Milie & Telly

Who would have thought that a shooter based on dual color shmup mechanics would feel so shallow. The way Milie and Telly works is a mash up of Ikaruga, Omega 5 and Gradius. You are set up in a horizontal twin stick shooter and are then timed on how quick you take out the enemies in the level. Kill one enemy in the group and another appears until the level ends.

If you fail to kill them all within the time limit you lose.

The main protagonist Milie shoots red and yellow bullets twin stick shooter-like at red and yellow enemies. You can swap between a spreader and a homing pistol at any time to help dispatch the foes in your preferred method. The key to defeating enemies is by matching the color of the bullets to your foe. You have shields as well to help you out as needed.

An interesting little feature is the upgrade system. Milie can upgrade between levels, but your currency to boost weapons and shields is only gathered in a bonus section. These stages are between the opening level and the boss of each stage and are built around an obstacle course. There is no penalty in the bonus stages, and you just run along collecting pollen until your time runs out. There are obstacles that restrict your movement, but that really doesn't affect you too much.

Unfortunately, the game isn't that deep. There is a great look to Milie with the character design and unique art style. However, swapping between the same red and yellow enemies until the end of the game gets really dull really fast. Worst of which is the fact that the color change isn't necessarily automatic to the eye. They design the characters with similar helmets, guns and accessories and only differentiate between an orange-ish yellow and a red opponent. It's easy to tell on bosses, not easy to tell on long drawn out levels of repetitive gameplay.

Frustrating yet is the fact that enemies actually don't really die on screen. They float slowly off screen while still using their heads to track your movements. Since they have slow to drain life bars, this usually resulted in shooting them long after they'd been defeated. It's a nuisance the first time and it sticks with it when the next group hits the screen.

That's the game's biggest issue. It's repetitive and it's not good enough to warrant this repetition. The upgrade system helps as it actually makes the game a lot easier the longer you play, but ultimately there wasn't anything to really carry me through with the game even when I was trying.

It's not terrible. It just has so much competition from other shooters on the marketplace that something so basic just doesn't cut it.