Mention the shoot-'em-up genre now, and most people immediately think of "bullet hell" shooters. You can't really fault them for this, since that's what comprises modern shoot-'em-ups. The idea of a shooter with much calmer bullet patterns that still maintains a healthy enemy count seems like an antiquated gameplay blueprint. Indie developer Astro Port can't seem to let this go, however, as games like Gigantic Army and Satazius show off its love for the classic shooters that dominated the 16-bit era. Armed Seven is its latest game that's dedicated to the revitalization of the genre, and the title shows that Astro Port knows what it's doing.

The year is 2009, 12 years after alien forces landed on Earth. Their presence jumpstarted technological leaps to the point that humans developed flying mechs. As a pilot of one of these mechs, it's your job to rid Earth of the alien forces once and for all.

The core shooting mechanics are pretty straightforward, as you automatically fly to the right and blast any opposition that comes along. You can pick up power-ups, but they're limited to powering up the strength of your current weapon and giving you shields that allow you to be hit up to three extra times. The game sports seven stages, six of which contain a mid-boss fight before reaching the final boss. All of the main boss fights feature a timer, and while you can pass the game without destroying the boss within the time limit, boss destruction gives you a massive amount of points.

Armed Seven adds a few new things to the formula. For starters, you can rotate your gun and lock it in place to achieve better firing angles. The direction of your rotation is relative to your movement, and it can be reversed, but don't expect gun and player movements to be independent of each other. You can also choose your guns at the beginning in lieu of being able to pick up new ones throughout the journey. Weapons are split into three categories, with four choices each. Your primary and secondary weapons are fired simultaneously and include lasers, shotguns with a spread angle, bombs, and straightforward missiles.

The third weapon type is a charge weapon and acts like a bomb in that it is much more powerful than the rest of your arsenal. Though it is unlimited, it takes some time to charge. Your primary and secondary weapon choices also affect the charge time. For example, the large plasma cannon may have a very long charge time, but picking up a machine gun and missile combo can significantly reduce that wait time. There are lots of weapon combos, so it's fun to find the appropriate formula for your play style to balance weapon damage and speed.

The game also throws in some bullet hell mechanics, but the severity of the impact depends greatly on the selected difficulty level. Only bosses seem to perform the act of throwing lots of bullets in fancy patterns, but you won't see that happen often until you get to the later fights in Normal difficulty or play the game in Hard or Insane. Enemies follow regular firing patterns otherwise, but their normal patterns change depending on the selected difficulty level. Your mech is sizeable, but only the pivot hub of your gun retains damage. That hotspot isn't visible until you give your gun some power, though, so you may not be aware of it if you didn't see the quick blurb in the opening level.

Speaking of difficulty, Armed Seven can be quite challenging even at the easiest difficulty level. Trying not to get hit at all is rather difficult on the easiest of levels, and it only gets tougher if you select unfamiliar weapon combinations. Perhaps the biggest challenge to overcome is the lack of continues or a proper lives system. If you don't pick up any shields, you only get three to four hits before your ship explodes. You'll get a period of invincibility once you're hit, but the game ends once your mech blows up. Instead of getting a continue screen, you get the option to save your replay before being returned to the title screen. Rather than emulating the arcade experience by letting you drop a limitless amount of credits or give you a limited number of continues, the title simply treats each playthrough like you playing on one life.

For those expecting a plethora of modes, the game will disappoint. You have a level selection system where you can jump into a level with modifiers, like starting number of shields. There's also a replay system, so you can check your previously played games and perhaps plan for the future. That's it. There isn't a multiplayer mode, score attack, or even leaderboards. This is as bare-bones as it gets.

The presentation is both an improvement over some of Astro Port's past works and indicative of some of the Japanese indie studio's traits. The sound effects still pack a punch, and the soundtrack fits nicely with the action. There aren't too many tracks, but they're so non-invasive that you may not notice the lack of variety. Graphically, Armed Seven sticks to the 16-bit aesthetic quite well without resorting to the temptation of using new textures for a prettier game. The one thing that sticks out is the use of a lower resolution with no option to bump things up. Like Gigantic Army, the resolution choice makes things blurrier when it's played in full screen, but it also makes Steam notifications larger. Getting one achievement or message can cover a decent amount of screen real estate, and getting the maximum of three popping up means you'll either have to pause the game until they go away or play with half of your screen covered up.

Armed Seven is a solid old-school shooter with some new mechanics. The variable firing angles and implementation of some "bullet hell" mechanics in a classic shooter are nice, but it is the weapon variety that will likely be the star of the package. Though light on overall modes, the amount of challenge and the lack of continues lend this title some credibility with the hardcore shooter crowd. Classic shooter fans will definitely appreciate Armed Seven, as will those who are looking for a challenge without necessarily going the bullet hell route.

Score: 7.5/10