Out of the hundreds of shoot 'em ups that I've played in my decades of gaming, I can easily say that Ginga Force is one of the best. Its combination of skill-testing stages, rewarding customisation, and lively presentation make it one must-have shmup.

Ginga Force is one of those shoot-em-ups that gives you exactly what you want all while giving just enough variety to the formula to keep things feeling fresh. A few choices along the way don't meet the mark, but nothing gets in the way of Ginga Force's fantastic gameplay.

A nearly flawless “bullet hell”, vertical shooter with story elements, high difficulty and customization options for your aircraft.

Ginga Force is a high-quality shoot 'em up that has enough content for you to keep playing and replaying. Shoot 'em up fans will love it and this is the kind of thing we love to see on PSN.

Ginga Force is one of the better shoot ‘em ups I’ve played. As someone who traditionally is not a fan of the genre, this game absolutely gave me reason enough to play each of the levels. It is a shame that the narrative is too difficult to follow as it happens alongside the action. The ability to upgrade weapons and purchase bonus items, even after failing a level, is a welcome ingredient to allow people who only casually play within the shoot ‘em up genre the ability to enjoy the game enough to get through to the end, but the fact that a lot of the good stuff is locked behind "for genre veterans only" difficulty settings does whittle down the game's potential audience a little.

Frustratingly, Ginga Force is more ambitious than it is good, dragging down its occasional moments of signature Qute brilliance with a glacially-paced story mode in service of a forgettable plot. With much more generous tuning of the progression rewards, this could potentially be an effective gateway title to welcome newer players to the genre. As it is, it’s weirdly perched between the old and new, with too much grind and too much noise to really land for anyone.