Bangai-O is a title that many younger gamers won’t really be familiar with, but if you’ve been around long enough you’ll know it originally launched as a Japanese-only Nintendo 64 title. It made its way to North America in 2011 by the way of the SEGA Dreamcast and was followed up by a title for the Nintendo DS in 2008. Finally the new generation has the chance to play it in HD and it looks ‘freakin sweet!’ The concept remains the same, and HD upgrade seems to be all Bangai-O needed to stand toe-to-toe with the shooters of today. [nggtags gallery=BangaiOHD2]
You’re probably asking yourself “What the hell is Bangai-O HD?” I know I classify this partially as a twin-stick shooter, but that’s really only one part of the game. If you read the excessively long and [mostly] useless tutorial you learn that there is a solid amount of actions that you can actually perform through the mecha that you control. You fire the primary weapon and move with the sticks, but you can actually use the triggers and bumpers to cycle weapons and perform devastating counter-attacks when you’re in a tight situation.
The game itself features over 100 levels of insanely fast and challenging action involving hundreds of different enemy types. The game features so much variety between levels with random objectives such as destroying twenty-five or more mechs with explosive soccer balls. Sure, a lot of the objectives seen random and don’t make sense, but this is from a Japanese developer so we are expected to have a look of perplexity on our faces while playing it. Some levels require switch activation, some are a race to the finish, and certain levels may pit you against 10,000 enemies in a giant horde. Twenty-three levels in and I haven’t seen anything that’s even similar to a complete copy of a previous level yet. In addition to the single player which has hours upon hours of gameplay, there’s a co-operative mode over Xbox LIVE, and a level editor to play around with. The editor seems to be rather complex but I’m sure you can figure it out if you have a creative mind and know this style of game well. For co-op, you’re going want a friend because the community doesn’t appear to be a reliable source due to lack of online players.
[nggtags gallery=BangaiOHD1]
Whenever you find yourself surrounded by either too many enemies or some rather defensive ones, you can actually charge a counter-attack up to a 4X charge. What does this do? It can release up to 4,000 missiles in a circular pattern and they’ll follow your ship toward enemies and devastate anything they touch. It may sound like the ultimately easy way out in any level, but I can guarantee you it won’t solve every situation in the game. Intricate mazes combined with time limits and puzzles will catch you off guard and have you playing levels multiple times, and when you finally succeed, it feels great.
Due to the overwhelming difficulty in some levels, TREASURE has implemented a really great feature. Fail a level three times and you have the option to play the next level in the sequence, and go back when you feel like it. I’ve had to use it twice so far on two levels that I just can’t seem to complete successfully yet, but I’m not giving up. I mentioned this game is addictive because I’ve found myself on fifty or more attempts on some levels and still not wanting to skip ahead to the next stage. I think a part of this is contributed to the fact that once you fail a level you can start a new attempt so quickly, and you don’t have the time to get frustrated with it.
[nggtags gallery=BangaiOHD]
The game features intense visuals in pretty much every stage though some stages look better than others, and this can be attributed to the gorgeous backgrounds. Absolutely everything you see can actually be used in the level editor as well so you’ve got a ton to work with if you take the time to learn it. The soundtrack accompanying the game features over thirty tracks, some being catchier than others, but none of it will really end up stuck in your heard and causing you to hum it all day long at work. That’s not to say it’s detrimental to the game because the music is one of your least important factors when you’re trying to avoid destruction from… well… everything else on the screen.
Bangai-O HD may not be for everyone, but it’s a title that I feel everyone should try. Sure, it’s tough, but you can skip levels and try new ones. You’re never stuck in terms of progression which is something I dislike about other games with intense difficulty levels. The HD upgrade looks sleek, controls are smooth and keep up with the game’s pace, and there’s more variety here for $10 than most $60 retail titles offer nowadays. Bangai-O HD is one of the most impressive XBLA titles I’ve played, and it’s got amazing value in terms of content.
For more information or to check out the demo, please visit the Xbox.com Marketplace
Thank you to Sarissa at fortyseven Communications for providing a review code to cover this title.
| Rating | Description |
| 9.5 | Gameplay Fast and ferociously difficulty at times, but extremely additive and no two levels seem to be alike. |
| 8.5 | Graphics The HD upgrade is pretty sleek, and you'll often be mesmerized by the colours, but at times there's too much going on to really take in all the sights. |
| 8.0 | Sound The soundtrack is rather generic, but not necessarily bad - it's just sort of....included plus having over thirty tracks keeps it from sounding stale. |
| 9.0 | Final Score |
