Yes, it's very difficult; yes it's visually awesome. If you'r a problem-solver you'll have a hard time putting this down
It starts out simple enough; "predicted paths" and "insertion points" of the badies are displayed before they enter the screen so you have a second to prepare. And killing off the "head" of the formation will destroy the group.
Then upon reaching Level 2 you quickly realize the difficulty has been raised. Mid-way through and toward the end of Lev.2 one might think the formations are impossible to defeat, but a little thought and a little strategy and it can be done.
So far I have only gotten to Lev.3 three times (in adventure mode) where the difficulty is up'ed a few more notches.
There are two modes of game play you can choose...
Adventure - where you start at level 1 and work your way through all the levels.
Championship - where you can choose a level to play and start from the beginning of that level.
There is also a "Replay" option where you can replay your last mission and you have the chance to see where you went wrong and how to get better.
Overall I think it is a solid game, it delivers as promised, accomplishes it's intentions, and is visually stunning. The music isn't half-bad either.
I did take a point off for the sheer magnitude of the difficulty. This is not for your average gamer, it will get very challenging, and will require skill and patience to complete this game.
I really enjoy this game it is fun to just play as a space shoot'em-up / enemy scroller, and as a problem solving strategy shooter. I really enjoy playing it, if you are at all interested you should at the very least DL the free demo from XBL.