This looks good, but the background really reminds me of the first stage in Einhander.
By the way, wouldn't the 'bullet-time' break the distinctive fast-pace of the shmup genre?
May as well save it for 'in-stage' tricky situations, or boss fights. Maybe via some kind of gauge.
It's not like you got trillions of ships, lasers & shit coming from everywhere, wanting you dead, like in
.Good luck for ye project anyway!
Also,
Gotta give credit, those slow-motion effects were neat for the time.