Judging by the leaderboards I'm probably not going to see a lot of feedback here,
 
But how's everyone getting on with this? I've been pretty engrossed since release, just unlocked and finished the alternative story narrative which was pretty damn interesting if you follow that sort of thing.
 
Slowly making ground in arcade mode too, I don't think I quite have the skill necessary to finish the game in arcade, but I'm totally up for the challenge... One of the planes seems a little poor in comparison to the others for trying arcade, (the jet like plane with the large spread pattern) it doesn't really allow you to focus sections of bosses down. Some of the power ups are pretty hit and miss too, cluster bomb and the extra drone gun things seem useless in comparison to the seeking missiles/big beam of death. Bullet reflect also seems far superior to rollback and slow time in terms of time powers.
 
I'm also wondering about unlocks; I'm yet to obtain any of the other plane colours, I did unlock a gamer picture by finishing the story in challenging mode though. Anyone have any idea what else there is to unlock and how to go about it?

I don't have any answers, game is pretty good though. Just wanted to let you know someone else is playing.

I'm playing too! My greatest achievement so far is finishing Stage I on Hard difficulty in Arcade Mode with no continues, A-rating. That's how I unlocked a paint-job for one of the ships. I'm not sure if I unlocked it for the A rating, or just for beating the stage in Arcade Mode, but there you are.

I'm trying to stop using Rollback and start using Reflect, I have seen that the highest ranked players all use Reflect (and an encouraging variety of characters).

I'm going to try and stick it out with this game. It's very difficult, but I find it rewarding to succeed. I've gone soft playing all these easy games.

just unlocked and finished the alternative story narrative

How did you do that? Do you have to beat Story Mode on Challenging?

the jet like plane with the large spread pattern

That's the ship I was using when I did my A-rating Stage I run in Arcade Mode! I had seven or eight weapon upgrades by the time I was done Stage I, and I used my subweapons on bosses at certain points (you can completely blow off the Octo-boss's legs with just one Punk Spirit, for example). Also, the large spread pattern actually switches to a more focused one somewhere around upgrade #7 or so.

If anyone wants to add me on Xbox Live (gamertag: Ketonic), it'd be swell to have a little Giant Bomb leaderboard going.

just unlocked and finished the alternative story narrative

How did you do that? Do you have to beat Story Mode on Challenging?

@mwng: Just added you! Yeah, this game is amazing, still getting to grips with it though. I just love the atmosphere and the world they've made.

I was going to play this weekend but then MLG happened. But I have this Friday off so we'll see. I'm one A-rank away from Sergeant.

(gamertage) EarlessShrimp will add to the list, although I'm not very good at all. I have to admit though, I like the jet ship with gemini drone sub weapons and reflection capsule, it's not too bad. Only time I've beaten an arcade mode stage actually...

I just went for the sub-achievement "Complete the Story Using Only Your Primary Weapon," and I'm a bit confused. Am I not allowed to use Speed Up? Because the Prologue is unbeatable without the Speed Capsule, is it not? I went through the whole damn Story Mode using only my primary weapon and Speed Up, but I didn't qualify.

If there's anything I'd like to see in an update, it would be a menu screen which shows your ratings on each stage in each mode. There's no way to see whether or not you've gotten an A-rating on a level in Score Attack, except by memory (or, God forbid, taking notes).