Final Flight of the Perseus is a free shmup that continues the legacy of arcade classics like Galaga. Controlling the inevitably doomed starship Perseus, you must battle waves of attacking enemy aliens until your reactions fail you, and you explode into spacedust.

Direct controls help you to navigate the single-screen war zones in seconds. Your crude, pixelated ship fires endlessly upwards as you drag it around the screen, dodging the equally ugly alien aggressors. Unfortunately, the one-to-one movement is not handled smoothly, with your craft jerking awkwardly around the screen like a paper plane on a string.

Battles consist of randomly generated waves comprising the game’s handful of enemies. The aliens don’t really seem to have their heart in it, though. Some of them bounce slowly around at the top of the screen, while others remain completely still to take occasional lazy potshots at you. That said, even these simple foes eventually become a challenge as their speed and numbers increase, until you eventually lose through sheer attrition.

Luckily, you have time to gather yourself between waves. During these pauses you can spend points earned in-game to power-up your solitary weapon and recharge your shields. There are very few upgrade options available, and no IAPs thanks to ad support, but this does at least keep the playing field level for the online leaderboards.

To add a little spice to proceedings there are four massive boss crafts that you'll repeatedly encounter. Like the standard enemies, these increase in power upon each meeting. Whether they attack with homing plasma cannons or simply spray the screen with lazers, their assaults become ever more intense. Despite this, meeting a boss for the third time in a run does eventually become monotonous.

Final Flight of the Perseus is about as straightforward as a shump can be. There are no frills, and the high-score driven action doesn't do much to develop the experience. It's fine in short bursts, but if you are good at its wave based combat then you will probably find yourself bored after the first few scuffles.