I love me some good ol’ shmup gaming every once in a while, but I’d be lying if I said that, sometimes, the genre as a whole can feel quite stale. I mean, aside from either having top down perspective or a side scrolling perspective, most shmups are generally the same game. Hypership Out of Control, however, comes with a unique hook that actually makes the genre feel a bit fresher than I’m used to.

Hypership Out of Control is a fun, oddly unique shmup with a curious premise attached to it. The story goes that your ship’s breaks aren’t responding and your hyper drive accelerator is stuck which means you can’t stop from going faster and faster and faster unless you hit something and die.

Of course, it’s not like you’re just sailing through open space. Like any great shmup there will be obstacles. At first you’ll have to navigate your way through a asteroid field which then later becomes space lanes. The level layout isn’t overly imaginative but it works in supplying you with levels that are genuinely difficult as well as interesting.

Like all shmups, as you’re flying you can also pick up items that affect the way you play. Now, since this game doesn’t have any enemies, there’s no need for you to get bigger and better weapons. However, there are plenty of obstacles for you too blow up so there is a weapon that will help you achieve that. Additionally, the other items I saw allowed you to get shields, slow down, speed up, and be invincible for a time.

Finally, the game comes with 10 “waves” (levels) in the standard game. Additionally there is also a hardcore, superspeed, coin, and practice mode all available with differing sorts of gameplay. While I don’t know what the latter two modes do exactly (they’re not available in the trial) I can tell you that the hardcore mode is generally just a more difficult version of the normal mode and the superspeed mode simply allows it so that you can’t ever hit a maximum speed. You’ll just keep getting faster and faster until somebody hits you.

Hypership Out of Control is available right now for 80 MS points ($1). The game features 4 player local co-op as well as all of the above mentioned modes. Overall, I found the game to be pretty feature full and a genuinely good time, which isn’t bad for a single dollar.

[Try/Buy, Hypership Out of Control]

[This is  not a review. This is a "first impressions" piece based on less than an hour of gameplay.]

Trailer