Aliens Attack Shooter

I must confess, I haven’t always finished every game I’ve reviewed here (though I do play them for several hours),
but this is the first time I couldn’t finish even the first level.
Heck, I couldn’t even make it to the boss battle at the end of the first level.
From the moment you start playing, you are beset by dangers on all sides.
Aliens Attack Shooter , the latest Mini from Alien shooting,
seemingly aims for a classic feel with retro themed graphics (though really, more inspired),
but is very much a “SHMUP” where casual players need not apply.
On the bottom, you can crash into objects on the terrain and have to deal with enemies shooting upward.
On the top you have large fixed UFOs that are usually present. So you are severely constricted as to where you can go.
This isn’t helped by your ship being rather on the large side (or at least tall) and being somewhat sluggish.
Though this mostly seems to be with the analog nub, the d-pad is somewhat more responsive. Some of the deaths seem a bit cheap, too.
When you die, your new ship is given a limited amount of invulnerability, but this doesn’t help when you’re set amongst a mob of enemies.
The innovation in the game is the “Recyclotron”.
This actually isn’t explained very well in the game, at first I thought you used it to suck up the stuff enemies shot at you,
but instead you suck up (by holding down the O button) colored clouds that are created by destroying enemies.
When it’s full you can tap O to shoot the enemies with that instead of your regular cannon.
In practice, it’s not so innovative, it’s just a variation on picking up a powerup.
Just the mechanics are different and honestly, not in a good way. It takes a long time to do and adds a distraction.
Apparently, you can use the Recyclotron and shoot your normal cannon at the same time (note in either case, there is no autofire),
but trying to press both the X and O buttons at the same time is uncomfortable.
Mapping the Recyclotron to the shoulder buttons would have made this much more manageable.
Giving the player the ability to change the controls would have been nicer.