Nanostray got rated! Who's got more details?

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:35 am

I've just read that "Play" magazine (which I've never persoanlly read) has reviewed the Nintendo DS shmup Nanostray. It got awarded a very nice 8.5/10 (Meteos got 9.0/10 in the same magazine).

This sounds pretty encouraging, but what I want to know is: what was the reasoning behind the score? Is "Play"magazine harsh when giving scores to games?

All I know is that a game like the new Kirby: Cursed Canvas got just a 6.5/10 and this seems to be a great game.

Could it just be that Nanostray exceeds anyone's expectations of the game!?

Please fill in the details!

PS. source of the info was as usual Gamefront.de

JM · Post by JM » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:41 pm

Play's reviews are mostly written by Dave Halverson, who gives handjobs out to 99% of everything he reviews. Not objective in the least, so don't get your hopes up on that review alone.

jm

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:50 pm

Remember the early days of Gamefan, where games were reviewed on a scale of 90 to 100?

Well, that's basically what Play is now.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:00 pm

JM wrote:Play's reviews are mostly written by Dave Halverson, who gives handjobs out to 99% of everything he reviews. Not objective in the least, so don't get your hopes up on that review alone.

jm

Exactly, this guy's views are idiosyncratic, and what's worse, he seems to let things influence his score which should not. For example, I think he gave one of the GTA games a lower score just because he didn't receive an advance copy. Very nice.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:07 pm

professor ganson wrote:
JM wrote:Play's reviews are mostly written by Dave Halverson, who gives handjobs out to 99% of everything he reviews. Not objective in the least, so don't get your hopes up on that review alone.

jm
Exactly, this guy's views are idiosyncratic, and what's worse, he seems to let things influence his score which should not. For example, I think he gave one of the GTA games a lower score just because he didn't receive an advance copy. Very nice.

Guess he got his Nanostray copy well in advance along with something "extra" then

Are you guys certain this is the guy who did the review?

Among a lot of potentially nice titles it got a decent score methinks.
Here's the complete oversight of reviewscores of the magazine as posted on Gamefront:

Multi
Medal of Honor: European Assault (PS2/Xbox/GC, EA): 7,5
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Xbox, Take-Two) 7,5
Batman Begins (PS2/Xbox/GC, EA) 7,5
Fantastic Four (PS2/Xbox/GC, EA) 6,5

PlayStation 2
Makai Kingdom (PS2, NIS Amercia): 7
RPG Maker 3 (PS2, Agetec): 7,5
Psychonauts (PS2, Majesco): 9
Darkwatch (PS2, Capcom): 9 **Spiel des Monats**

Xbox
Sid Meier's Pirates! (Xbox, 2KGames): 8,5

PSP
Death Jr, (PSP, Konami): 9
Coded Arms (PSP, Konami): 6,5
Dead to Rights: Reckoning (PSP, Namco): 5

Game Boy Advance
Sigma Star Saga (GBA, Namco): 8,5
Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey and Donald (GBA, Capcom): 7
Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team Protoman/Team Colonel (GBA, Capcom): 7
Yoshi Topsy Turvy (GBA, Nintendo): 6,5

Nintendo DS
Nanostray (NDS, Majesco): 8,5
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (NDS, Ubisoft): 6,5
Meteos (NDS, Nintendo): 9
Bomberman (NDS, Ubisoft): 8
Kirby: Canvas Curse (NDS, Nintendo): 6,5

Gizmondo
Fathammer Classics (Gizmondo): 5,5
Sticky Balls (Gizmondo): 7
Fathammer's Gizmondo Motocross 2005 (Gizmondo): 4
Trailblazer (Gizmondo): 6,5

PS: I've seen my first Gizmondo tv advertisement today!

Talk about betting on a cripled horse...

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:49 pm

Wow, I didn't realize this would be out so soon! I figured it'd be out at Christmas or something. I'll buy it... it's only 30 bucks. It's a DS shmup, and good or not, I want to support it.

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:59 pm

Super Laydock wrote:Are you guys certain this is the guy who did the review?

Let me put it this way... if Halverson says something, disregard it. The man is dishonest in many ways, most of which are far more serious than just rating everything a 90.

Still, I don't know who wrote this review. It could very well have been one of his employees (who are hopefully getting regular paychecks this time).

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:39 pm

As far as I can tell whoever is doing those reviews seems fairly honest. Canvas Curse a 6.5?

At any rate, I think Nanostray is going to be awesome. It fixed my main complaint with Iridion II (boring backgrounds, useless extra weapons), and with those two things fixed, we've got a killer handheld shmup on our hands me thinks.

And I shall find out tomorrow. As I have it pre-ordered. Nice to see the "other shmup" (Sigma Star Saga) got a nice review too. Might have to pick that one up for ye old DS.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:59 pm

jp wrote:As far as I can tell whoever is doing those reviews seems fairly honest. Canvas Curse a 6.5?

At any rate, I think Nanostray is going to be awesome. It fixed my main complaint with Iridion II (boring backgrounds, useless extra weapons), and with those two things fixed, we've got a killer handheld shmup on our hands me thinks.

And I shall find out tomorrow. As I have it pre-ordered. Nice to see the "other shmup" (Sigma Star Saga) got a nice review too. Might have to pick that one up for ye old DS.

Yeah, I agree that those numbers are pretty standard, with the exception of Canvas Curse, which absolutely kicks ass and is averaging 88%, according to gamerankings.com.

That's the second 8.5 for Sigma Star Saga! That's also the score it received from GameInformer.

I'm glad to hear that you think Nanostray will be good, JP, as I respect your opinion. I'm looking forward to it too.

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 18, 2005 6:34 pm

Heheh... been spending my whole work shift downloading Nanostray videos. MAN! Have you guys seen the videos of the sunken city!? And the Panzer Dragoon Saga esque music!? Tomorrow can't come soon enough!!!!

2 player versus mode, wireless, where you compete for score... this game just looks so awesome. Weapon system is looking vastly improved too... as I noticed in the level where you fight a giant ass battle cruiser.

Lightning gun...

Now I just need to find a boss fight video. Ah well, back to downloading movies and getting paid.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:42 am

professor ganson wrote:
jp wrote:As far as I can tell whoever is doing those reviews seems fairly honest. Canvas Curse a 6.5?

At any rate, I think Nanostray is going to be awesome. It fixed my main complaint with Iridion II (boring backgrounds, useless extra weapons), and with those two things fixed, we've got a killer handheld shmup on our hands me thinks.

And I shall find out tomorrow. As I have it pre-ordered. Nice to see the "other shmup" (Sigma Star Saga) got a nice review too. Might have to pick that one up for ye old DS.
Yeah, I agree that those numbers are pretty standard, with the exception of Canvas Curse, which absolutely kicks ass and is averaging 88%, according to gamerankings.com.

That's the second 8.5 for Sigma Star Saga! That's also the score it received from GameInformer.

I'm glad to hear that you think Nanostray will be good, JP, as I respect your opinion. I'm looking forward to it too.

I dunno about Nanostray being overratted, final judgment and all (a shmup with easy to change weapons via the touch screen is at the least neat), but Halvorson is outta his mullet-respecting mind for giving Kirby Canvas Curse such a lukewarm score. That game is a brilliant little platfomer and has restored my faith in Nintendo successfully trying new things like the DS/stylus (which I needed after all the glorified minigames the DS kept getting).

Anyhoo, I was tempted to look into Play again on goodwill after they broke the news about Gunstar Super Heroes. But after this...hmmm. I dunno. His scores are weirder than ever.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:54 am

Am I the only one who thinks it's funny that people start declaring a game is overrated before it's even out?

sethsez · Post by **sethsez** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:00 am

You're at shmups.com. We're all psychics full of righteous indignation!

al138 · Post by **al138** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:09 am

sethsez wrote:You're at shmups.com. We're all psychics full of righteous indignation!

Seriously, I think I might pick up a DS if the game is really good. I've been on the fence for quite some time about the system, but all I've had to play on my GBA is Iridion II and its getting old. I'm ready for a new challenge!

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:18 am

sethsez wrote:You're at shmups.com. We're all psychics full of righteous indignation!

That we are... indeed, we very much are.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:03 am

Cthulhu wrote:Am I the only one who thinks it's funny that people start declaring a game is overrated before it's even out?

I personally am not. Just pointing out Halvorson underatted Kirby which i have right here.

DavidHolliss · Post by **DavidHolliss** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:13 pm

so anyone actually played it yet ?

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:31 pm

davidholliss wrote:so anyone actually played it yet ?

Not yet. I've called around, and it seems that no one is getting it in stock today, though I believe that this is the release date. Lame.

BTW, I wasn't saying that it is overrated; I was just saying that Kirby for DS is underrated by Play. I'm cautiously hopeful that Nanostray is going to kick ass.

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:43 pm

I ordered it from Overstock.com, they claimed there that it would be in stock on the 13th... it wasn't of course and they sent an email saying it'd be a day or two late.

Bill

flux · Post by **flux** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:10 pm

professor ganson wrote:Not yet. I've called around, and it seems that no one is getting it in stock today, though I believe that this is the release date. Lame.

A lot of the time the stores don't get shipments until the evening. At least around here, anyway.

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 7:48 pm

Yeah, I just went over to an EB during my lunch break now, and put a pre-order on this game. From what I was told, it's the only copy the store will be getting.

I'm not expecting much from a Euro-shooter, but here's hoping it takes a page or two from the great Japan-shooters.

DavidHolliss · Post by **DavidHolliss** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 8:38 pm

seems very few shops/retailers have it today, like you say most will get it tonight/tomorrow. Still looking forward to it greatly

jp · Post by jp » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:10 am

My copy shipped today and should be arriving at Gamestop tomorrow. Lame.

jp · Post by jp » Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:38 am

1up.com has reviewed Nanostray:
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3142124&did=1

But IMO, that person is an idiot, since that is the single most nit-picky review I've ever read. I agree, not everything should use the touch screen, but to dock 3.5 points because of it? Meh.

al138 · Post by **al138** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:18 am

Just in case anyone is interested, here is a press release of sorts:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/19 ... 29434.html

crithit5000 · Post by **crithit5000** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:27 am

IGN's review

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:28 am

jp wrote: But IMO, that person is an idiot, since that is the single most nit-picky review I've ever read. I agree, not everything should use the touch screen, but to dock 3.5 points because of it? Meh.

He admittedly made more complaints than just "changing weapons with the touchscreen is difficult."

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:36 pm

Still no sight of Nanostray in my area, and there are a ton of GameStop and EBGames outlets not too far away. Strange.

japtor · Post by **japtor** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 7:48 pm

jp wrote:1up.com has reviewed Nanostray:
http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3142124&did=1

But IMO, that person is an idiot, since that is the single most nit-picky review I've ever read. I agree, not everything should use the touch screen, but to dock 3.5 points because of it? Meh.

parish is an idiot, not nearly as bad as halverson though. this sorta reinforced that for me a few days ago:
http://www.toastyfrog.com/img/blogart/0 ... pspmp3.gif

then again, the part about 3d objects not being clearly part of the game plane is valid. when watching the videos it definitely looked like it could be a problem. that and the perspective, but i sorta got used to it with iridion 2.

and i thought there was a button toggle for weapons before, it is definitely touch screen only? i could see getting used to it with enough play. im just guessing its going to be lackluster for other reasons, but ill wait and see.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:07 pm

Consensus seems to be: quite nice game, falling short of excellence by one or two control annoyances and limited length...

Ok! I guess I'll cave in an buy it!!