It's certainly a tricky game to get to grips with though, so we've put together some essential tips to help you get started.
- The game doesn't do a very good job of explaining this, so here's how the controls work. Once you place your finger down upon the right side of the screen, you assume control of the ship - but only if your finger is in the corresponding position. Keeping your finger held down, you can now move the ship around the left-hand side of the screen. Don't worry about firing the gun, your craft will do that automatically.
- You can't move beyond the perimeter of the solid white outline of a level, but do keep an eye out for any broken lines that surround part of a stage. Very often this is an indicator that ricocheting bullets that head back towards this area will bounce off the broken line. Use these spaces to protect yourself in particularly cramped levels.
- If you must pause for breath, or to wait for space up ahead to clear, make it very, very brief. If you stay still for more than a second or two, your counter will start moving upwards again, taking you back towards 100. Hang around for too long, and you'll just have to repeat your hard work if you're to get all the way down to zero.
- Be aware that in most of the levels, bullets do disappear after a short amount of time. Always keep one eye on where your oldest bullets are, and be prepared to slip into their current position once they've evaporated from the screen.
- Always be on the lookout for sliding components of a level. Even though a level might look impossibly cramped at first, you may well find that part of the wall structure slides away to reveal an opening. Make sure you're nearby when that happens, and keep moving! There'll likely be a series of hidden passages to negotiate.
- You don't have to stick to the right-handed setup if you prefer to play with your left. Head into the options screen to switch things over to the other side. Even if you're right-handed, you might want to experiment with the flipped controls - it may just allow you to beat a level you're hopelessly stuck on.
- If you want to progress in the game, you're going to have to achieve a certain number of star ratings across each tier of levels. If you're really struggling to get to a new chunk of content, think about heading back to the earliest missions and see if there are any nice and easy extra stars you can grab for your tally. You'll likely have improved since the last time you played these levels, making the clean-up job nice and easy.
- There are some truly dastardly levels in Don't Shoot Yourself! that don't even show you the outline of the walls. In these "glass levels" make sure you're moving far away from the cluster of bullets at all times to avoid a nasty surprise, and be ready to backtrack at a moment's notice if you spot a ricochet brewing.
