Majesco Entertainment has become synonymous in 
recent years with its localizations of the popular Cooking Mama franchise for the Western market. Their lineup this year is impressively diverse, ranging from casual titles such as a new 3DS iteration of the aforementioned Cooking Mama franchise and a Hulk Hogan wrestling game for the Kinect, to several titles targeted at core gamers such as BloodRayne: Betrayal. At E3 this year, GrE was able to go hands-on with a few of their upcoming titles and walked away thoroughly impressed.
Nano Assault
Nano Assault is a spiritual successor to the Nanostray series on the Nintendo DS. With Nano Assault, developer Shin’en manages to cram several flavors of the arcade space shooter experience into one polished, 3D-enabled package on the Nintendo 3DS. The levels I sampled ranged from a classic on-rails structure similar to StarFox or Panzer Dragoon, to a multidirectional shooting battle on a spherical battlefield with overtones of Super Stardust HD, to a unique side-scrolling view for boss battles that isn’t seen in many shoot-em-ups outside of Japan.
With so many different types of gameplay packed into a title, one would think that graphics or gameplay would suffer in one or more of the level types, but I’m happy to report that this was not the case. The controls were tight and responsive, and the living, breathing environments of the game burst to life on the small screen with impressive particle effects to match. Additionally, it wouldn’t be a stretch for me to say that Nano Assault contains some of the most convincing 3D effects of any title I’ve played on the handheld so far. The game is also said to be very lengthy, containing 32 levels and 10 boss battles. As a fan of shoot-em-ups, I look forward to seeing more of Nano Assault when it launches later this year.
BloodRayne: Betrayal
With games like the Wii remake of A Boy and His Blob and the Contra sequel on the Nintendo DS under its belt, developer WayForward is no stranger to crafting 2D titles. It’s of little surprise then, that when asked to do a proper sequel in the dormant BloodRayne franchise, WayForward jumped at the chance use its 2D expertise to create something familiar, yet unique. BloodRayne: Betrayal trades polygons for hand-drawn sprites and clunky 3D combat for a streamlined 2D exploration/battle engine drawing inspiration from classic Castlevania as well as more modern Vanillaware (Odin Sphere, Muramasa) titles.
The combat itself is smooth and stylish, relying on just a few buttons to cause massive amounts of mayhem. Additionally, the player has the choice of either stealing life from enemies by draining their blood, or “infecting” them (basically turning them into walking time bombs, which soon explode and damage surrounding enemies). There are also environmental hazards, and taking full advantage of them to dispatch groups of enemies is an integral part of the experience. The sprites look great and are well-animated, and the game looks like a blast to play. WayForward demoed two levels for GamesAreEvil, a set of ruins and a forest leading up to a large castle. The entrance to the castle was guarded by a large, impressive looking boss: a giant enemy crab. And yes, you are supposed to attack its weak points (leg joints) for massive damage. WayForward said the game gets even crazier as it goes on. I can’t wait to see how BloodRayne: Betrayal turns out when it hits PSN and Xbox Live Arcade later this summer.
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