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Nanostray Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Multiplayer on one cart.
The difficulty may be too great for some.
Throw me a good shooting game and I'll feast upon it like turkey leftovers the day after Thanksgiving. I couldn't tell you all the hours I've invested in classics like Radiant Silvergun and Gradius V. But there haven't been too many handheld shooting games as of late that have caught my eye, aside from Iridion II for the Game Boy Advance. Produced by the folks at Shin'en and released by Majesco, the game was an utter delight, filled with awesome visuals, a memorable soundtrack, righteous power-ups and a great level of challenge. I still love it. But now it has company.
Majesco's finally released Nanostray for the Nintendo DS, Shin'en's follow-up to Iridion II, and although its shipments seem somewhat limited for some odd reason, the game's most definitely worth hunting down. Why? Simple. The team that made Iridion II such a vast experience have doubled their efforts, and may have very well produced one of the best shooting games ever made.
Nanostray follows a simple format. It basically lets you choose from a number of destinations across a planetside and then flies you right into the action, where you shoot down a number of enemies. You have a number of weapons at your disposal, including a tracking laser, typical laser blasts, and some sweet-looking side blasters, which can be used for conventional use with the A button or powered-up for a limited time with the B button. A power gauge on the bottom screen lets you know how much firepower you have left for your alternate fire, and it can easily be refilled by shooting a group of enemies and collecting blue coins. You can also hit the X button to drop an immense bomb and clear the screen.
But while the game's format may be simple, Nanostray itself is anything but. Shin'en has crafted together a challenging game that will test you throughout its eight levels. The normal difficulty's alright, but it's when you step up into the Hard and Super difficulties that you will find even your most dexterous shooting skills put to the utmost test.
There's various modes that can be checked out in Nanostray. You begin in Adventure, where you choose your Destinations on surrounding planets and then complete each level. From there, as you proceed, new levels can be unlocked in Arcade mode to simply jump in play. There's also a Challenge mode where new challenges can be completed on these levels, like meeting a certain point level or avoiding getting killed by the enemy.
But the real treat comes in the form of Multiplayer, where you can add a friend in play for Head-To-Head action in four versus stages. It works on a point system in competitive play, and it's pretty sweet. What's even sweeter is the fact you only need one cartridge for this mode, as the other player can download the game onto their machine. Shin'en has done their homework here and produced a nice bonus feature with this.
As far as presentation, Majesco's once again pushed themselves for a quality effort. The graphics look amazing, with breathing 3-D environments, complex enemy animation, and some wildly designed bosses, ranging from a flying warship that you have to fly under to avoid to a power tower that actually has two levels to defeat, all while swooning enemies try to destroy you. The music and sound effects are also top notch, maintaining a great shooting flavor all their own.
Throw in an online ranking mode where you can match up your scores to other players over the Internet, and you've got a game that covers all the bases for shooter fans. It may be a little too difficult for some (thank God for infinite continues and game saves), but everyone else will become rather accustomed to the game's formula. Nanostray is a wonderful surprise, a shooter that really engulfs you in its features and its presentation, and it shouldn't be missed.
posted July 28, 2005