Nintendo eShop Spotlight: Nano Assault Neo For Wii U

Although the Wii U is bereft of standout eShop titles, especially in comparison to the 3DS, there are a handful of diamonds in the rough, and Nano Assault Neo by Shin’en certainly falls into this category. The fast-paced shooter game is a sequel to Nano Assault for 3DS. In both games, the player controls a microscopic ship that sets out to destroy the deadly Nanostray virus endangering humanity.

The gameplay consists of flying a tiny ship over molecular 3D terrain that rotates much like the planets in the Mario Galaxy series. Players acquire power-ups like shields or extra canons that aid in destroying enemy viruses and bacteria bent on tracking the player’s ship while firing deadly substances at it.

Nano Assault Neo benefits from the Wii U’s enhanced HD graphics, as players are able to pick up more minor details in a game that focuses heavily on minutia. While those crisp graphics give it an intense futuristic quality, the gameplay is pure retro, as players must escape large blasts of enemy fire, navigating through dangerous pathways while blasting away every threat in site. The arcade style of the gameplay is so prevalent that the Wii U gamepad’s analog triggers may as well be two giant red Joystiqs.

Speaking of those controls, Nano Assault Neo benefits from the gamepad’s two analog sticks, as the left one controls the ship, while pressing the right one automatically instructs the ship to fire in any direction chosen by the player. This allows for much more precision than the 3DS version of the game, which rather clumsily employs the A/B/X/Y buttons as a R/Down/Up/Left set-up to direct fire.

The Wii U installment does falter, however, in a lack of variety when it comes to level design. Nano Assault on 3DS included several on-rails and boss levels that added lots of new dimensions to the gameplay, whereas the small number of stages in Neo feature many of the same designs, making them somewhat repetitive despite their ever-increasing difficulty. However, for a game that retails at only $9.99, this is a minor gripe, and the precise, blood-pumping, controller-tossing gameplay, coupled with its superior visuals, make Nano Assault Neo a great addition to the Wii U eShop.

7.5/10