ROTR (Hands-On) (Nintendo DS) Preview

The game starts up with the same logos for both Nibris and Fresh Chicken Studio as Double Bloob has and then switches to the main screen, which currently has four options on it: Single Player, Multiplayer, Config and Credits. As the online and local wireless Multiplayer aspects have not been implemented yet, and the Config / Credits sections are just test areas right now where you can play with the transparency of the ROTR logo, the only choice is to go for the Single Player campaign, which for the moment is split into two separate levels. The first is a bright, colourful Japan of the future, whilst the other is a snow-laden WWII European landscape, complete with broken ice floating over estuaries and impressive attention to detail with tyre tracks being left in the snow from moving ground vehicles.

Each stage offers up a different aircraft, although for the moment despite their aesthetic differences, there does not seem to be any discernable difference in how they handle during a level. The same goes for the weapons on offer, with each again having what the other offers and nothing more. But anyway, the European stage has a smaller, war time-esque plane for you to control, whilst the Japanese one offers up a larger, more futuristic jet, with both having small flashing yellow lights on the tips of their wings to help them stand out more from the backdrops. In all honesty you would expect the smaller craft to be quicker and perhaps less powerful in comparison to the one for the Future Japan stage, yet such distinguishing attributes, as previously said, are not incorporated at this moment in time since there is still a long way to go in the development cycle. On the whole, though, the control of the crafts is very smooth, with the speed of movement being considerably upped since the last version C3 played, meaning manoeuvring around the bullets / energy pulses flying around you is easier than before.

Other issues such as the 'void' between the two screens have thankfully been fixed, so that now when you move from the lower to upper screen, the change is almost instantaneous, rather than you having to wait whilst you passed through the gap, completely off-screen, getting fired at and being unable to dodge due to the lack of vision on the playing field. Enemies are also greater in number, with hordes of fighter planes coming at you from all angles, firing off a melee of shots at you, making life extremely difficult (well, at the moment there is infinite energy, but purposely trying to avoid all bullets anyway proved quite taxing indeed). However, there are not just flying enemies around the stage, but turrets on the ground vehemently shooting at you, as well as ground vehicles making your life hell. And everything moves around at a decent pace without slowdown, which is extremely pleasing given the amount of detail around the two levels and the amount of on-screen action taking place at any one time.

In this latest edition there is also an end-of-stage boss on offer, which is basically a large tank-like monstrosity that moves slowly around the upper screen, blasting away at you constantly, barely giving you any breathing space. It really does take a lot of skill to be able to keep out of the way of its fire-power, and just when you think you have defeated all of its separate parts, it opens up a new set of weapons, ready to give you more of a pasting. If there is a plentiful supply of bosses like this on the horizon, then ROTR will definitely be a real challenge even for veteran shmup fans.

As for weaponry, the four choices currently on offer are homing missiles, front dual-laser beams, scattered pulse balls and single laser beams that shoot out at three different angles from your craft. On the audio side there is just the one track available right now (which is in the same style as the ones you heard in this story). Graphically on the whole, ROTR far surpasses the Double Bloob, with good use of 3D on both screens simultaneously, varied enemy fighters and pleasing effects for weapons, trails of smoke from vehicles / jets and so on. There is also a handy slow-down function that can be used to get a firm grasp on the often-chaotic scenarios you are faced with. This can only be used in short bursts, though, as a meter in the bottom-right runs down quickly whilst in this mode.