Upgrade Complete (Flash-based shooter)

[Vireo Gilvus]

Has anyone here ever heard of Upgrade Complete? It's a shoot-em-up made with Flash, it's got a customizable ship, and... everything else in the game is customizable, from the quality of the graphics and audio to the menus themselves. It's a silly gimmick, yes, but the ship customization can be fun (and somewhat RPG-like).

The game itself is fairly easy; enemies can pass right through you without harming you, and although you must defeat all the enemies in order to finish a stage, there is no penalty for failing to do so.

All in all, if I were to describe the game in a single sentence, I'd call it a shooter for people who hate shooters (read: me).

There's also a sequel, which features even more non-gameplay-related elements to upgrade and more implements of destruction to attach to your ship.

Upgrade Complete
Upgrade Complete 2 (WARNING: Contains a screamer, although it's very brief and only occurs once per playthrough)

[Warlock]

I think I played this gam a while back, and I remember it being a lot of fun- I'll have to check out the sequel.

- HC

[Vireo Gilvus]

Some words of advice:

Every unit has a different size, and you can buy extra spaces around your central ship to move the units into. Gun (now called Pistol), Magnet, and Laser (a new unit) are 2x2, Lightning is 3x3, and Missile (now called Rocket) is 4x4. There are two kinds of Speed units now, one for vertical movement and one for horizontal movement. Both are 2x2.

Finally, there is a new unit called Bomb (also 2x2 in size). Buying one will cause a new meter to appear on the screen, which slowly fills up during a stage. When the meter is full, press the Space Bar to fill the screen with unfocused beams of destruction which hit all enemies present. You can increase the speed of the meter by purchasing more Bomb units or upgrading the ones you have. I think eight fully upgraded Bomb units is the max.

Pistol and Rocket aren't as useful in Upgrade Complete 2 as they were in the original. Instead, you'll want to fill your ship with as many Lasers as possible, some Lightnings, and of course, some Magnets to drive the coins towards you. I recommend eight.

Laser is my favorite unit. Press and hold your main mouse button (usually the left) to shoot, and aim the beam with your mouse. Upgrade the Laser unit to increase the width of the beam, and buy more Laser units (you can have as many as you wish) to increase the number of beams. Really lets off a lot of frustration, especially in later stages when the enemies come in waves.

One more thing: In the beginning, buy all of the initially available upgrades except for Progress Bar. That way, you'll have $1705 to spend on ship parts instead of $705. (I recommend five Lasers in the front and three Magnets in the back, and you can immediately upgrade each of the Magnets to Level 4.)

[Warlock]

Played through both- well, that was fun.

- HC

[Momo Winkleburg]

Thanks so much for telling me about the screamer! When it occurred, if I hadn't read this, I probably would've punched a hole in my computer... Yea... I get scared easily.