Big Bang Mini (DS) Preview
Posted by Ramon Aranda on 10.28.2008
Hands-on: What’s that lighting up the skies? Why it’s Big Bang Mini and we get our first taste of this DS-exclusive.
The Nintendo DS seems like the perfect platform for top down shooters and why not? The games can look good, the touch screen adds another layer of gameplay and you can see more with two screens.
Well that's precisely what the folks at Arkedo Studios had in mind with the upcoming Big Bang Mini for the Nintendo DS.
The game is pretty straight forward in that you have a top-down point of view and your goal is to shoot off fireworks in order to destroy your enemies that are in view on the top screen. You'll of course have to drag your ship using the stylus around the bottom screen to avoid the oncoming projectiles. To shoot, you simply make an upward motion with the stylus in any direction. You'll encounter nine different locations with nine levels in each including a final boss battle giving you around 90 total levels in all. The boss encounters are pretty cool in that you'll have these giant sized enemies that look to blast you away and each boss looks kinda funny too.
The locales are broken down into different regions in the world such as New York and Tokyo; each with their own distinctive design. For example, in New York, the comic book-inspired level looks like something straight out of your everyday comic strip. Enemies look like comic villains while their attacks come with full "BOOM", "BAM", "POW" effects. One of my favorite locations was Tokyo which has a Japanese art style resembling something out of Okami. The developers seemed to have really taken the time to add a certain look to make each location look special. One in particular looked like Geometry Wars, complete with vectors and colorful designs.
As you progress through the game, you'll be able to unlock new levels and bonus fireworks by unveiling astrological signs in the bonus rounds. The main game is basically taking you through each location and level to try and reach the end. You'll also find a score/arcade mode that keeps your scores which can be uploaded onto an online leaderboard. In fact, there is a leaderboard for worldwide rankings, and one for just you and your friends.
The multiplayer mode was pretty fun too. In this mode, you hold the DS like a book and you are shooting your fireworks sideways to the other screen at your opponent. You can also select lefty or righty mode in case you prefer to hold the DS in a particular direction. Of course there are some obstacles that rain down on you so you have to stay alert to oncoming assaults. You can either move out of the way of your opponent's attacks or you can tap on them as they appear on the touch screen, forcing them back at a higher speed. You can also press on the four directions of the d-pad to utilize defense mechanisms.
Not satisfied with just delivering a quirky game, the developers also surprised me by adding things like an alarm clock in the game. You can use any of the songs from the game and set your alarm to wake you up. You can actually keep the DS closed and when it goes off, you can tap on the top of the DS to put it in snooze. Cool stuff!
Not feeling like playing but want some tunes? Well in Relax mode, you can watch the fireworks from the game including the ones you unlocked and watch them go off to the tunes of the game.
The development team seems to have done a great job of adding a ton of content to the title which has ties to plenty of 8-bit titles and comes off as a nice throwback with up to date gameplay. At a modest $19.99 this game is shaping up to be a sleeper hit!
The game is pretty straight forward in that you have a top-down point of view and your goal is to shoot off fireworks in order to destroy your enemies that are in view on the top screen. You'll of course have to drag your ship using the stylus around the bottom screen to avoid the oncoming projectiles. To shoot, you simply make an upward motion with the stylus in any direction. You'll encounter nine different locations with nine levels in each including a final boss battle giving you around 90 total levels in all. The boss encounters are pretty cool in that you'll have these giant sized enemies that look to blast you away and each boss looks kinda funny too.
