My favorite shoot 'em up in quite a while, even when the last 5-10 years has seen a bit of a renaissance in the genre. SFA is vertically scrolling, which I've always liked better than horizontal, and the game's look and sound leans more toward the realistic compared to the average cartoony shmup. Not that I don't like those cartoony, neon colored CAVE (etc.) shmups, but it's quite nice to get something that looks and plays like good 'ol Xevious and 1942 for a change.
SFA's main hook is its upgrade system, where you collect the stars from defeated enemies during game play and cash those in for permanent upgrades to your ship back at the menu. Front cannon, side cannons, shield, bombs, and plenty more, there's a lot there to keep you grinding for a while. If you can meet the side objectives on a level (such as save all the humans, or don't get touched once), your score multiplies several times over, and yeah, this is just shmup crack if you're into the genre.
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