"There's missiles... EVERYWHERE!!"

When I first stepped into PAX, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of games that were playable. I decided to make my rounds and see what was there before waiting in any lines for demos. Then I saw that Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury was playable. I immediately abandoned my initial plan and darted over to D3′s booth to check it out.

Within about 2 seconds, I reached the Game Over screen.

Honestly, that is what I expected to happen. If Bangai-O Spirits on the Nintendo DS taught me anything, it’s that this series is completely insane in all the right ways. For those who have never had the opportunity to hit missiles with a baseball bat, allow me to break it down for you.

Bangai-O is an omni-directional shooter in which you control a giant robot as he collects fruit while the screen fills with missiles. Sound crazy? It is. Afterall, Bangai-O is developed by Treasure, the same company that brought us the fantastically absurd shooting action of Sin and Punishment.

Fortunately for me, my near-instantaneous Game Over was partially due to starting on an especially hard level. After visiting the level select screen and easing my way in, I was able to get my bearings much better.

The first thing I noticed was the new control layout. Unlike Spirits, Missile Fury uses a twin-stick scheme. This allows for extra mobility as you can now change firing and movement directions independently with ease. I believe it’s this added mobility that caused the earlier stages to feel a bit easier than Spirits. Thankfully, fears that the game would be too easy were quickly squashed when I revisited the later stages and met my old friend, the Game Over screen.

Missile Fury features several weapons to play with including missiles, homing missiles, lasers, and napalms. You’ll have two weapons equipped at a time that can be switched between using the right bumper. But when you really want to unleash some destruction, it’s time for an EX attack.

Holding down the EX button will charge your attack, allowing you to unleash a huge barrage of missiles. Besides charging, the EX attack also increases in power if there are more bullets around you. The charging combined with intentionally putting yourself in harm’s way makes for a very satisfying sense of risk and reward. But the EX gauge is limited, so you’ll have to use it wisely between refills. You can aim a concentrated blast or fire in all directions.

Most of the levels present a common goal: defeat all the enemies before time runs out. However, the demo stages shared a glimpse of just how much variety the level design will present. One stage required me to get a block over to a glowing square while endless supplies of debris dropped from the ceiling at an alarming rate. Another level had me shooting out fuses that simultaneously allowed me to progress and unleashed hoards of enemies.

The final game will feature over 100 stages. If that isn’t enough for you, you’ll be happy to know that the level editor is making a triumphant return. You’ll be able to make levels from scratch, edit existing levels, and share them with your friends over Xbox Live. I was also told that it’s likely we’ll see additional “featured” levels, though no details were given on that.

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury looks as sharp as it plays, with no slowdown despite having the screen fill with missiles. It’s a series that lends itself well to being played both in quick bursts and extended sessions. At 800 Space Bucks (Microsoft Points), November can’t come soon enough!

Tags: Bangai-O, Bangai-o HD, Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury, D3, D3 Publisher, D3Publisher, hands-on impressions, PAX, PAX '10, PAX 2010 COVERAGE, Treasure, xbla, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Monday, September 20th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.