AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Back when the DS was first released, there were a handful of titles that people were eagerly looking forward to. One of those titles was Nanostray, a 2D shooter that boasted some nice visuals and old-school gameplay. When the game hit back in 2005, it was received warmly, but it had a few issues that held it back from being a great title overall. With Nanostray 2, Shin'en has gone to great lengths to improve on the gameplay of the first title while bringing plenty of new features to the series.

What's Hot
Right from the moment you start playing you're going to notice a huge leap forward from the original Nanostray in regards to presentation, graphics, sound, challenge, and gameplay. You're immediately given more game style options. You can play arcade mode, story mode, two-player mode, challenge mode, and simulation mode. Each of these modes changes up the formula significantly, which greatly adds to the game's overall value.

Before starting out a level, the game lets you customize your weaponry and even lets you choose three angles of fire that you'll be able to rotate through during gameplay using the R button. This becomes an important dynamic in the game, because as you replay levels you might recall a certain stretch where being able to fire either above your fighter or to your rear is important for survival. When you're chasing down high scores, this is key, as choosing the proper angle of fire will also help you rack up extra kills.

In the game's story mode, the game plays like your traditional shooter. You progress through each stage of the game with limited freedom to choose the play order of the levels. You'll be given three continues, and in classic shoot 'em up genre fashion, there are no saves. In this mode the game attaches a simple story to things, but the real joy is in the gameplay itself. Arcade mode has you play through the game in a more linear fashion, but you have the ability to upload your high scores to an online leaderboard via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection; which is quite awesome. The other modes provide a bit more variety to the game, including objective-based gameplay; some of which are downright brutal and will test your skills to the max.

Graphically the game is nice. The game is bright, environments are cool, and details are sharp. Most importantly, the game never seems to hiccup or suffer any slowdown, even when the screen is packed tight with bullets and enemy ships.


Nanostray 2
What's Not
A criticism that is often leveled at shooters is that they can become a bit run of the mill and generic at times. Nanostray 2 manages to ride the line between keeping true to the most important conventions and trying out new stuff. The weapon system is neat, but as a counterpoint the enemies you face are almost completely devoid of character or unique traits.

Nanostray 2 is pretty tough. Fans of the genre will most likely praise the level of difficulty, but the average joe is going to struggle a bit. Much like Contra IV on the DS, each time you play you'll see improvement, but that improvement can be pretty slow going for the unprepared or inexperienced with the genre. We hesitate to mention this as a negative, but it should be noted for those that are casual about these types of games.

While the touchscreen can be used extensively to control the game, there's still nothing that truly strives to make the unique DS hardware features an integral part in the game. Had this game been released on the GBA, many people wouldn't notice a difference in the way they approach the game from a gameplay standpoint. However, if touching is your thing, you can at least ditch the d-pad and use the stylus to control your ship movement.

Final Word
The shooter has been a genre in decline since 3D gaming became the standard, but games like Nanostray 2 are shining examples of why this type of game needs to kept alive. When you ask people why they games, they usually say that they like the challenge and fun that gaming provides. Well, Nanostray manages to provide both, and it provides them in quality fashion. Fans of the genre really shouldn't pass on this game, as it's easily the best available on the system, and possibly on any Nintendo handheld.