboards do so? I admit there aren't any single player missions in this game. Does it matter though? Not quite. Topping those leaderboards grants more satisfaction. Not many shmups have such leaderboards. Even if they do, the crowns are always taken by those sore hacking losers. Not the Phoenix HD board. Hackers are purged from the boards without mercy. Yah, there is quite a lot of IAPs in this game. Fair enough. Do they hinder your gameplay experience? No. You don't have to pay to rid of ads, you don't have to buy currencies to unlock upgrades for your ships. The only significant barrier of the IAP is the access to new ships with new mechanics. Trust me, buy just one of the locked ships and you'll have a blast. Several shmups already require initial payment, but not Phoenix HD. Most of these prominent ships featured in other shmups are those standard ships, just like the only ship given for free in Phoenix HD. Let's assume those paid shmups cost $0.99. Compare those paid shmups to Phoenix HD. In Phoenix HD, you get 2 ships, with ENTIRELY different mechanics, to play with for the same cost but you only get a miserable ONE ship in those paid shmups. Which is more worth your money? It would probably help to consider my above 2 points as well. Compare the free shmups with Phoenix HD too. That one ship in Phoenix HD far surpasses the others. Just play and you'll know. To be fair, the currency IAP sometimes feel like a "buying your way up the leaderboards" thing, due to the various temporal power-ups that would probably boost your score. Fine. Wait, doesn't some shmups adopt this model too? Consider other points too. What about the graphics? Phoenix HD's one is totally SPECTACULAR. Many shmups can't meet that level to date. They seem totally flat like 2D cut-out paper models flying around a A-whatever paper landscape. What about the controls? Phoenix HD has only one, but it gets it right. It doesn't hinder your view of imminent danger approaching. Did I forget to mention the radius of impact is much smaller too for Phoenix HD, encouraging careful navigation through the larger mass of bullets around the screen? I really hope my argument can convince you into having a better view of Phoenix HD! But even if you are not convinced, it's always ok! Everyone has their own views, and some are even used to their own previous shmups they've played. It's just that maybe some hasn't considered the various factors enough, so that's where I come in to clear up these issues.
I don't know... If you have the time to play games, you have the time to do a little reading, especially when you pop into a thread and ask 'what am I missing?' Comments about bosses and IAP have been brought up within the last twenty pages of the thread, which is about fifteen minutes of skimming, which is the length of a solid run in Phoenix HD.
Bullet Sky 2... A Phoenix HD-inspired game, currently free. Not as good as Phoenix HD, but still good. That IAP'd revive may just have killed the game though, but for now i enjoy it. Looks like players are not the only ones who noticed Phoenix's greatness.
Downloading. I was also just about to post too, right before you, saying that I have some major brainstorming ideas floating around in my head for now ships. I am currently focusing on the concept of the toothpaste laser, but a toothpaste laser that can block enemy bullets.
I just mentioned this game in the "underplayed and hidden gems" thread. For free, as is right now, definitely worth to check it out. On topic again, i checked the first 60 pages and found only one gameplay video. But i'm looking for a 'pro' video, some like a 'walkthrough' to get some visual hints to get better. Beside searching the next 60 pages, any ideas to find them, if there are. Utube did not help with my humble searching skills, either.
Well I posted a gameplay video a while back. It doesn't have any highlighted tips, but you can see someone playing up to a 5+ million score. The killer tip (ever since Phoenix classic): (yes that is from 2010 )
Weapon strength is reduced by taking damage, just like Sine Mora, made worse here by being tied directly to your health. I can't stand that. That type of scenario is just ripe for the consumable IAP landscape this game is promoting. You get hit once or twice and your ship becomes too anemic to be able to power through the situation, or you get annoyed enough that you want to stop playing. Or at least I do. I'll probably grind out enough gems to unlock another ship, just to see what it looks like, then delete it and return to Phoenix, of course.
Wow, thanks for mentioning this game, hadn't seen this. Great to see other dev's like our concept! Yeah I don't like this concept either. It was actually part of our very first gameplay prototype for Flare Elite (talking 2009 here), but we quickly removed it. When you get hit you naturally lose health, OK. But then to also remove firepower, it just means you put the player in a position less likely to recover from. It also lowers the feeling of progression. I might grind Bullet sky II to unlock an extra ship, but it feels like the difficult doesn't increase anymore at some point. Also, not enough particles for my taste
Were we separated at birth? You should check out the Sine Mora thread and how I ripped this entire concept a new one, and then got flamed by certain unmentionable forum members for doing so. If Phoenix HD were like Sine Mora, every power-up you earn would be expelled from your ship and you'd have to retrieve them to get back to where you were, with half of them flying out of the screen. Can you imagine being in amongst a dense pattern and retrieving power-ups?! Hilarious! EDIT: Generally, I detest the entire concept of backtracking in any form. I've said it over and over about losing the feeling of progression. Losing health due to getting hit is a 1:1 relationship, but losing health AND firepower is being doubly penalized after the upgrades have already been earned. The feeling of futility in not having enough firepower in a SHOOTER at any given moment is just unforgivable. See, and THIS is why you can't get rid of me El! With Phoenix, there is none of that nonsense.
El, toothpaste laser that can BLOCK bullets. Not ALL the time, though. EDIT: Two things Phoenix HD hasn't done yet: blocking bullets (except for the shield) and power-ups that drop through the course of the entire game. That's what I'm brainstorming. Let's see... (thinking out loud)... The first 5 power-ups could thicken the laser, more particle effects as it advances. It would start out skinny. The blocking mechanic would only be available once the beam is fully powered up. If the power-ups dropped throughout the game, and after the beam is powered up, then the power-ups could trigger the blocking mechanic for a period of time... but for how long? And what would make the blocking end? Getting hit? That could work... Each power-up that drops after the beam is fully upgraded triggers the ability to block bullets with the beam. This lasts until the ship is hit, then this ability is lost until another power-up drops. Being able to wrap a toothpaste laser around and coil it in front of your ship to block bullets would be cool.
Hehe, brainstorm away Some 'pro tips' (which are just my opinion). If you would want to design a ship, you should have a strong core concept before you start thinking about all the extra stuff that deepens it. Of course you should keep it in the back of your mind and/or write everything down, but don't really start detailing interaction if the core isn't there yet. What's the core gameplay of your Sumo (toothpaste) ship? The toothpaste laser in Raiden was very unpredictable (and weird ). If blocking stuff with that laser is the concept than the gameplay would be to "wield an unpredictable/moving laser beam to destroy enemies and deflect bullets". I'm not really sure how that would work, but I think you should think about your concept on that level, rather than what it can do with rest of the game like pick-ups and weapon upgrades. (I don't want to judge your concept or discourage you, on the contrary, just trying to help you along )
Yeah, pretty cool game, not near the level of Phoenix HD, but fun nonetheless, and it has nice graphics too.
You do realize that you just named the next ship, no matter what it might be, right? I mean, come on, The Sumo?! The Sumo... Beautiful! Yes, you're correct in that the core concept is to "wield an unpredictable/moving laser beam to destroy enemies and deflect bullets." The laser would lock onto enemy turrets and, when the laser is powered up enough to be able to block, the 'twists' in the laser are what you'd be able to strategically position in order to block certain parts of a dense pattern of bullets. Where this would get interesting is that the laser would only be able to lock onto one turret at a time. This would enable you to block bullets filtering in from one side of the screen, but would leave the ship vulnerable to getting hit from bullets from other parts of the screen, from other turrets. The laser wouldn't be as 'unpredictable' as the ones used in Raiden, but the 'rope-like' pattern would be important so that you could position your vessel inside a coil for protection. If you look at this example, focus on the middle of the screen, where the bullets are coming into contact with the laser. When the laser isn't powered up fully, the bullets would pass through the laser, logically, as demonstrated here. When the laser is fully powered up, it will become capable of blocking these same bullets at the exact point of contact with the laser. What is hard for me to convey here, or at least what I see in my mind, is the strategy behind blocking certain parts of the bullet waves, while simultaneously being vulnerable from other threats. Excuse the corniness, but another analogy I can use here is a Trojan warrior with a shield in a battle. In a crouching position, the warrior could block arrows being shot at him from the left with the shield in his left hand, but his right side would be vulnerable to an attack from another warrior on foot coming at him from the opposing angle. Just as the warrior would have to juggle a two-front attack, you'd have to reposition the laser to lock onto other turrets, thus changing your defensive posture. This would be done by moving the ship into another position. The idea of the power-ups dropping throughout the game would be important, as acquiring these power-ups are what would initiate the ability to block. So, look at it like this: 1) You start out the game with a skinny Sumo laser, although the lock-on capability is present from the outset. You are NOT able to block from the outset since the laser is not fully powered up, which makes sense since there really is not a reason to with the weak enemies/lack of bullets. 2) Like the other ships, the Sumo laser takes a certain amount of power-ups to become maxed out, whether it be 5, 6, etc. With each power-up, the laser becomes thicker, more powerful, takes on more characteristics in terms of appearance and just looks overall more badass. After the laser is fully upgraded (which is permanent), it is then that each power-up that drops afterwards gives the laser the ability to block. However, the ability to block is lost when the ship is hit (blocking is not permanent). So, a typical run would be: laser becomes fully upgraded, any subsequent power-up enables you to block bullets with the laser; after a period of time you eventually get hit, you lose the ability to block until another power-up drops and you pick it up. Now, do I think this will ever make it into the game? Not at all. But, as certain as I am of that fact, I am also very intrigued at being able to block bullets inside the nook and crannies of a toothpaste laser. It would give a totally different perspective to just avoiding the bullets. Of course this entire concept done with that Firi charm would be outstanding and beautiful, more so than any toothpaste laser done before, with the added mechanic and particle effects to boot. There, I've buttered your bread. Now I'll just cross my fingers All Hail The Sumo.
Just found it free today as well. Only stashed it into my iTunes account currently. Looks like my poor iTouch 4G wouldn't quite be able to support Bullet Sky II since it seems like they've mentioned that it only runs properly on iPhone 4 and above, and even that seems like iPhone 4 and 4S barely makes the mark (They suggested closing every other app in the multi tasking pane). Looks pretty good and first impressions were similar to all of you that it closely resembles Phoenix HD. Even the IAP model seems the same (Pay for more currency and ships). Have anyone tried the rest of the ships and found out how much different are they? Is it like what we have here at Phoenix HD in that every ship has totally different ways to play? From first screenshot impressions, it sounds more like just tweaking the weapon aesthetics and perhaps power, not quite what they claim...
I wanna design a ship called the "Connector". It would connect ship's or drones. Now, I gotta think what else it would do.
Sumo, great post! Here's my 'challenge response'. Don't you think it would be too easy from the moment the laser gains the blocking ability? The challenge to wield something that is unpredictable doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me as you are left to the mercy of that twitching (random) beam? With so much emphasis on that one beam you will also not be able to damage any other turrets, can the beam be aimed at another turret when the current one is destroyed? Or is this one of the choices of the player, which one turret to disable with the laser? The disabling of a turret under a certain condition is an appealing concept. It crossed our minds before as well . An organic moving laser is also quite cool, but I think it's mostly a visual thing, rather than gameplay. (Also, I like the look of the laser on the left in your screenshot much better ) I'm currently not working on any new weapons, but we will probably explore the bending lasers concept a bit in the future, though I think it will remain a visual thing. Who knows though, great concepts are born in moments you least expect it @Connector. I'm not sure if I ever posted this but the Trinity, before it was our 'timeship', was called the 'droneship'. The idea was it would have some weapons of its own but it would also gain drones as it levels up. We tried sideships that would stay in position, following drones and a slew of other styles. In the end it just felt like a strictly visual upgrade as this aspect didn't really add any gameplay. We then made the drones destructible, but it proved near impossible (especially near the end) to keep your drones alive along with yourself. It also caused the problem mentioned earlier on this page (or the previous) that it's not cool to lose firepower. We still like the concept of drones and sideships though, so when an opportunity arises to use them, we will
