Ever since I was a kid, I used to love shmups, all kinds of shumps. Played them for years then something terrible happened. Gradius V happened. That fucking game was sheer perfection, and it made very difficult for me to enjoy any shmups I played after. They all seemed bland compared to GV. It's been almost 10 years, and there were only 2 shmups that I really had a blast playing since : Hydorah and Soldner X-2. Today I can add a 3rd game to that short list : HMA. I was a bit disappointed at first because the levels are very short (not even 5 minutes). But you only have 1 life and there are no checkpoints so when you die, you go all the way back to the beginning. It's not an easy game, and this makes things very challenging yet not frustrating because you always know you'll quickly get back to where you died. The scoring aspect is also good, as it encourages the player not to miss a single enemy in order to get money. There is a wide variety of weapons and subweapons, and since you can resell everything without loss you can try them all and find what's best for your playstyle (and for each levels). Graphics-wise, I think the screenshots speak for themselves. The soundtrack is just as gorgeous.
It's a nice little game, but it could have been a lot better. First, there is no story. The game takes place in the protagonist's subconcious and this serves as an excuse not to have any real plot. I think that's what hurts this game most because you do things for no reason... Thankfully the exploration part is good, and so are the (crazy) dungeons. But here comes the other major issue with this game : moving is far too imprecise. The movements feel kinda floaty, and you will often fall down a hole because you were a couple of pixels off when you jumped. This also affects combats. Lastly, after finishing the final boss you gain the ability to swap tiles everywhere, giving you access to hidden areas. Only problem is, you will VERY often get stuck after a screen transition because you ended up somewhere with no walkable tiles to swap, thus forcing you to either go back to the main hub or restarting the game if your last save wasn't too far. All in all it's still a good game, but do not expect too much of it. Oh and the soundtrack is wonderful. If zelda-like dungeons are your thing, give it a go.
