There are two distinct portions of the game: an overworld where the player control Recker directly, and side-scrolling shooter random battles.
Overworld[edit]
In the overworld, Recker travels around either talking to people to advance the plot or searching for items and data on one of several planets. As the game progresses, his abilities expand: he is given more weapons to fight the local flora and fauna, and he receives power-ups that let him pass different barriers to his progress.
Ship Battles[edit]
As the player traverse the various planets, they are frequently transported into space to pilot the Krill defense fleet surrounding each planet. The ships are biological in nature and semiautonomous: they only require a pilot when they sense danger. In most battles, the player are required to shoot down a certain number of enemies to end the sequence.
The ship battles are where the RPG elements of the game come in: as the player kill enemies, they drop experience bubbles, which power up the offensive and defensive capabilities. The player can further increase their abilities through the Gun Data system.
Unlike many shooters, there is no need to have a fixed ship in this game. The player are transported to a different ship in one of half a dozen classes, chosen randomly by the game. In some battles they will fly a small, agile attack ship, in some a bomber, and in some a lumbering cargo vessel.
Gun Data
The Gun Data system allows the player to customize how their ship fires its weapons. There are three categories that can be changed: cannon, bullet, and impact. The cannon alters the direction and manner in which the bullets fire (forwards, backwards, rapid fire, etc.), Bullet alters the shot type (large, long-range, chargeable, etc.), and Impact determines what the bullet does when it hits an enemy (explodes, drops health, etc.). The game includes dozens of different options for each data, mostly found by exploration in the overworld. The total number of combinations is 15,680, although only one can be used in any given battle.
