Re 'the play area needs to be smaller' – it is infinite. Making the gameplay faster has the issue that after 5 minutes or so you would have difficulty surviving, but making the vehicles more manoeuvrable is definitely a possibility. Thanks for the comments :)
@UG: I don't know what a mode7 engine is, so no :p
Needs to be able to move the nodes, and also a better indication of where the first break is. Fast forward would be very good too when it's near the end of a problem that you fail.