Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a truly excellent shooter, July 21, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great shooter, December 25, 2005
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The only game of its kind, August 1, 2005
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
... 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.
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