Nano Assault Neo Review

Nano Assault Neo Screen 1

The Wii U Eshop is catching up with its competition with the other consoles with their indie scene; there are plenty of great games to be found. This wasn’t the case when the console first took off, while I didn’t own the console at the time, I knew there choice wasn’t wide, I did see a few interesting choices there, one was Nano Assault Neo. I’ve had a Wii U for well over a year now and have loved it all the time I’ve had it. The only reason I haven’t played this game up until now is I guess, it’s not my type of game, it’s a twin stick shooter, hard-core to the max, I tend to shy away if I feel like I will just blasted to pieces instantly, I just don’t see the point. However I did like the look of this one enough to give it a chance.

Basically you are a nano technological biology robot, cleansing diseased organisms of viruses and other horrible looking things. A twin stick shooter at heart with a twist, the planets are completely rotational comparable to Super Mario Galaxy. As well as shooting you can collect points to buy power ups between levels and once you’ve killed enough nasty viruses you can move onto the next level. There is scope to get higher scores with timing and everything, that feeds into online leader board you can get onto if you are good enough. I doubt I ever will but like with my love for Zen Pinball, I won’t be planning to stop trying to get onto the leader boards myself! A guy can dream eh?

Nano Assault Neo Screen 2

Back to the game itself, it’s broke up into four sections three normal levels and a boss level, increasing in difficulty as you go on. The boss levels include a giant enemy to be taken down, a real blast. There are also bonus levels in which you collect more points  for the power ups you can buy, that level plays like a bonus level from a Sonic game or even like F-Zero, you keeping flying forward, getting quicker and quicker until you finish or crash, great fun!

The graphics and sound is fantastic in this game too. Futuristic, microscopic, bringing a new world alive, the explosions and the shooting look just superb also, the team has really used the power of the Wii U to make this game great. The creepy crawly enemies can even on occasion make your skin shiver with their legs, the realism is of a high calibre, I should know, in my day job, I work in a lab with microscopes every day, if I see a bug, I jump, this game did the same to me at first! When the screen is full of enemies as well, there is no slow down or anything, the work done is a graphical achievement. The music is good and the shooting and the explosions sounds great too, adding to the overall experience.

Nano Assault Neo Screen 3

It’s a straight forward game, the gameplay is frantic, constant, engaging and extremely difficult, you have to keep your eyes everywhere and keep yourself covered at all times. The pace only quickens and it can indeed at times seem impossible. It can be frustratingly hard at times, dying at a boss means you need to play from the start of the four levels again.

The sense of achievement in progress can be worth it all though I can understand if someone feels like the game is short for the price point but the replay-ability is with the practice and the trying to get on the leader boards, sixteen levels for ten pounds can been seen as quite extravagant, I feel myself the price point is fair, it’s good quality content you get for your money, indeed, I’d expect it could have been more if it was on another format maybe. Regardless, the game is excellent, a real change of pace, I may well be converted to the hard-core shooting genre! The game is fun, a challenge and a cut of something different from the usual; I’d give this a solid buy!

rating-8

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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