Nano Assault EX

Genre: 2-Stick Shooter / On-Rails Shooter

Players: 1, Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Nano Assault, a game that alternates between 2-Stick Shooter stages and On-Rails Shooter stages, was first released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012 in a retail release, and then in 2013 it was re-released on the eShop as Nano Assault EX. This EX version of the game adds support for the second analog input via Circle Pad Pro or New Nintendo 3DS, as well as a new Survivor mode, and new museum-style content.

Likely the first thing you’ll notice about Nano Assault EX is that it is an absolutely gorgeous game. Shin’en Multimedia has always excelled at getting the most out of Nintendo’s limited hardware, and that skill is very much on display here, with beautiful otherworldly microscopic 3D environments, superb detail, excellent textures, good lighting, and fast-paced on-rails sections and no sign of performance issues. This is a showpiece game for the Nintendo 3DS. These visuals are backed by an energetic soundtrack that will quickly take a back seat to the action.

As mentioned before, the action in this game is split up into different styles of gameplay. You’ll have 2-Stick Shooter sections where players will be exploring around a cellular asteroid-like object, moving around the object to fully explore its surface. Meanwhile, the On-Rails Shooter sections play more like Star Fox, with players zooming through corridors and shooting enemies while dodging obstacles. Each of these types of gameplay work well enough, but unfortunately both of them have issues.

The 2-Stick Shooter sections have players working to not only eliminate enemies, but also collecting “dna fragments” scattered across the surface of the cel they’re moving on. While this structure works great, the problem is the camera, which often fails to show enemies that are close enough to sneak in and deliver the one hit it takes to destroy your ship. Needless to say, this is frustrating.

As for the On-Rails Shooter sections, these work well enough, but they can feel a bit repetitive at times, and there often doesn’t seem like much incentive to shoot enemies instead of simply avoiding them. In addition, the way these sections are broken up by multiple short cutscenes really hurts the flow of these sections.

Thankfully, these problems don’t stop Nano Assault EX from being a solid action-packed spacey shooter. I do kinda’ wish that the developers focused on just one style of gameplay so they could work to improve it and iron out the issues I mentioned above, but this is still a fun game, and it’s so visually stunning that it’s easy to forgive its flaws, especially at the game’s small $10 price tag.

tl;dr – Nano Assault EX is an upgraded version of Nano Assault with both 2-Stick Shooter and On-Rails Shooter sections. Each of these styles of gameplay generally works well enough, though each has their issues. However, this is still overall a fun game, and it’s also visually stunning. Well worth a purchase on the Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: B-

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