Nanostray 2 (DS)

[Johnny]

Been playing this a bit over the past few days and am really enjoying it.
Anyone who has played the original will know it was a really under rated shmup and one of (if not the?) only shooter on the DS.

Anyway, you get adventure mode which sees you take on 8 or so levels with a story shoe horned in to keep this 'interesting'.
You get a choice of weapons to add to your ship and unlock more as you progres. Most of these are pretty cool and useful against certain bosses etc.

As far as I remember, the original was all vertically scrolling but here there's a nice mix of both.

It's not the hardest game in the world (bosses in particular seem pretty easy) but there's enough going on to keep you on your toes.

In summary, this is a fantastic shmup and well worth picking up if you own a DS, regardless if you are a fan of the genre or not

[Kaladron]

Can you still shoot enemies before they scroll into view?

[VR46]

It's not the hardest game in the world (bosses in particular seem pretty easy) but there's enough going on to keep you on your toes.

Reading the gamefaqs forrum for N2 (unfortunately the developers have used GF instead of creating their own forum for some reason ) people are moaning it's too difficult, in Adventure Mode you get 5 lives on easy and two or is it three ? continues, but those lives have to last you the whole 8 levels (levels need to be done in Adventure Mode to be unlocked in Arcade Mode where the individual level hi-scoring and web based leaderboard action is).

Glad to read you can set scores anywhere and upload them next time your at a Wi-Fi spot, hardly any games offer this facility so thumbs up on that front

My copy shipped from Tronix Thursday so fingers crossed for arrival Monday.

It's about 50% vertical and 50% horizontal action isn't it ?

Oh and from what I read you can use "Classic" Controls - so no touch screen shennanigans are required, phew.

See you on the leaderboards Silvergun

[Johnny]

people are moaning it's too difficult, in Adventure Mode you get 5 lives on easy and two or is it three ? continues, but those lives have to last you the whole 8 levels (levels need to be done in Adventure Mode to be unlocked in Arcade Mode where the individual level hi-scoring and web based leaderboard action is).

5 lives, 3 continues. The game is pretty tough. Funny thing is I got to the 6th level with little difficulty on my first playthrough and it now seems harder

It's about 50% vertical and 50% horizontal action isn't it ?

Oh and from what I read you can use "Classic" Controls - so no touch screen shennanigans are required, phew.

Yeah, about 50/50 and yep, can be played with no touch screen requirement. A to shoot, B for secondary weapon and L/R buttons for changing the direction of your primary fire (in front, in front but raised slightly, behind).

[The Mole]

I got this yesterday...

I will reserve final judgement till i have played it a bit more, but from what i have played i think it is quite a poor sequal, which has lost the feel and structure of the first game in order to try and progress the game.

I would have been more happy with the same original game and some new levels.

[Silvergun X]

See you on the leaderboards Silvergun

Not for a while at the moment!

I'll be on there eventually. But you've got a loooong head start with this one.

[Bleeders]

The difficulty isn't the problem for me, it's that it feels like they've probably tried too hard to make it a bit more grandiose, where as aside from a few niggles there was nothing inherently wrong with the first one.

This one seems (so far) to be a shmup that doesn't know what direction it wants to go in.

Oh well, Bangai-o next week.

[VR46]

My copy arrived a hour back, think Bleeders is right in that they've tried very hard to please everyone, first level isn't one of the best in the game either, liking the second on better at present, it's quite similar to the first level in Nanostray 1.

Adventure Mode is quite tough, having to play through all eight levels with only a couple of continues isn't going to be possible for a lot of people.

Don't think graphics are quite as crisp as in the first game, sound effects aren't bad though.

Individual level whore-scoring is where the replay value is at, and at about six minutes a level there's plenty of opportunity for some great competition.

Overall like what I've seen so far, it's exactly as I was expecting, been waiting for this for an age, so pleased it's finally here.

Definite thumbs up for non-touch screen controls option, old-gits rejoice

[J0e Musashi]

So apart from the JPN controls it sucks yers?

[VR46]

Wouldn't say it sucks, if you liked the first game, there is really no reason not to like this one, it may take an hours play to grown on you properly.

Like I said above, think the first level is pretty poor compared to some of the latter ones.

[charlesr]

Turned up yesterday from VG+.

I'm not sure about this. At least the first one had a plan, but this one doesn't seem to know where it's going. I'm only basing this on two zones though. It looks like it's trying to be GradiusV in places, with swirly rotating ships and in others, the original Nanostray.

It has horizontal and vertical sections.

You can aim in all sorts of directions, but there's no point in the first level. In one of the next zones it's needed and for the boss. In fact as David said, the first zone is pretty lame.

I really liked the first one, especially the chaining multipliers, but I'm not feeling this so far. I'll persevere for a bit to see if it improves. I'm thinking once I get my head around the fact that it's NOT Nanostray1, I'll get into the swing of it.

[VR46]

Anyone else playing this seriously ? on Normal and with using all three continues (so 20 lives in total) I can't get past the Level 7 boss. Am I just getting old or is anyone else struggling ?

Love Arcade Mode score-beating, but the latter levels on Adventure Mode are at the moment a step too far for me. Easy here I come need to get Levels seven and eight unlocked (in Arcade Mode) so can take part in the proper competition fully.

[charlesr]

I'm finding the control a bit twitchy. What speed are you using? I might have to switch to the slowest one. Does it rate you on the Adventure mode at all or is it purely a way to a means of unlocking arcade zones?

I'm getting into the Challenges at the mo. Very good.

[VR46]

I started off on speed three, but have since gone down to two, makes the ship a lot less twitchy. Adventure Mode just unlocks stages for use in Arcade Mode. The Challenges are good yes, and a bit easier than in the first game.

Stage three in this game is a killer for me, only managed to ocmplete it once in Arcade Mode.

[Johnny]

Anyone else playing this seriously ? on Normal and with using all three continues (so 20 lives in total) I can't get past the Level 7 boss. Am I just getting old or is anyone else struggling ?

Yeah, I've only been playing on easy and haven't got past the boss on level 7. I posted this before but I got to the start of level 7 on my first play through and since then have really struggled for some reason.

Technically it shouldn't be harder than other shmups as there aren't really any bullet hell moments, nor generally a particularly large amount of enemies being thrown at you so I'm not sure what it's down to, smaller screen maybe?

Also enjoying the challenges.