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I thought I'd post a few thoughts about another game I took a 40 yd punt on whilst it was 30% off.  Cheapskate that I am 

I'd seen videos of the gameplay so I wasn't expecting a massive game and to be fair that's what I got.  4 separate zones each with 3 stages plus a boss stage.  There's single player, arcade single player and survival mode is unlocked when the final boss is defeated.  Local multiplayer is fun but I prefer to use the Pro Controller to make it easier for me to see what is going on.  I found the Gamepad screen too small.  Not sure if there's online play - I don't think so.

Each stage of each of the 4 zones appear to be centred on a 3 dimensional microscopic organic cell.  Having not read the back story, if one even exists, I'm not sure whether these cells exists inside a host organism or whether they're floating out in the cosmos somewhere in the swirling nebulosity of some kind of alien soup.  I think I prefer the alien soup theory and anyway it's more fun to use one’s own imagination in these matters!  Either way it's your job to clear the cells of what I can only describe as 'freaky little organisms'.  Some of these have clearly been inspired by some real life bacteria and virus.  I think it's the first boss organism that looks exactly like a T4 bacteriophage virus.  The organisms are nicely varied and have different attack and avoidance/defence patterns.  Navigating each cell works very similarly to Mario Galaxy and can be quite disorientating to begin with but ultimately this works very well indeed.

Ok, so this is another twin stick shooter.  So, what's new?  Not so much that I could see!  One stick to move, one stick to shoot.  Shoot all the stuff that moves and even some stuff that doesn't.  Enemies drop tokens, secondary weaponry and special weapon pick-ups.  They also drop the odd letter that will eventually spell ‘B O N U S’ when you have them all.  Collecting all the letters unlocks a rather nice sub-game that sees you flying, at ever increasing speed, through a tunnel avoiding stalactites and stalagmites and collecting more tokens.  There’s no shooting here so the Bonus Stage is a nice diversion from the main game.  There are also tokens scattered throughout each level and all the tokens collected can be spent on upgrading weaponry, defences and even the odd extra life.  So whilst there's nothing that's really new here the game structure is excellent and presents a nice amount of variety in a small and nicely formed package.

So, it's a small game.  But it's fun, gets quite busy and play very nicely.  It isn't, however,  going to take hardcore gamers, with their ninja reflexes, very long to get through.  Learning the best way to clear each stage is going to take a bit longer though and online highscores encourage those with a competitive spirit to go back and play again.

I found the music became a little repetitive after playing for an hour or so but the sound effects are great.  I've not looked if the music can be switched off - note to self to check later.  I really like the look of the game.  There's a beautiful shiny neon quality to the graphics, Geometry Wars style, but with added weight and realism.  I really liked that the glare of a distant star that caused my vision to flare adding both a stunning visual stimuli and another small element of strategy.  There’s a distinct retro feel to the game.  Beneath the glossy exterior is a level structure and design concept that’s been around for years and I think this plays a large part in why I’ve enjoyed the game so much so far.  It’s a simple, sublimely enjoyable shooter with some lovely touches, balanced gameplay, only one out of place difficulty spike that I have come across, Cell 2 – level 1 I think it was, and enough of an addictive nature to keep interest.  I anticipate Survival will keep me going for a while next time I’m playing.

It’s on offer until 15th Aug and is well worth trying.  I noticed a few of you have already given it a whirl so be interested to hear your views.  Some high score tomfoolery would be nice too.

*Weird Nano Assault Neo picture included for the sake of weirdness.