Dolmen

Mastering Dolmen’s fast-paced shooting action is easier with these pro tips to help you defeat the alien invasion and claim a high score. First, familiarize yourself with the core controls: use your joystick to move the XF-27 Starfighter across the screen, the primary fire button to shoot your equipped weapon, and the secondary button to deploy a screen-clearing special bomb that destroys all small enemies and nullifies incoming projectiles. For early levels, prioritize staying in the lower half of the screen at all times: this gives you maximum time to react to incoming enemy ships and projectile barrages that spawn from the top or sides of the play area. When enemies spawn, always target red-colored scout drones first: these are the only standard enemies that drop weapon upgrade pickups, which will drastically increase your firepower. The default laser weapon upgrades to a wide 3-way scatter shot at level 3, which is ideal for clearing large groups of small enemies, while the plasma rifle pickup you can find starting in level 2 deals 3x more damage to bosses, so swap to it whenever you are about to face a level boss. Save your special bombs for high-stakes moments: don’t waste them on small groups of regular enemies, and instead hold them for boss fights when the boss triggers a full-screen projectile barrage that you can’t dodge, or when you are surrounded by enemies with no escape route. Each boss has a clear weak point and predictable attack pattern: for example, the level 1 volcanic worm boss only takes damage when it opens its mouth to fire a laser, so focus all your fire on its head during that 2-second window, and stay near the bottom of the screen to avoid its sweeping rock projectile attack. Look out for hidden secrets too: in level 3, there is a glowing blue crystal embedded in the right-hand side of the terrain halfway through the level, and shooting it 5 times will drop a 1-up extra life pickup that can be a huge help for later levels. If you manage to