Insector X is one of the many shmups on the Sega Mega Drive. I enjoyed Bio-hazard battle and Insector X looked like a similarly unique game but a little more rough around the edges.
I entered with low expectations for the gameplay, but as far as aesthetics go, the start of the game was promising - The title screen is awesome and the game begins with an ancient egyptian inspired level that's pretty unique. The second level, set in front of a grassy backdrop at insect-scale was a little step down but it still seemed promising. By the third level it became apparent that I'd already seen the best - and only had average mega-drive-ugly level design to look forward to. The highest compliment I have for this game is that the enemy sprites were very detailed. Otherwise it really seems like the artists tried to make the game look good but ultimately didn't quite succeed.
What was frustrating about trying to appreciate the aesthetic of this game is that the art itself creates two problems that lead to difficulty and control being the elephants in the room. The first problem is that the player sprite is quite tall with a smaller hitbox that is a bit hard to figure out. I survived bullets passing pretty close to the head area but didn't seem to get the same 'clearance' from the bottom of the player sprite. The other (and more significant) problem is the readability of the screen. The players bullets are often the same color as those of enemies, in fact there is one that looks identical to a certain enemy projectile. When fully upgraded, the player will cover the screen with bullets that flicker as if there's a sprite limit being crossed, which makes it hard to pick out the bullets coming towards the player. What is especially frustrating is that a lot of enemies shoot projectiles with the same sprite but different speeds, so you might find yourself dodging a volley of projectiles while just one or two really fast projectiles breaks the pattern. It's a lot to keep track of at once and I actually found it helpful to stop shooting at times just to keep the screen clear and readable.
Speaking of clearing the screen, I'm not sure it's actually possible in this game. By the end of the game I had enough upgrades to kill most enemies the moment they entered the screen but still found myself dodging a crazy (and constant) spray of bullets. On easy mode. It did help to kill the larger and slower moving enemies as fast as possible, but since most of them were still accompanied by lots of little 'popcorn' enemies, the risk wasn't worth it anyway. I did read in another review that picking up the upgrades actually makes the game harder, and tried to play again without them (on normal mode). Sure enough things seemed a little easier, but that might have just been because I could see better, and the game still wasn't fun to play. Part of the reason it's not fun to play is the frustrating controls. Moving feels imprecise even at low speeds, and Insector X is one of those games where you have only one speed and can pick up enough speed "upgrades" that it becomes much harder to control without offering an advantage. Enemies and their projectiles move very fast, so speed does help, but because there are so many of them, the precision is needed too. I think it would have been better if there was simply a "fast" and "slow" speed, changed in the pause menu or a button press. Actually, it would be nice to use the second firing button for that, because it was a bit uncomfortable having to hold down two buttons, one for each weapon, for most of the game.
There are other little problems or disappointments in Insector X, but the controls and difficulty are the most disruptive. Overall I do not recommend playing this game - if you think it looks interesting, maybe try Biohazard Battle instead.