Seriously guys drop the stupid ratings system argument, nobody gives a fuck.

Ness takes time out of his day to write a bunch of well-written, thorough and interesting reviews, you can respond with something better than nursing some stupid grudge you're carrying over the moral difference between rating things four out of five versus four point five out of five.

Next comment that has anything to do with this instead of having anything to do with the actual content of Ness's reviews or any kind of comment on the games he's reviewing or anything else that I personally might conceivably actually want to read is catching a ban.

Ness I hope for my part that these totally 'tardbucketsey responses do not discourage you from continuing your excellent thread.

You should review the Sonic DS game. You know you wanna. Do it. Do it. I like your reviews, they are well put together. Looking forward to seeing more.

EDIT: After Bangai-O Spirits, of course.

I second that. Right after Elite Beat Agents. Also, keep up the good work. I was seriously thinking of starting a mass game review thread too when you posted this. :sweatdrop

Good luck!

I think my fingers are bleeding...
 

Bangai O Spirits

Story

Bangai O Spirits cannot be bothered by such trivial things as a story. Which is honestly kind of sad. I don't know how many of you were fortunate enough to get Bangai O on the Dreamcast, but it had one of the weirdest stories ever, and while not strong was a nice little addition to the game. (Basically, you had a brother and sister who fought villains from the "Cosmo Gang", guilty of fruit contraband. Yeah.)

Don't fret though, the lack of story doesn't really hinder what the game was trying to achieve. Still you should play the tutorial for no other reason than the game is FUCKING HARD.

The tutorial is the only part of the game with any kind of story or characters. It's presented in an anime style with lots of self-referential humor. THe best line is when the professor explains to you that sometimes all of your bullets won't be displayed on screen because of the DS's limitations. Our character's response? "Hey, that sounds like a bug!" At least they make the tutorial lots of fun.

BOTTOM LINE: Story? What story? Oh you mean that text that is in between the tutorials?

Characterization

This is gonna be a really short review.

I really have nothing to say here. There is a boy and a girl. Some of the lines are funny though.

BOTTOM LINE: Nothing to see here move along. Why are you still reading? Fine. If you just have to read something useless.

Graphics

Basically you spend the whole game driving a pixelated mecha blowing shit up. Everything is readily identifiable and overall quite clean, which is goods because this game gets hairy. But more on that later. The Bangai O looks like a Bangai O, the missiles look like missiles, the fruit looks like fruit. Yeah there is fruit. Don't ask, because I'm still not entirely sure why there is fruit.

One of the major drawbacks of the game is its severe slowdown. They throw so much stuff at you it lags the DS. Of course, there is a flipside to this. The game would be unplayable without the slowdown. You really have to play the game to understand the statement.

BOTTOM LINE: DEAR GOD, WHY IS THERE FRUIT? THIS QUESTION, IT HAUNTS ME SO!


The music is typical shooter fare. If you have played any other shooter then you have heard this games entire soundtrack. So nothing much there. No surprises at all form the music. Honestly, I never play with the sound on. Mainly, cause of the slowdown I mentioned earlier. It lags the tunes and sounds, so major points off for that.

BOTTOM LINE: Heh, the sound. So there is this laugh that plays when you die. You will learn to hate it. Other than that, very generic all around.


In case you hadn't caught on yet, I have been dropping subtle hints at the difficulty of this game. This is where I come out and say it: this game is for the truly hardcore/crazy only. Unless you're a masochist shooter fan that enjoys a real challenge, Bangai-O Spirits is likely to drive you mad, even then it will still probably cause you to throw your DS in frustration.

Bangai-O could perhaps best be described as a shooter with puzzle elements. Which makes for some damn interesting levels. There is a lot of blasting and dodging (A lot.), but your weapons can be customized for each level. Before a mission, you can select two regular guns and two special EX weapons to use in a mission. Your regular and EX weapons can be used on their own, or can be combined for new effects. Sometimes passing a level is merely a matter of finding the right combination of weapons to arm yourself with, and some levels don't even require weapons.

The gameplay itself is immaculate. You really can't get any better in terms of a shooter game. The controls are smooth, responsive, and since you can basically map them how you like... well, you get the idea.

But shooting things aside there are a few other things that make the game stand out, some good some bad. First of all there is a very robust level editor, that makes surprisingly good use of the touch screen. This alone adds great replay value to the game. So A+ there.

Now lets talk about the map sharing. Ugh. basically, they use a technology where they convert the maps data into a sound and play in out the DS's speakers. Then any other DSes around that are listening can get it from their mics. Helpful tip to you guys who have it, a nice youtube community has sprung up around Bangai-O Spirits. You can find levels on there to download through the sound. Points off here for for the odd level sharing. It was a neat idea, but I think function would have been more appropriate than them choosing form. Also, this game lacks any online multiplayer, which is the biggest shame of all time,but there is some wireless co-op if you can scrounge up some buddies.


Don't let the level sharing failure or lack of online multiplayer stop you from picking this up, though. Like its shooting predecessors made by its creators, Bangai-O Spirits is a gem of a game shrouded in the shadows of more popular titles.

Once again, this title is not for the easily frustrated; it challenges (IE. rapes) you in both combat ability and puzzles solving. With tons of cleverly designed levels, it won't take long for you to get stuck.

BOTTOM LINE: PEW PEW PEW! FUCK, I DIED AGAIN! Difficult, but in a good way. Also, fuck those evil Bangai-O clones. I hate those mother fuckers.

Overall Score: (2/5 for normal people) (5/5 for shooter nuts)

I have beaten Gradius V, Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun but Bangai-O, Bangai-O is hardcore. Do you know how frustrating it is to play through the tutorial, load up the first level, and then be completely smashed in 0.001 seconds? No? Then you have not played Bangai O Spirits, and for that you should probably be ashamed. Bangai O Spirits is a shooter that celebrates shooters. This approach certainly limits the game's audience, but if you're a fan of the genre it should please you to know that this game was made just for you.

If you think the lack of story in Bangai-O Spirits is bad you should check Sin and Punishment, which proves Treasure should get the fuck away from trying to write any sort of plot.

Otherwise, I think your review nailed it perfectly. I recommend Bangai-O Spirits a lot around these parts because I'm a fucking jerk (and a masochistic shooter fan, even if I'm not ready to take on this), but also because I know some people are disenfranchised with what gaming has become during this generation. Bangai-O Spirits is a good reminder of when games were actually hardcore, not that cheaparse definition they got right now just because of a hundred bajillion polygons displayed on the screen and maybe one or two bald space-marines.

I also find the level-sharing mechanics quite funny, maybe for the novelty. Listening to stuff you created in your iPod has a weird je ne sais quoi that's intriguing and pretty fucking cool, albeit creepy every once in a while.

It's true, wait till you play EBA. Jumpin' Jack Flash will fill you with enough rage to fuel a small country. A large country if you're doing it on the highest difficulty.

No, it doesn't affect the game at all. When I am reviewing the story part of the game, I am reviewing the story alone, with taking the other parts of the game as little as possible into account. Thats why the story portion got such a low score.

Like I said before, Bangai-O Spirits is a game that deems the story an unnecessary frivolity, and it really is a good thing in the grand scheme.

This game is all bout less talky talky, more blasty blasty. Which is why it is such a pure experience.

Ness, you should start a blog with these things.

They're well-written, informative about all of the different aspects of a game, and overall remind me of something you would actually see in a video-game magazine, if not better.

Do you have any other systems, incidentally?

These are some damn fine reviews EvilNESS. I'd sooner get a game based on your opinion, a fellow NPFer then someone from the media.

What is your next one?

So, it's R-Type?

...fuck, I just reminded myself how good R-Type was.