Customer Reviews

Nanostray

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me preface this by saying I am an avid retro-gamer collector and am a huge fan of space shooters in general. I have many classic shooters in my library including some of the best for the pc engine, super famicom, and neo geo. This being said, Nanostray is one of the finest shooters I've had the pleasure of playing for any system. The graphics are extremely impressive, the audio is great, and the controls are solid. There's no picking up this game without being impressed.
This is a delightfully difficult game. You can play in adventure mode, arcade mode, or do stages in challenge modes where you have to complete levels under certain restrictions. There are many unlockables to add to the replay value.
The touch screen is used brilliantly. The top screen only shows the action with no clutter. The touch screen has enemy radar, boss ship scanning (you don't have to use this feature), your health (yes you have health, but collisions spell instant death), your sub weapon power gauge, missiles, and current weapon type selection.
Aside from missiles, you have four main weapon types which you can switch on the fly:
Plasma, which is your basic weapon, fast and good damage, and the plama sub weapon which is a more powerful version of the plasma gun (all sub weapons use energy which is replenished by collecting power items of varying value dropped by some kills.. you can attract these power ups if you choose by holding down R). For those who have played Ikaruga, the plasma weapon type is essentially like the main gun (and the charge weapon is like the sub weapon here).
The next weapon type is a side gun, this shoots out a spread of lazer fire from both sides of your ship, the sub weapon is a stronger version of this.
The third type is a parallel seeker laser which has limited homing ability, the sub weapon version of this is a seeker missile which is very slow and shot from the back of your ship to seek the closest enemy (good for enemies behind you as it does immense damage).
The last weapon type is electricity, this shoots out an electric wave with good lateral range, the sub weapon is an electric storm which does great damage for a short range around your ship in all directions. Each weapon type and its corresponding sub weapon are good for different situations.
In closing, if you are itching for a challenging space shooter this is a great one to have. Solid controls, excellent and easy to use touch screen, extremely impressive graphics and sound, and good replay value makes this a 5 star game.

This is space shooter in the style of R-Type-where waves of different enemies come at flying in distinctive types with different sorts of weapons. At the end there is a boss with several different pieces that have to be shot off. You have 4 different types of weapons that you can switch between using the touch screen. I do not use the stylus for this, I just give it a flick with my fingernail. The enemies are coming too fast to pick up the stylus.

The game is fairly difficult even on the lower levels. You may find yourself dying a lot and if you die before you meet the boss, you have to do the level again from the beginning when you continue. Personally I prefer this as it does not allow you to just continue-continue-continue through the game. You actually have to learn the best way to beat the different types of waves.

What really sets this game apart is the gorgeous graphics. The levels are beautifully colored and just pop off the DS screens. There is a techno soundtrack that does a good job of setting a frantic tone for the action. I feel comfortable recommending this game to anyone that enjoys these types of things - especially since the game was introduced at a lower price.

... on the DS, that is.

The good:
- Fantastic background graphics and an incredibly smooth frame rate
- Some really cool weapons
- Enjoyably retro music
- Lots of different modes
- Online high score table and challenges make for great replayability
- Cool touch-screen radar
- Many unlockables
- Some cool bosses
- Most importantly, it's the only scrolling shooter the DS may get for a long time.

The bad:
- I only really use two out of the four weapons, because having to hit the others on the touch screen usually isn't worth it
- Bottom-screen radar is useless
- Did I mention the touch screen usage is terrible?
- In all modes, scores are kept only if you beat a level!
- Some of the mission modes are next to impossible
- Enemy designs, while nice, are repetitive
- Unlockables, so far, are terrible
- Really anticlimactic, rather easy final level. Last boss is disappointingly bland and cliche.

It's no Layer Section or Ikaruga, but it's the only game of its kind on the DS and it's quite enjoyable.

Horizontal/Vertical shooters bring me back to the old days of gaming. Skill-wise, I'm pretty terrible at shooters, and the difficulty level of this game initially turned me off. However, after a few games you really get sucked-in to the gameplay. All the action takes place on the top screen- The bottom is for scanning for Boss enemy weaknesses and selecting weapons. The enemy patterns don't vary, but that doesn't mean you'll breeze though this with a top score. Yes, the game is a bit short if you are looking to "clear" all the levels, but that's not what a game of this type is about- especially since you can go to www.nanostray.com and enter your high scores for each level to see how you rank worldwide (the game generates a code associated with your score which you can enter at the site) This is pretty cool, if you are like me you'll find yourself playing through a level multiple times to try and beat your last "best" score (on the Nanostray website I'm ranked around 250th on most levels).
The graphics are sharp and well detailed for a DS game (as this is the only scrolling-shooter for the DS, I don't know what to compare it against) and the details of the enemy ships are pretty nice- I found myself looking at the game cartridge & thought "wow- all that in such a small cartridge...I'm such a dork!). The music is well suited to the frantic pace you'll find yourself in throughout each level, nothing too catchy or annoying.
At the conclusion of each level you will encounter a Boss- each with its own unique weak spots (which you can discover easily enough by hitting a "scan" button on the bottom DS screen).
Implementation of the duel screen seems like an afterthought- the top screen is for all the gameplay, the bottom is for weapon selection. Use of the touch screen is limited to only selecting which firing weapon you will use (also, to scan enemy bosses for weaknesses. And a Radar window which offers no help). You'll be using your fingers instead of the stylus. The only gripe I have with the bottom screen is that the weapon selection buttons are so darn close to each other & in more than one instance I found that I had died because I took my attention away from the top screen (gameplay screen) to focus on the bottom screen to change my weapons. The bottom screen set-up really feels a bit rushed. Regardless, this is quite a fun game. It can be played in short bursts, which is something I can appreciate in a portable.

Extras/Replay Value: Once you clear a level, you will a unlock "Challenge Mode" for that level. Basically, it requires you to play through the level again with a certain criteria (example: get a certain score or not being allowed to use special weapons). For me this mode is near-impossible- I haven't been able to clear but 4 of the 20-something challenges total.

Overall- solid shoot em' up -gameplay may feel a bit short, but is made up for with a high replay value (IMHO); marred only by the placement of the bottom screen's weapon selection scheme (and maybe an additional level of two wouldn't have hurt).

great game, great graphics but a little on the short side
fun while it last --worth twenty dollars

Nanostray is a great game. Its fun addictive and easy to play. My only real complaint is that the campaign is to short, I beat it in a few hours. But the arcade mode is great, possibly better than the campaign. Its definatly worth buying.

This is the kind of game that you play if games like the original Starfox for the SNES appeal to you. Don't expect incredible depth, but rather, gaze at the awesome graphics and music while blasting a bunch of ammo at waves and waves of oncoming enemies. I love it. The only drawback is that the game is waay too short for the money- I would say a good three hours is enough to beat this game from the moment you pick it up if you are a seasoned gamer. With that said, I can never get sick of replaying this game because the graphics and superficial flashiness are kind of addictive to me. If you are expecting a hardcore shoot-em-up on the level of Ikaruga, you will definitely be disappointed.

This was the first game i got for my ds (not because i thought it looked really good, but because it was the only thing i could afford at the time). As soon as i booted the game up I was amazed by the graphical quality. I didn't think portable shooters looked this good. I was able to pick it up and play instantly because of the easy to learn controls and the total lack of a story. The box may try to fool you into thinking that there's a story somewhere in here, but there really isn't. You're just some random ship flying around blowing up random things. And it's very entertaining. However, there are some things that mess up an otherwise entertaining game. Sometimes, when there's lots of action going on, you will experience some slowdown (the game completely slows down for a second or two). Also, like I mentioned before, there is absolutely no story at all. Last but most certainly not least, the game is painfully short. You could probably beat it in 2 or 3 hours. I was at school for the majority of the week, so it took me almost the whole week to beat it. But most likely, you will beat it in less time. Overall, this is a fun shooter that's over too quickly.
Graphics- 8/10 (Slowdown, but nice environments and ship/boss models)
Sound- 7/10
Playability- 9/10 (Controls are all very easy to learn, but using the touch screen to switch weapons might tick some people off at first)
Entertainment- 8/10 (Fun but way too short)
Overall, Nanostray gets 8/10

This was a pretty fun game to play to pass time. The boss battles had a good enough challenge to it. The graphics were better than expected on the DS. I enjoyed this enough to put Nanostray 2 on my wish list, because the reviews say it is better than the first.

Good, but not great shooter. Still worth picking up though.... plus there is the sequel. Worth collecting!