When starting out, the game can be very intimidating, there's a whole lot going on at any given time and depending on your music choice you may not finish your first few tracks.

Longer songs leave more time to screw up, and with 3 lives when you start out you dont want too much risk.

The game has a leveling system which is tied to the number of points which you have earned from songs, this is important because as you level up you gain bonuses. These can be range from marginally helpful (volume powerups from the outset of a level) to almost essential for more difficult songs (extra lives). Use this sytem to your advantage early on, if your struggling use easy mode to ensure a higher score and replay songs you can get consistently good scores on.

The power bomb is your friend, not only does it clear the screen (damaging bosses), it gives you a 3 second invulnerability window, use it to get out of tight spots.

Boss ships do not have collision detection, meaning you can fly directly into/through them if need be.

• Waiting 5 seconds without firing your weapons will increase your multiplier, and this can be repeated ad infinitum. Useful during less aggressive portions of songs but you need to bear in mind you wont earn points or powerups without destroying enemies/ comets so find the right balance.

• Volume powerups do more than simply make the track louder, they amplify the changes the song makes to the background effects and your weapons. Put simply during quiet portions of a song your gun shoots small pellets, and during loud portions your gun fires wild beams of colour and has a lot more spread.

Bearing in mind the previous point many songs have around 5/10 seconds of quiet down time at the very end, this often cripples your weapons and leaves you suddenly vulnerable so don't get caught off guard.

POW labelled powerups have an even more direct impact on your weapons, adding direct streams which remain even during quieter sequences.

Filling both the VOL and POW bars activates beat hazard mode, giving you devastating spread and damage, this is key when fighting bosses and large groups of enemies, try and go on the offensive and fill these bars quickly, beat mania mode can keep you alive during tough encounters.

If you think using mellow songs or even podcasts will mean easy levels remember that your weapons will be a great deal weaker and I've seen songs I've considered mellow yield difficult levels as a result, sometimes inexplicably ( the song "stellar" by incubus was very hard and threw out several boss ships, why I couldn't tell you).

If you want a real challenge, try the album "a cross the universe" by Justice, I've found any song from that album to be capable of handing you your own testicles on a platter.

• As I have mentioned, some songs are easier than others, here I will compile a list of what I have found to be the least taxing. If you would like to make a suggestion please message me and I'll add it in ( please format it "song title, band,") then preferably a youtube link.
• Dead fingers, working for a nuclear free city. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBKzPl9CPQE
• Apocalypshit , Molotov. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boTKLuI7nzM
• Blue Moon, Frank Sinatra. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgi1txjrKZk
• A horse with no name, America. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8uHVVq10B8
• Ghostbusters theme, Ray Parker Junior. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHFVTQKqdQ