Jump into the Raiden’s cockpit, strap your safeties, and blow up enemy machines as you reclaim Earth from the invaders from outer space. This is a vertically-scrolling shooter, where your fighter is armed with a forward-firing main gun, missile sub-weapons, and some smart bombs to get you out of a pinch.

Let’s get started with the controls. You have your arrow keys to direct your fighter around and dodge enemy bullets with, left CTRL to fire your main weapon, and left ALT to unleash a smart bomb. Weapon upgrades are dropped by certain enemies each stage, and you get to choose between 2 types of main guns, 2 missiles, and up to 3 unique weapons. Most of the options are either bigger spread but lower damage, or more powerful burst DPS but with a smaller area of effect. In case you get a weapon different from the one you’re using, it will still be the upgraded form, but you’d be changing your tactics accordingly.

Your main gun will not automatically spit rounds of destruction at enemies. You can either hold the Fire button for a continuous but slow stream of ordnance or you can mash it for a faster and higher rate. The action starts scaling up as early as the middle of the first stage, where you’d more often than not find yourself weaving through deadly hails of enemy fire. You can use a smart bomb to take out a few enemies in case things get too intense. You only have 3 lives per playthrough, so you’ll do your best not to get hit. One shot is all it takes to blow you out of the sky. The game won’t end with knocking the final boss out of the fight. It’s back to Stage 1, but with tougher and meaner enemies awaiting you.

Summing this up, Raiden is a challenging yet fun bullet hell to go through.