One unique aspect of this fantastic rhythm shooter is its shooting mechanic which can be frustrating at first, yet will become ultimately rewarding when you "get" it.

As the game unfortunately lacks proper interactive tutorial, I have made up some audio samples in the hope to ease the learning wall.

To quote the instruction manual:

"You can fire your missiles whenever you like but enemies will always explode on beat. If you shoot just before the beat (around a 1/16th in musical terms), you’ll fire short, direct lasers that allow you to quickly start designating more targets."

I would add that higher fire rate will result in higher overall dealt damage which is essential to defeat bosses and it will also score more. So it's totally worth your effort.

The official video does a better job at describing the mechanic with commentary than silent in-game tutorial. The shooting part starts ~2 minutes in.


The devs also posted a diagram in the forum to visualize the concept in musical measures.

Here's the timing sample: mp3 download link[www.dropbox.com] Loop-play it with your favorite music player.

Note the bass drum is on beat. The shoot window is on the woodblock, on the third of every 4 hi-hats right before the next bass drum on which enemies should explode if the timing is right.

Now the same sample without hi-hats: mp3 download link[www.dropbox.com]

While playing the second sample try to "play" the hi-hat track from the first sample in your mind to find that 1/16th beat. That's usually how I do it in the game proper.

And of course, practice makes perfect. The second song "Pure Sunlight" which has a shooting part right off the bat would be a good start to get a hold on.

Straight-line lasers will be fired immediately when you time it right:



Swirl of homing missiles will be fired instead if you miss it:



They will take time to hit the targets, and most importantly, they will leave you defenseless until the next beat (you can't perform lock-on nor fire the next barrage) when they do reach the targets and explode. That is the main cause of death in this game so you might as well avoid it as often as you can.

If you are getting comfortable with the timing, the sixth song "I Can't Stop" has many shooting opportunities with clearly defined slow beats to get the timing down. Good luck and have fun! (^_-)

(Requires verification: It seems that the hit window is actually not around the hi-hat, but starts there then ends at the next bass drum. So if you are not getting lasers when you think you should, try to fire a little later than you feel you should.)

The aiming reticle actually has a spinning metronome hand to help with the timing, but I have found it too small and too subtle to be useful in practice.

It is sometimes safer to wait and acquire a larger number of locks if you are just trying to survive. For example you can put locks on this drone and the heatseeker it will fire in one go:



Or on the whole drones in formation (note the "MAX" text on HUD:)



That way, there will be fewer untagged enemies hot on your heels while you remain defenseless in cooldown even if you miss. This is especially true of what I call "Shield-Bearers" EDF! which spawn 3 shield generators and 2 heatseekers at intervals:



If you fire at shield generators and miss, the heatseeker will most likely get you. It's much safer to put locks on everything at once as in the above screenshot.

But do also note that it will waste a few beats therefore lower your DPS so it may allow enemies to get away, resulting in a lower score. It's a risk v.s. reward thing.

Thanks to the devs foxache who kindly posted a diagram in the forum to demonstrate the shooting mechanic which inspired this guide. And for sublime audio/visual/gaming synergy that is Aaero, of course!