Nano Assault Review

Some of the best third party games for the Nintendo DS came from Japan. Shinen was one such developer. They were behind the Nanostray series that did not get as much attention as it deserved. It was a respectable old-school style space shooter that challenged gamers with its difficulty and stunned with its graphics. Now they are back for their first outing on the Nintendo 3DS with Nano Assault.

While Nanostray took players to deep outer space, Nano Assault takes place as the microscopic level. You blast your way through thirty-two different cell stages where you encounter all kinds of nasty little organisms. Some of these take place on a round planet-shaped level where you fly around shooting enemies and collecting objects. Others are more like Star Fox where you constantly fly forward, but can control which direction on the screen your ship moves.

One of the more annoying parts of the game is using the analog stick to maneuver the ship. This is not a problem when you are on the round worlds, since you will usually want to fire in the direction that you are going anyway. In the Star Fox-like parts it becomes rather annoying since you will often want to move one direction away from enemy fire while aiming your own fire somewhere else. Since the 3DS does not have two analog sticks this is not possible.

Nano Assault is certainly nowhere near as frustrating as a game like Gradius. However be warned now that it is a difficult slog. You have a limited number of lives and will return to the start if you run out, although once you reach a boss fight there is a checkpoint. Old-school gamers will cry foul, but it will save you a lot of time bare-knuckling through the level again.

I have to give Shinen props considering that Nano Assault is a budget release that feels like it should be a regular priced 3DS game. The graphics are above and beyond what you expect from third parties on a Nintendo handheld, the retro shooting is cool, and the boss fights are fun. While the controls can be a pain, the fact that running out of lives is not game-ending at least somewhat makes up for it. Put Nano Assault on your radar if you are looking to buy a new 3DS game.