I’ll admit that I cheated a little on this particular game and only played Bullet Candy once. After loading it up, it was very reminiscent of Scoregasm so I didn’t spend too much time playing around with it. I later learned (after searching online if this was meant as a predecessor to Scoregasm) that there’s a suite of sh’m’ups with slightly different designs.

One of the signature things that immediately reminded me of Scoregasm was the soundtrack. The same tracks were used in Bullet Candy as in Scoregasm. So, the music was pleasant to play in the background, and it was a little bit of a different experience not hearing the ooh’s and aah’s as sound effects. Another was the graphics were very similar. Not quite the same, but it was clear Scoregasm came along later with more refined graphics and models.

Bullet Candy is more arcade-like than Scoregasm. There are 50 levels, but I only made it through 30-some before accidentally suiciding myself. The goal is to pick up as many score modifiers as possible as well as power ups like triple shot and lasers. The triple shot and lasers are familiar from Scoregasm, but the immunity was not. After a set number of kills, you are awarded with a random power-up, which can be immunity, an upgrade to your weapons (e.g., triple shot), or an extra life.

Unfortunately, you have to also chase the booster around and catch it in order to get the award. This can put you in harm’s way as it becomes a little chaotic to determine what is friendly and what is not. Needless to say, I died a few times in my pursuit around the map trying to get a power-up.

Another interesting mechanic is the option to suicide. If you know you’re in a hopeless situation, but want to keep your weapons and score multiplier, you can choose to suicide. This retains your weapons and score multiplier, but you lose two lives instead of one. It’s also easy to accidentally hit the suicide when you mean to do something else, as I did.

Each map is a fairly simple rectangle compared to the more complicated maps of Scoregasm. However, there are a few enemies that can make life difficult if they are not taken out quickly, like the spiral NPC that shoots out bullets in a spiral pattern and can become difficult to dodge when there are other NPCs moving side to side and up and down the screen. To complete a map, all enemies must be killed or all score multipliers must be picked up. If all score multipliers are picked up, then all monsters get wiped from the screen.

Having played through Scoregasm, I didn’t feel very compelled to try to finish Bullet Candy. It was different enough, mechanic-wise, to take my first and only play through seriously, but it was similar enough that I didn’t feel like replaying it over and over. It’s also possible I’m just not in the mood for a shoot-em-up arcade-style, but I figured my time would be better spent playing something new. I think it’s a good game, though, if it does feel a little bit dated compared to Scoregasm. Just make sure you have a good block of time to kill as each death resets you back to the first stage.