Pixel Arcade
About this game
Dive Squadron is a formation shooter built entirely around attack runs. A flock of enemies hangs in a grid at the top of the screen, motionless apart from a gentle sway, and instead of marching toward you they send small groups down in curving dives that finish somewhere near your cannon.
You move left and right with the arrow keys and fire with space; touch players get left, right and a fire button. Only two of your shots can be on screen at once. Because the formation is static, the entire skill is anticipating dive paths: enemies aim at where you are when the dive begins, so a small step sideways at the right moment turns a threat into an easy target crossing your gunline.
Enemies in formation score 30 to 60 points. The same enemy shot mid-dive is worth double. The best score comes from the flagship convoy: a yellow flagship dives with two escorts, and if you destroy both escorts and then the flagship during the same run, the convoy bonus is worth several times the sum of the parts.
The mistake to avoid is parking under the formation to farm the back rows, because a dive that begins directly overhead gives you almost no time to react. Stay near the centre, move constantly, and shoot upward only when nothing is diving. Colourful formation shooters like this were the immediate successors to the plain marching-row cabinets of the late 1970s.
FAQ
How is this different from Star Swarm?
Simpler and faster. There are no capture beams or twin ships here; the whole game is reading dive angles and punishing convoys.
What is the convoy bonus?
Hitting the two escorts and then the flagship during one dive is worth several times the value of shooting them separately.
Does the formation ever advance?
It never marches down at you. Everything that reaches you does so by diving.
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