This is like Duck Hunt...TO THE EXTREME!!!

Bird Flu Exterminator is a funny beast. It is immediately charming, with it's retro pixel art graphics and the decidedly strange premise of a flying boy shooting magic and destroying contaminated pidgeons makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Gameplay wise, the shmup mechanics are tight and original. The man's magic missiles are not traditional shmup projectiles, rather they are big, homing fireballs that fly out in all direction and peel back towards their avian prey. The man does not handle conventionally either, with the user's keyboard input making the character skid around the screen as if he was floating around on ice. The lack of precision in both these aspects is refreshingly entertaining.

My main gripe with the game comes with it's length. At four levels, none of which are really that hard, the games total play time comes down to only a couple of minutes. This is a big shame, because of how refreshingly original this shmup is I am left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. The last, boss level, whilst it shows potential, has a black background and a small, boring sprite, making me feel as if the final level was slapped together with haste. Once the final level is beaten the player is presented with the dénouement of the story, which effectively equates to "and everything was good again, the end", and the game starts again.

That said, I cannot deny the charm of this game, and the refreshing mechanics really shakie up what could have been an uninspired shmup. I beg of the creator, PLEASE, MAKE MORE LEVELS!!!