Asteroid Bounty Hunter is still not quite a traditional, hard-as-nails shoot-em-up not only due to the bulk of your targets being asteroids, but also because of the large amount of flexibility in desired difficulty and level progression. Casual gamers looking for a schmup that won't make their hair fall out trying to complete the first level will be welcomed with open arms by ABH.

Three difficulties can be chosen before you begin any mission, including an easy mode that does exactly what it says on the tin. On top of that, levels can be played repeatedly to earn experience points and ship upgrades, even if you fail to complete the mission. Also selectable on any mission are bullet hell and bounty hunter modes, the former reducing the gap between asteroids and enemy ships to zero and the latter forcing enemy bounty hunter ships to spawn much more frequently. You'll only want to toggle those to 'on' if you want an increased challenge as they simply boil down to adding more enemies to the screen.

Asteroids and enemies looking to cash in on the bounty on your head net you XP for their obliteration. Larger enemies and tougher asteroids offer rewards in proportion to their resilience and prowess. Compared to ShipLord, the upgrade system has been improved. Shield and weapon power can be increased but now you can upgrade the stats of your ship too, and eventually unlock new ships with greater base stats.

You have 4 weapons at your disposal and they're pretty interesting; a bit different from the usual bunch. Regular attack comes in the form of a sort of burst-fire projectile attack and specials include a melt-your-own-path death ray and a phoenix that flies to the center of the screen before bursting into waves of rockets than fan out and destroy anything they come into contact with.

As previously mentioned, ABH will be similar in presentation to anyone who played ShipLord, featuring 2D enemies on a 3D background, with nicely rendered planets and attractive glow-type lighting effects. New to this game is the addition of story sequences occasionally presenting themselves before a mission. While not offering a deep story or fantastic art, these decently-voiced, black and white sketches are an unexpected bonus in a schmup game. It appears as if someone else was sub-contracted to produce these scenes, as the English within is without fault, unlike the in-game descriptions which contain minor grammatical errors (although they are unlikely to cause any consternation!).

Every 5th of the game's 25 levels ends with a boss fight. Take a look at their huge HP gauge in the bottom right of the HUD and you'll realize you're in for a long fight. Memorizing their attack patterns and launching your own offence in between is the one and only path to success. It's at this point (after vanquishing your first boss) that you may need to start repeating some earlier levels to upgrade your ship. The asteroid's HP increases drastically after this point so you'll need extra firepower to destory them before they fly off-screen, or into your ship.

Lastly, the game features a very chilled out soundtrack likely to be appreciated by many players. Tracks can be skipped or selected at random mid-mission with the press of a button. If the music is not to your taste, you can even import your own songs. In summary, Asteroid Bounty Hunter's fluid controls, stand-out flexibility of play style/difficulty and nice XP/upgrade system make it a fun shoot-em-up for casual players and hard-nut schmup fans alike.