izigame.me

--Review updated after clearing story mode--
From the moment you boot up Rogue Flight the game's charm and incredible sense of style bring you in. The overall experience (The story so far, the art and music, the voicework!) is all phenomenal. Levels have different lighting and shading depending on your story route, which is a nice touch.
There's a wide variety of enemies right from the outset, and their designs and fire patterns are interesting, but the early bosses feel a bit frustrating to fight against as they take a lot of time without posing much threat. Later bosses start to become very exciting though!
I didn't realise it initially, but the game has a permanent progression element where you can upgrade your ship's modules to improve your damage and shields based on the kind of fighting you've been doing, which made it much more fun to try different weapons and strategies, although the game doesn't offer much in the way of alternate weaponry for a while (at least stage 3)
That said, the easiest and by far most abusable mechanic is the special move. Don;t get me wrong, it looks fantastic and feels incredible the first few times you use it... but it's unlimited, you get it back off cooldown almost instantly, and you're nearly invulnerable while performing it which combined with the slow-mo makes the "best" way to play to just crawl through the stage clearing waves spamming this move until you unlock more effective weaponry. I think it ought to be toned way down from where it is and it could be brought back to near it's current power level by the permanent progression.
I definitely recommend this game if you're a fan of similar games such as Star Fox or Ikaruga*, and further as a beautiful art piece embodying and paying tribute to the late 80's aesthetic. For the price and with the potential of future updates it's more than worth it. But I would like to see the special move made less available (and thus more special), more variety introduced in the first stages of the game, and especially more interactivity to the early bosses.
*I know Ikaruga is 2D, but the "one fighter versus an army" and anime aesthetic give it a similar vibe
---Original review text below for context on developer response---
The enemy variety even in the first two stages is quite wide, but the play pattern is unfortunately gets a bit stale. A few runs up to the second boss now and I have not been offered any new weapon or any other powerup besides missiles, which is odd considering the tutorial demos one immediately. The "screen clear" side special recharges almost instantly which makes clearing waves trivial, albeit incredibly cool looking. The bosses give you few ways to retaliate against their attacks, as you have to put yourself directly in the firing line to take shots. This is especially frustrating in the first boss, where you have to stay out of the engine wake but also shoot directly into the engines, which essentially boils down to wiggling a lot and hoping you don't slightly drift into the constant damage zone. Meanwhile the boss itself has little to no way of attacking you, making it feel like more of a passive obstacle. I hope to see more interactive and exciting enemies as I progress further into the game.
EDIT: Having made it to a third stage, the enemy and boss attack patterns have become significantly more engaging and fun! Still no sign of any new weapons though...