Nanostray 2 [DS]

In Nanostray 2, Shin'en has addressed the most critical of the flaws that pulled down the original Nanostray, added a few new twists and turns, and produced a solid game that'll please anyone who digs this type of classic arcade shooter.

Certainly the most important upgrade -- and definitely proof that Shin'en reads the reviews and listens to users -- is in the game's control. Rather than restricting players to the touch screen, Nanostray 2 offers a trio of control setups, one that does away with touch altogether and two more that are touch/button/d-pad hybrids. Our favorites are the hybrids, one of which is thoughtfully geared for lefties.

Seems that Shin'en may have been right all along about this touch-screen thing. Although you do have to work to keep your fingers from partially obscuring the screen, the truth is that your ship responds much faster and is much more exacting when being led about with a stylus. And rather than selecting weapons with the touch screen -- a clumsy process in the original game -- Nanostray 2 allows you to arm your ship in advance before each level. You can also adjust, on the fly, the positioning and the firing orientation of each of your surrounding attack drones, a nifty idea because enemy logic and patterns vary so wildly from one minute to the next.

Nanostray 2 is very much a top-down affair, but unlike the original, there are no weird orientations or angles or invisible boundaries to screw things up. Moreover, the game breaks free of the strictly vertical formatting of the original. Now, the action shifts from vertical to horizontal and back again, often several times in one level, a concept that serves to keep things fresh.

Shooter veterans, however, should know the drill. Like most games of its ilk, Nanostray 2 is all about pattern recognition, memorization, repetition, and perfection. The enemies are relentless at times, working in conjunction with some seriously tight obstacles and passages to keep you transfixed to the screen, shuffling your ship hither and thither almost inhumanly fast. The trick is to learn what's coming up next so you have that extra millisecond to deal with it. Though twitch skill is a huge prerequisite throughout the game, the only way to get through it is by playing and experiencing situations over and over.