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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.

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.

Nice Graphics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is really fun and it is officially the best graphics that I have seen for the Nintendo DS to date. You have the option of 4 shooting styles for your air ship.
To keep this review short, game play is extremelyfun and easy to pick up on. If you use a stylus pointer instead of your thumb on the touch screen, it will take away from your experience since you may need to switch your shooting style according to the territory. The multiplayer is excelent as well. The only downside is that the adventure aspect of the game is very short, but the challenges are extremely hard and will keep you constantly picking this game back up, even when the story is already over.

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.

Easily one of the best DS titles yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

WOW. JUST WOW. This game is great. the graphics are amazing, the gameplay is flawless and the controlling is another great feature. This is definetly in my top 3

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!

Nanostray: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Nanostray is one of the best DS games, in my opinion. There are 3 modes of play, wireless single-card download play, extras to unlock, and 8 kick-ass weapons.

However, there are some flaws. For instance, the touch-screen control is jerky and forced. It can be really annoying when there are enemies all around you and you need a special weapon, but you touch the wrong icon, and an enemy ship slams into you and kills you.

Also, the Adventure Mode is very easy to beat. I've had it for a week now and I've amost beat it already. But that doesn't mean it won't take a while to beat the entire game. You still have Arcade and Challenge Modes to beat.

All in all, if you are a part modern, part retro gaming fan, definitely get this game. Bye.

Best DS game yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is in my opinion the best game for the Nintendo thus far. The best past aboutit is the ability to register high scores on the Nanostry website. The graphics are excellent and the controls are easy to pick up. Well worth the price.

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).

Breath taking

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

No doubt anyone who sees this game will have to agree that it's one of the coolest looking DS games. You pilot a ship with a certain number number of ships(Which can take multiple hits), energy which can be used for stronger weapons, limited smart bombs, and you try to survive the level and beat the boss. The graphics are great and the music is pretty cool too. You can go through Adventure and try to clear all the levels leading up to the credits, do arcade mode where you can find your nanocode on a level played in this mode which can be posted on nanostray.com to be ranked among the best in the world, or take a shot at challenge mode to clear the missions and get unlockables. When you first get the game you can go through adventure mode in about 2 hours. After you tried or cleared adventure mode on all the difficulties, got your nanocode for every level trying to improve your score a few times while doing this, and at least took a try at all the challenges, you just seem to lose interest in the game. Some of the challenges in the game seem impossible to me and the constant lag in the game seems to annoy me, but this is a pretty good game

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