I love mode based games, but one of my favorite things about DP is that you don't always have to be in one. Everything adds progress to something attainable. ryanwanger touched on it, but it's not random that you hit "something good" on every shot. In DP, unlit shots aren't meaningless. Almost any shot at any time moves the player closer to a specific feature. There really are no "dead" shots. It reminds me of MM that way.