At first I wasn’t really sure about getting this game, but after a little bit of research, a sale on it, and a few videos later I figure there was no harm in at least getting this game. To my surprise I found it to be a wonderful shooter with a lot of neat things attached to it. Nano Assault Neo quickly climbed into my heart, and made sure that I gave my Wii U some much needed love. The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that this game is just so bloody pretty. Even though I have both a Xbox 360 and a PS3, I personally couldn’t tell you that I have seen any kind of game this pretty on their systems. Its not so much that I want to upsale the system, but that I’m just really impressed about this games graphics. I mean the game pretty much takes place on a cell, a little microscopic thing, and the way they made it into this really pretty place with a bunch of enemies really does impress me. Perhaps I’m not the best judge of graphics, but at least Nano Assault Neo shows the Wii U is compatible of “Next Gen graphics”.
As for the gameplay, well its some of the best twin stick shooter I have ever played. Along with Beat Hazard, Assault Neo has really gave me a run for my money, and really made me want to score the best I can. Having to exterminate 90% of the virus on each cell with in a cluster just brings a lot of fun into the play as you can take your sweet time with it. Then once you hit 90% you can either end straight for the exit portal, or try to exterminate the rest of the 10% out there. It really brings a lot of high risk, high reward out there in the game, and always has me at the edge of my seat on what I should do. The game is a bit like Gradius in terms of having a lot of items to benefit you throughout your journey, but they are almost a necessity when it comes to clearing out the whole cell. Satellites seem like a constant need though, and the game is very difficult when you have no satellites on hand.Thankfully all the bosses in this game are different, but sadly none of them really strike a challenge. If you have the right item you simply use the item correctly and the boss is defeated in less than a minute. Comparing this to the rest of the stages really makes for a sudden loss challenge and is off putting at times.
The game does have a set of scoreboards which make the game very tense if you’re trying to get the best score as each bullet needs to count so you don’t ruin the bigger accuracy bonus at the end of the stage(s). Neo really puts empathize on accuracy as that’s the main way to score major points, which is both rather unique and a bit hindering at times. On one hand you’d want to get the rest of the 10% after destroying 90% of a virus, but on the other you may completely ruin your accuracy by simply trying to rush yourself. The special weapons help perform this niche by not wasting your accuracy bonus for shooting reckless, but you are only given so much ammo for it that it really doesn’t make up for it. Overall the scoring system has its ups and downs, but I think it do better with there were other ways to score more points.
Final Thoughts:
Nano Assault Neo is definitely a different type of twin stick shooter. Its very pretty to look at, and makes use of its cell concept to make it a very interesting game. The only problem it really faces is the scoring system, while different, suffers from a steep learning curve and hinders replay ability more than it gives. Otherwise its a blast on its own and uses the Wii U features quite well.