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Evasive Space: there's a reason it's not called Confrontational Space
Hey, look, it's a pointer-controlled shooter on WiiWare! That's ... great. Actually, Yuke's/High Voltage's Evasive Space appears to have a somewhat novel control scheme, in which the pointer actually controls the direction of your flight and not just the direction of your shots. Oh, and also there aren't any shots. So really it's not much of a shooter. Instead, it's a collection of various timed (or time trial) challenges ranging from rescuing floating spacemen to navigating mazes to searching for items. All with nary a pew, pew or pew to be found!If this sounds intriguing to you, have a look at IGN's pile of videos (accessible in the sidebar of the embedded video or here) and check out their written impressions as well. It's apparently due out sometime in December or January for 1,000 Wii Points.%Gallery-37316%
Galaga Legions team wants another shot
If you remix something once, you're edgy, willing to let two styles careen into each other and just ride the resulting wave to cash and fame. If you remix something twice? Well, that's just a bit too much for our conservative Baptist upbringing, unless you've got mad, Puff Daddy (P. Diddy?)-level skills ... or you work for Namco Bandai, apparently. The same team that crafted a bold, fresh take on Galaga this year with Galaga Legions says it's itching to take yet another bolder, fresher look at the franchise. As producer Nobutaka Nakajima told Gamasutra, "Because there are so many different ways of taking the Galaga franchise and many different aspects that could be created into the core fundamentals of the game, we do want to look at Galaga again." Sounds great, but could you maybe remix a few other classic franchises before you get into a rut with one? Hint, hint.
VC Friday: A question of value
This week's PAL Virtual Console line-up isn't short on quality, but it represents fairly awful value. As dreamy as we find any Metal Slug title, there are cheaper ways to play all three of this week's offerings. Want Metal Slug 2? We'd recommend picking up this. Fancy having your delicate gamer's ego rudely kicked in by Forgotten Worlds? There's an excellent compilation out there for a bunch of platforms that costs peanuts and comes with another 20 or so games. If you can't find Space Invaders for less than £6/€8, you're probably reading the wrong website. Better still: lavish those points on Space Invaders Get Even!. Metal Slug 2 -- Neo Geo -- 900 Wii Points Space Invaders: The Original Game -- SNES -- 800 Wii Points Forgotten Worlds -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points See videos of all three (including footage of one David Hinkle showing off his skillz at Space Invaders and Forgotten Worlds) after the break.
Soldner-X arrives on PlayStation Network on 12/4 for $9.99
The delayed Soldner-X is finally making its way home on the PlayStation Network next week for the low, low price of $9.99 in North America. The shmup features 1080p graphics, 2 player co-op support, leaderboards, and Trophy support. Check out the new trailer above.%Gallery-6261%
Evasive Space screens fail at evading our attention
The first shots of Evasive Space invaded our inbox earlier today, and apparently things get quite ... trippy in the Yuke's/High Voltage collaboration. Not Jeff Minter levels of trippy, but still pretty out there in parts. The game itself, which will cost 1000 Wii Points, seems to be a mix of open play shmupping (as seen in Geometry Wars) and more linear, contained areas.The screens in our gallery are drawn from the first two of the game's four acts, each of which will contain five scenarios to play through. In turn, these come in two types: either you'll be doing timed runs, or you'll be collecting stuff (spacemen, energy cells) while avoiding other stuff (asteroids, gas clouds). It's brave of Yuke's and High Voltage to release a shmup on a system overflowing with the things, but we like what we see so far! Hit up the gallery and tell us what you think.%Gallery-37316%[Via press release]
Ultimate Shooting Collection targets December release
Yes, the localized version of Milestone's Ultimate Shooting Collection may have horribly generic boxart (seriously, compare this to the Japanese box and weep), but we still want the game badly.Unfortunately, we're going to have to wait. Previously, the game was scheduled to come out on November 11th, but as it isn't in our homes right now, we had to assume it had slipped. When contacted, publisher UFO Interactive confirmed our worst fears: the new release date is December 15th, right in the middle of the Christmas rush. Pew pew your way past the break for a trailer.%Gallery-37210%
Wii Fanboy Review: Space Invaders Get Even!
In an industry obsessed with spin-offs, it's amazing that this took so long: a Space Invaders game in which puny humans get to control the Invaders themselves. In the same year that the franchise celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, Space Invaders Get Even! lets you indulge in a spot of role reversal, giving us the chance to cruise above the cities of Earth and raze everything in sight.%Gallery-25384%
Gradius ReBirth: U.S. to destroy the core soon
Click to enter gallery. Keen ESRB-spotter Spencer at Siliconera has located a welcome addition to the ESRB's database: Gradius ReBirth. While Japan has been pew pewing itself silly since early September, this is the first solid sign that the 1000 Point WiiWare game will be leaving its native country. Input the code and shoot the core down the break for footage of the first two stages. %Gallery-35829%
Extended Hands-on: Crash Commando
We got our hands on Crash Commando at E3 and were quite impressed. Since then we've had the opportunity to play a preview build to our heart's content and it's looking great. Crash Commando is a 2D multiplayer shooter with 3D graphics. It plays very similarly to Soldat but has a pinch of Warhawk in there for good measure. Gameplay consists of jetpacking around a battlefield shooting at people. The funny thing about these battlefields is that they're two-sided, so each level has a background and a foreground. You can switch between these by stepping through various doors littered throughout each level. You can see people fighting in the background in real time, helping you locate more people to shoot at. The game will ship with eight levels, ranging from a cave, a jungle fort and a dilapidated ruins. When we spoke to the producer of the game at E3, however, he was keen to tell us that the dev team is planning on plenty of post-launch downloadable content. %Gallery-28077%
More shmup action hits PSN: Astro Tripper
All of a sudden, it appears many independent studios are ready to show off their PSN exclusive goods. PomPom Games has revealed a PSN shoot-em-up called Astro Tripper. Once again, this is a retro-styled arcade game in the style of other horizontal side-scrolling shooters. According to the official site, the game will promise "UFOS. Fat Motherships. Tanks. Choppers. Slimy Slug creatures. Alien Insects. Aztec structures brimming with electricity. And of course, Big Bosses!"This PSN release is scheduled to release "soon" (whatever that means), and will feature 1080p graphics, online leaderboards, and Trophy support.[Via Siliconera]%Gallery-34721%
DS Fanboy Preview: The World(s) of Big Bang Mini
Studio Arkedo's Big Bang Mini is pure uncomplicated fun. It's a shmup with all the button tapping swapped out for frantic swiping on the touch screen. It's Pac-Pix's bow and arrow expanded into a whole game. Other elements are added as the game goes on, but the basic gameplay -- flinging projectiles at the top of the screen at top speed while dragging your little character around to avoid debris -- stays the same. I covered the basics of gameplay in my E3 preview. This time, I'll focus a bit more about some things that I didn't cover as much: the visual styles, the bosses, and the bonus modes -- at least for the three worlds I've experienced.%Gallery-18714%
Ocean Commander the rarest of things: a disc-based Wii shmup
Thanks to the Virtual Console, the Wii could become the best console for shmups since the Saturn, yet not many publishers have released original shoot-'em-ups on old-fashioned discs. To date, the exceptional Blast Works has been the pick of a small group that also contains Castle of Shikigami III, Monkey King, and Milestone's Ultimate Shooting Collection.All of which means Ocean Commander will face a depeleted formation of opponents when it launches in Q1 2009. Set on a waterlogged Earth in 3011, the game sees you piloting the Ocean Commander ship, a dextrous craft that can change form, though precisely which forms isn't mentioned in the press release. The title uses the Wiimote and Nunchuk (which allows for 360° aiming), and there will be a dozen upgradeable weapons, 21 levels, and 30 stages. Of course, such stats can't compete with Blast Works' infinite number of levels and stages, but count us interested.%Gallery-32402%[Via press release]
More Crash Commando details revealed, out in December
Click for high resolution image. Sony has revealed a whole load of new information about Crash Commando, an upcoming downloadable title that feels like a mix between Warhawk and Soldat. The game will feature 12-players online and offline, with bots making up the numbers if you can't get hold of eleven friends. You'll be battling it out with a multitude of weapons and vehicles, including tanks, rocket launchers and C4 in both multi- and singleplayer modes. You'll be able to practice your skills in the offline, singleplayer Boot Camp mode. Once you finally feel you're good enough to take it online, there will be full player profiles, with stat tracking, rankings and leaderboards. Crash Commando will also have full Trophy support when it launches in European territories this December. No word on a US release date yet, but expect it around the same time. Check out our E3 hands-on for more info on the game and peruse the gallery for the latest screenshots. [Via press release] %Gallery-28077%
Illvelo Wii is real(velo)
Importer NCSX has confirmed the existence of a Wii version of Milestone's Illmatic Envelope, first seen as a Play-Asia listing. Milestone has seemingly foregone the customary "last Dreamcast game EVER!!!" release of their NAOMI-based shmup in favor of a system that is still being produced. The November 13 release date found in the Play-Asia listing was accurate.At this point we'd normally start speculating about a US release for the vertical shmup, but to be honest we're still suspicious as to the prospects of the Ultimate Shooting Collection. Sure, it looks like it's going to come out, but so did Radio Allergy on the GameCube. Let's get that out, and then we can start crossing our fingers for Illvelope.
VC Monday Madness: Cho Aniki and Final Soldier
This week, we've got a pair of new Virtual Console titles. And they're both imports! And they're both from the TurboGrafx16. And they're both shmups! And they're both good!
Gaming to Go: Geometry Wars: Galaxies
Who knew Bizarre Creations had a hit on its hands when it created the original Geometry Wars so many moons ago? I certainly didn't, though that might be due in part to my complete lack of one of those other consoles. Since its original inception on Microsoft soil, the Geometry Wars series has seen a number of different incarnations, a particularly enjoyable one of which is available for everyone's favorite handheld. Geometry Wars: Galaxies also saw a release on Nintendo's white waggle box, though the infinitely more portable version is what I'll be covering in this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Haven't experienced the geometrical madness yet? Come along and see why playing with shapes on a two-dimensional grid is far more entertaining than it sounds. %Gallery-11043%
Joystiq Interview: A Bizarre interview about Geometry Wars 2
It's no secret: You love Geometry Wars 2, we love Geometry Wars 2, everybody loves it. We recently talked with Bizarre Creation's Stephen Cakebread, Senior Coder, and Craig Howard, Games Manager, to find out how they crafted the game that won our hearts. It would seem to the layman that, with as popular as Geometry Wars was, a sequel would be pretty easy to crap out. Why wait so long? Howard: Because the first one was so well received, it would have cheapened the game if we just knocked something out and not given it a lot of thought. We wanted something to make sure it was something we'd be really proud of. Cakebread: Our inital plan was to get it our a year later and then the plan was to ship it when Gotham 4 shipped and that didn't work out either. It really was a case that we weren't going to ship it until we were ready to ship it. It might seem silly, but it took us quite a while to figure out a graphical style that still looked like the original. One of our big things was when people came to our stations we wanted them to say "Oh, is that a sequel to Geometry Wars?" rather than "Is that Geometry Wars?" It took us quite a while to come up with something that really worked. We tried some mad stuff. Like what?: Howard: What didn't we do? [laughs] Gallery: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Fanswag: Bangai-O goes to ...
Our latest giveaway has come to a close and we've selected our two winners. If there's one thing that's hard to do, it's having to part with Bangai-O, let alone two copies. But, hey, it's our job! The winners are: thebagel, who is a big Ikaruga fan Noir, who enjoys Radiant Silvergun Congratulations to our winners and better luck next time to the rest of you. Thanks for reading!
Rumor: Another Milestone shmup port on the way
Ultimate Shooting Collection will release in the U.S. later this month, but it might not be the last shmup port we see from Milestone. Sega's Illvelo / Illmatic Envelope is based on the NAOMI arcade system board (the Dreamcast was rife with NAOMI ports), and appeared earlier this year in Japanese arcades. Now, according to a Play-Asia listing, the Wii will be getting its own port on November 13th in Japan.As you can see above, it looks pretty wacky, with cel-shaded levels populated by everything from giant cutlery to confectionery, a tongue-in-cheek approach that reminds us of Star Parodier. Presuming it does exist, will Illvelo Wii get localized? UFO Interactive helpfully picked up Ultimate Shooting Collection for the States, but that contained a wallet-pleasing three shmups -- as Illvelo will only feature one, a North American release looks less likely.[Via Siliconera]
Fanswag: Bangai-O up for grabs
Hey folks, do you like free stuff? Do you like free stuff that just so happens to also be totally awesome? Then enter our latest giveaway, right here, which will be hooking up two lucky readers with their own copy of Bangai-O Spirits (retails for $30)! How do you enter? That's easy!Simply leave a comment telling us what your favorite Treasure shooter is. Need a refresher? Hit up our latest feature looking back at their wonderful shooters right here. Or, just hit up the gallery at the below of this post. You can leave one comment per day, between now and 11:59PM ET on Monday, September 1st, which is when the giveaway ends. There is a catch, though. This latest giveaway is only open to current and legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec). Also, entrants need to be at least 18 years of age. Read up on the official rules right here.Best of luck to you all and thanks for reading DS Fanboy!%Gallery-29298%
