Visually stunning, the use of FMV is jaw-dropping and seamless. There's literally zero artifacts in the background video, compositionally indistinguishable from the pre-rendered sprites on top, I don't know how they achieved this on Sega CD. If nothing else, this is a mandatory experience for the stellar cinematic energy.

It could be better as a shmup, there's often a feeling of being underpowered from enemies once they get close to the backside of the screen. With the viewpoint they've selected, it feel like you're doing something wrong when you move to the front of the screen to speed-kill enemies - it's no different than any other shmup, but the Z-axis depth makes you feel like you're breaking the rules. It's also hard to keep track of things and you get hit by a lot of unpredictable stuff because enemy fire can seem indistinguishable from the explosion VFX in the background. This also happens a lot with environmental hazards, it's hard to judge their perceived distance from the interactive playfield.

I didn't mind the re-use of bosses, but I DID have a giant bone to pick with the final boss, which screen-nukes you if you can't kill it in time AND sends you back to the prior stage. Evil and pretty experience-ruining imo. If you don't get right up in this guy's face and plaster him with bombs and rapid fire, you WILL be timed out.