"Give this Stray a Home"

It's difficult not to be enthusiastic about the kind of games you love when their one of the very few offerings on a system. This enthusiasm can be a killer. What if you're so enthused that when you actually play the game it comes off with a really bad aftertaste? When the initial excitement wears off, you realize that you've made a grievous error? It's happened to me in the past, and I stopped holding expectations about new games altogether.

But it's hard not to be enthusiastic when a system has had a dearth of one of your favourite styles of games gets such a game. Thankfully, the Nanostray series has been good to me. I'm grounded enough and have played enough scrolling shoot'em ups to know that there's room for improvement, but they have been a pleasure to play through.

Nanostray 2 is the game in question. As the sequel to a game in the already precarious position of being one of the few shooters on the DS, Shin'en had the guts to make major design changes to the game. Ignoring the precedent set by a deluge of shovelware and carbon copy non-games, Shin'en changes many aspects of Nanostray, sometimes dramatically, for their sequel.

Most of the set conventions are here. The wave system for scoring is still in place - destroying waves without pause will net you more points, and the coins are here for points and ammo, but at the same time you've got a new orientation to play in and the weapon system has changed - for starters.

If you remember, games like Life Force/Salamander and Axelay had stages alternate between a vertical scrolling level and a horizontal scrolling level. Nanostray 2 does much the same where Nanostray was primarily vertical. The argument between horizontal and vertical camps can be intense (and very much purposeless) at times, but there's something here for either side. But what about us Gyruss folks? I would say I'm outraged, but that would be silly.

The weapon system has also changed, for the better. Nanostray had touch screen controls for switching between weapons during the level. This was extremely disorienting at first, and by the time it has become second nature you've kind of picked one weapon stand stuck with it. Nanostray 2 instead allows you to choose your subweapon before a mission and you're stuck with it. This means that there is a standardized primary weapon, which means weapon selection isn't quite like Nanostray - you don't have to worry about switching your weapon to suit the target.

Again, once you've played enough Nanostray you pretty much pick one of the weapons for primary use anyways. The same is sort of true here. Pulse, Raydion, and Seeker return from Nanostray. Ion Strike, Shock Mines, and Spin are added. There's plenty here to choose from, though Side has been given the boot.

The reason for Side's absence make sense with the new satellite system. The satellite system is a great way to handle options. You can choose three formations for how the satellites sit around your ship. So you can have them in a front spread, side spread, and back spread for instance. Very nice, though I would have adored the option to set the positions of the satellites individually. The other reason may be related to the scrolling orientation I talked about earlier, the weapon would have had to function differently in the two views. So, side shooting is taken care of even though there were a few situations I would have loved to have it with me. Ah well, c'est la Vie.

This makes the game feel new yet familiar, which is very nice. It stays true to the theme of Nanostray despite making changes here and there. This game has serious presentation value. For those who prefer to look, Nanostray has tremendous visuals for the medium. And not only that, they have the look of the ‘used future' you may have heard in reference to Star Wars. That is, not everything looks pristine, clean and shiny just because they can. Things are broken, things sometimes look shoddy when they have to. There's an overall grittiness to the art while not straying far from the usual conventions.

Each planet has its own look, it's own threats, themes, structures. Even the stats given about the planet just serve to enhance the attention to detail put into the presentation of this game. It's a visual and aural treat. Not surprising given Shin'en's experience with soundtracks and audio technology.

One concern is that in spite of all of this skill in presentation Shin'en didn't truly go crazy with the enemy variety and bosses. I'm sure you've heard this said about Nanostray 2, and I'm sure you will hear it again. Nanostray 2 makes use of many great shooter conventions but kind of loses focus on creativity in the process.

Yes, that laser ship in stage X may have different behaviour than that laser ship in stage Y, but it looks very similar and you're going to handle it the same way anyways. Really, the biggest variety in the game happens when it calls for organic threats rather than mechanicals. But the biggest problem lies in the bosses.

There are only a few bosses that truly stand out as being awesome. Some of them have potential, but are merely a variation on a boss form another level. I'm not going to lie, I love big beautiful bosses... and they are a definitive characteristic of shooters for me. Personally, nothing gets me pumping like a Huge Battleship or the ilk just throwing enough firepower to cripple a planet at me. Nanostray, 2, eh, not so much.

There's a lot of missed opportunities here. Organic level? Great. Why not have the boss suddenly hatch out of what you were fighting, then chase your ship down a tunnel on a diagonal? It would have been great. Some of the minibosses have dynamic environments, but most of the end bosses sit still. They don't have to be outlandish or over the top. They just need to be more dynamic.

I'm not going to dwell on this anymore than I have to, but the point is Nanostray needed to do something different.

As for the game itself, it's smooth but at times slow. Your ships is fairly large so some things are kind of clunky to accommodate this. At the same time, Shin'en did a tremendous job balancing the gameplay so that this is only an issue at a few points in the game. There's sometimes you say “this squadron of ships would be mor entertaining if my ship was faster,” but mostly it's a non-issue.

Shin'en also added touchscreen controls. These are surprisingly accessible if your hand doesn't cover the screen. Please Shin'en, _please_ make sure we always have the _option_ to select our own control scheme. They're well done here but for a lot of us we really can't see the screen to play a shooter of all things with the stylus.

If you start on easy, the enemies won't be shooting at you a whole lot anyways. Resistance increases with the selected difficulty. But not only that, there are differences in the environment as well. This is great, because not only does it increase enemy resistance but also the amount of hazards you have to deal with. I've said for a long time now that selectable difficulty could solve many of the gripes I have with games becoming too easy, and Nanostray shows how selectable difficulty -should- be done. It needs to change more than just making the enemy stronger and you weaker. It needs to make the threats more real, because if you can deal with threats in one capacity you won't need to improve if they remain in that capacity.

Though these changes through difficulty levels are admirable, the levels are kind of short so it's no grave task to adjust to the increased difficulty. Not only that, but the whole game feels like to could have used another two planets. Eight stages is not a bad number of levels for a shmup, but in this capacity there does seem to be the need for more. Even though the levels are short, most of them mix things up enough that the level is kept interesting the whole way through. This is through the combinations of enemy and the environment. The directionality of the stage doesn't always scroll the way your fighter is facing, so this makes them a little more interesting. I wouldn't change the length of the levels that are here, but adding another level or two might not be bad.

At the very least, there's two points that you can select the order at which you play the levels. This means you can make the progression different each time, which adds a bit of replay value. However, having a set of three levels selectable at one point means they all need to be a similar difficulty so your overall performance probably won't change due to order.

Of course, the main facet of replay for Nanostray 2 is going to be scoring. The Arcade Mode lets you replay any level you've reached in Adventure Mode and it dates and logs your top 3 scores for each stage. These can be taken online if you're the competitive sort and playing competitively will really hone your skills.

I should also touch on the Challenge Mode. Now, the Challenge Mode in Nanostray had various tasks related tot he levels themselves. Nanostray 2 uses similar environments to the levels but is more focused on performing quick tasks within a time limit. This is a step in the right direction, but the ultimate for this series would combine some level-based challenges from the first game with the tasks this one brings about. I would _LOVE_ 60 or more challenges. 40 of this brand and maybe 2 or more challenges for each of the levels. Contra 4 did challenges quite nicely, and I think Nanostray would benefit from having a similar kind of mix.

Overall, I've had positive things to say about Nanostray 2. But the negatives I did touch on are enough to bring it down in terms of shmups. Like I said, it's important not to let the fact that Nanostray is a series almost completely alone on the DS rule your opinion. I've played a lot of shooters, and I imagine the folks who are truly interested in this game have played just as many or more. I think it's fair to say that Nanostray really needs something to set it apart from the rest of the pack.

It might be too far into the series for a change in mechanics to be feasible now, but the game feels generic. Great, but generic. Maybe this means it is more accessible to the general public? If so I really do hope people pick up the title and support it. But even though it's an accessible game, you could still go wild with your ideas.

I don't want to end this on a negative note, because the really is well done. You do have to give props to Shin'en for providing us with a game that is one of the sole contenders for its breed on a console that's drowning in shovelware. There are some excellent games on the DS, but there are many clones and toss-aways as well. That's par for the course with any console, and what they need are some titles that go against its grain to avoid over saturation. Thankfully, it's starting to get them. Thankfully, they're good games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/08

Game Release: Nanostray 2 (US, 03/11/08)