| Nanostray review |
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Nanostray may be the first shmup to grace the DS, but what a way to lose its virginity!
It is developer Shin’en’s third vertical shooter and undoubtedly their best effort by far (previous games being Iridion and Iridion 2 on the Game Boy Advance).
From the first moment of the opening stage the game showcases what the DS is capable of - overall detail levels push the machine so far that when the screen is well populated slow-down is very noticeable. The soundtrack and effects also won’t disappoint; Shin’en has a reputation for quality sounds, prompting the release of a soundtrack CD for Iridion 2. For the first time, Shin'en have been able to incorporate a 3D aspect of play that actually works - moving up actually takes you into the screen giving the impression you are further away - vital for allowing you to avoid parts of the scenery/enemies on many stages
Nanostray is made up of eight different stages; they each need to be completed in Adventure Mode (the main story mode) to become available in the game's score attack “Arcade Mode”. Completing stages in Adventure Mode also opens various challenges in Challenge Mode: there are 22 differing challenges in total to unlock, ranging from “Score 350,000 Points on Stage 1” to “Clear 25 Waves on Stage 7”, a nice addition to this genre.
Adventure Mode can be played on three difficulty levels; Normal, Advanced and Expert. Each difficulty level consists of the same number of enemies, attack patterns etc, but each enemy takes more shots to destroy and your ship has a less powerful shield, fewer bombs and most importantly fewer lives. Adventure Mode is split into three sections (stages 1-3, 4-6 and 7-8 ) and the player can choose their path to an extent, however all three stages must be completed before advancement to the next section is permitted. On Normal difficulty an average player will breeze through all eight stages within a couple of hours due to the unlimited continues; the harder difficulty levels do present more of a challenge though, more-experienced gamers will be pleased to hear.
Arcade Mode is where the game's replay value lies. Upon completing a stage a score-related passcode is presented to enter on the official ranking pages to see how your score compares to others around the globe. Difficulty on Arcade Mode is set to Advanced by default and cannot be changed.
The ship is equipped with four primary and four secondary weapons plus bombs, the four primary weapons are: Pulse Laser, Sideways Laser, Homing Laser and Lightning – these all have unlimited amounts of ammunition. Secondary weapons are very similar to the primary ones but are around three times more powerful – these have an energy-type bar that depletes with each use, but gives about eight shots before full depletion. The secondary weapon energy bar is fully restored by collecting a blue coin. There is one type of bomb, which destroys everything onscreen when activated. Weapon selection can only be done via the touch screen and means you have to take your thumb off the D-pad/ buttons for a second, until the position of each weapon (on the touch screen) becomes second nature you have to glance at the bottom screen to see where each weapon-select icon is, which is not ideal in this type of game. The touch screen also doubles up as an enemy radar and when you reach the end-of-stage boss it displays the boss's weak points and energy bar.
For the scoring system, every enemy destroyed will drop gold coins, the bigger the enemy the more coins they drop. As with all shooters there is a method to achieving high scores, Nanostray's riff is collecting blue coins dropped by destroying complete enemy ships - coins are scored 1x500 for the first, then 2x500 for the second etc. Most levels have between thirty and fifty-five blue coins available, however there is a catch; you cannot use your secondary weapon otherwise the counter is reset to 1x500 and you start over again.
Another much smaller factor to scoring is Valor - this starts the level at 160,000 points, and for every frame you have fired a weapon onscreen points are taken away from your Valor score, a bit like an accuracy bonus.
A new and useful feature is the pressing the “R” button drags any coins on screen to your ship but again every frame you press “R” detracts from your Valor – an average respectable Valor score for most levels is anything over 30,000 points.
Apart from weapon selection, all is great so far, however the game does have a couple of significant flaws; the first one being that you are able to shoot enemies before they even appear on the screen (particularly annoying if you are going for a high score by collecting blue coins, as the blue coin will not appear). Secondly there are invisible walls on the left and right side of the screen, not overly big ones but big enough for say a blue coin to be dropped in, you cannot get to it with your ship so have to use the “R” button to attract it to your ship.
In addition to the single-player mode, two-player gaming is catered for (with just one cartridge). There are four multiplayer games available, all are quick-blast, score-related fun and virtually self-explanatory: 60-second run, 120-second run, first to 25,000 points, Bonus Race – where you have to collect more gold coins than your opponent inside two minutes.
As stated, the game does have two major flaws but these can be worked around and will be forgotten after a couple of hours' play. It remains a thoroughly enjoyable, good all-round handheld shooter that's accessible to all ages and playing skills, with lots of replay value that demonstrates that, thanks to technology, good portable shooters are now possible once more. |
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Shooter
Developer: Shin’en Multimedia
Publisher: Majesco
Players: 1-2
Version: United States
Reviewed: Aug 2005
Writer: DavidHolliss
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Pros:
- Groundbreaking graphics
- Difficulty levels to suit all players
- Very hard to put down, that "one more go" feeling
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Cons:
- Having to use touch screen for weapon selection
- Shooting enemies off screen
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Nanostray Video: 3.4MB
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