so I finally had time to play it today so here's my 2 cents:
it's far too easy & very unbalanced. I finished the entire game on my first try, only dying twice...then comes the new stage Dark Matters; they made this extremely hard compared to the rest of the game.They literally threw in so much shit you can barely avoid anything; almost makes me wanna play last hope... I lost all my (7 or 8) lives in under 2 minutes & got to the game over screen; I tried continue & it makes you start the final stage again...with NO weapons so you die over & over again the first minute in the game. You get a new pod if you're lucky enough to make it to the half of the stage & then if you're able to pick it up (with all the shit it throws at you), you might make it to the boss...but then...
so I made it to the final boss the second time I tried the game. got there just barely with a small pod & no rockets; then the boss throws 10 times more at you than any other boss & you die ...
now for me personally this isn't a bad thing since I love a challenge, but I think it'll scare many people off since the last stage is just too hard compared to the rest of the game. the low res I read about is very doable imo, could be a little better but it really doesn't bother.
I'll prolly finish the game after playing it 2 or 3 times more, will let you guys know when I do so. won't be today though...
edit: couldn't resist & just gave it another try; this time I finished it...so that makes it 3 times...