When I played the demo version of Ultra Assault some months back I have to say I was unimpressed to say the least. The demo gives you 60 seconds play time! This would be fine for some games, but I really feel such a short limit was a bad move for a game like Ultra Assault. This shooter game does not have catchy adrenaline pumping action, and it does not make you want to buy immediately. In order to enjoy Ultra Assault you need to give it time to grow on you, much like anything that is truely good.

Recently I obtained a full version of the game and realised what I was missing. The game is much like any other vertical scrolling shooter, you shoot up the screen, and enemies try to kill you. Ultra Assault has many interesting enemy types that will attack you from both the air, and the ground. Below you is always some nice interesting scenary, with many things to blow up in order to more obtain goodies. The graphics and sound are both top notch, with every explosion, gun shot, and engine sounding as it should.

Ultra Assault is a very hard shooter game, I had serious trouble beating it on easy mode, and I play a lot of shooters. Your ship is quite large and so are the enemy bullets making dodging all the harder, and along the way there will be the odd wall you can collide with. Dying in this game means going back to the last checkpoint, and you only get three lives. Another thing that adds to the difficulty is having to press a button after picking up a bonus. Once you have learnt this system its fine, but someone new to the game probably won't realise how to do this, and will be playing with no upgrades at all. I think the hard skill level of Ultra Assault adds to its charm somewhat, although it is likely to turn casual gamers away rather quickly.

Overall I really liked this game, and I intend to keep playing it after I upload this review, I really want to beat it on hard mode (yeah right!). If you like shooters, and you like a REAL challenge then you should buy Ultra Assault, I seriously doubt you will regret it. It is certainly better than most other galaga games.

Score: 9/10
You can find Ultra Assault at www.smallrockets.com