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a truly excellent shooter

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 32
Date: July 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

great shooter

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: December 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

The only game of its kind

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 12 / 17
Date: August 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

... 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.

Quite enjoyable shooter & quite challenging too!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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).

Nanostray DS: Shin'en was close to perfect.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Pros:
-Graphics push the envelope of the DS, every inch of both screens are utilized.
-Sound is very good for this genre, Shin'en creates a sound engine for the DS.
-Online interaction through the website Nanostray Dot Com allows for ranking of your high scores.
-Multiplayer gaming with this game is very engaging. You only need one copy to share with a friend. I have played this feature repeatedly, no telling how many hours have been wasted blasting away!
-Numerous unlockable challenges really do enhance gameplay and keep you glued to the DS long after you beat the game.

Cons:
-If I had a third robotic hand, I would play Nanostray because selecting between weapons while playing the game would a snap.
-Upgrading weapons between missions in Adventure mode would increase the replay value of the game. You are instead left with using the "third hand" to select weapons.

I gave this game 4 stars overall because you are reminded of this games' few shortcomings every time you play. However, if you are anything close to a fan of the genre you must get the game!

good shooter

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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

Nanostray

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Nanostray is the best game I have ever played! When I first got the game, I thought I got the wrong game. I was the one who was wrong. This was the best game that I have ever played. I think this game is good because it has challenging levels. If you just started this game, I think the easiest planet is the Mitsurin Jungle.

great graphics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

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

Nanostray

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

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.

Best shooter EVER

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 15
Date: July 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I preordered this game because it's made by the same people who made Iridion 3D for the GBA (which was a launch game ofr it in 2001 had the best GBA grpaohcs ever) and so this is like a sequel to it. You shoot everything in sight and you have amazing powers it's fun buy it.

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