Review: Nanosaur 2

Overview If you like to fly, kill and complete objectives, then Nanosaur 2 is the game for you. The extreme graphics are visually engaging and the accelerometer controls will have you high-flying through levels. Shoot your way past giant dinosaurs and robotic killing machines to collect stolen eggs and send them back to Earth via wormholes in this challenging Pangea release. Gameplay The first level starts out with a big bang (not *the* Big Bang!) as you are shot through a wormhole 65 million years into the past. The level is filled dinosaurs, from brontosauruses to velociraptors (of Jurassic Park fame), to your own character -- the nanosaur!

Use the blue jet pack button to zoom quickly through the level, but use it wisely around the trees - it's pretty easy to blow yourself up. Kill anything that crosses your path by holding down the red fire button in the right bottom corner of your screen, and this will activate your blaster weapon (you only have 20 shots to start). If you run out of ammo find some green power-ups along the ground and fly over them and they will automatically refill your supply. But if you can't find any, don't stress, just hold down the fire button and use your sonic stream weapon, though not as powerful, you have an endless supply of ammo. There are lots of different kinds of power-ups throughout each level, which are identified by different colored glowing icons. Of course the green ones, as I mentioned, are for ammo, blue for fuel (jet pack mentioned earlier), red for health, purple for shield, and orange for a free life. All of these are monitored on the home screen in the upper right hand corner.

While trying to navigate through the sea of bullets, trees and enemies you should constantly be looking for eggs, which are not easy to find. The eggs are dispersed throughout the level along the ground with beams of light radiating from them... sounds easy enough to spot, but I was playing for what seemed like 10 minutes before I even found my first egg. To pick it up simply fly over the egg and it will automatically lift into your grasp, but be careful not to fire or get hit, because you will drop it. Don't worry the eggs don't break... you can swoop back down to try and get it if you can, but if you can't, then it will re-appear where you originally found it after a short period of time. Once you do get an egg and can hold on to it, fly by the nearest wormhole and the egg will automatically get sucked back to earth. You can view how many eggs have been retrieved and how many are left by looking at your egg display in the upper left hand corner of the screen. As soon as you finish gathering all the eggs the original wormhole you entered through will close and a new one will appear with a message prompting you to, "Fly in to the next level." As with other Pangea games, there is a save feature, but only after completing each long level will you be given the option. Review For a first person shooter game, at least from a graphical standpoint, it doesn't get much better than this on the iPhone. For actual playability, however, Nanosaur 2 leaves a lot to be desired. First off, the controls were too sensitive and not accurate enough even after adjusting the setting. For example, the countless times I smashed into trees and failed to pickup an egg, even after the tedious task of actually locating it, I became immensely frustrated.

Also, the objectives for leveling up, finding all 11 eggs and sending them back through the wormhole, presented more than just a modest challenge. The inclusion of a difficulty setting option would have been much appreciated, and left me engaged rather than aggravated and wanting to throw my iPhone against the wall. The 'Instructions' button on the main page takes you to the Pangea site where an 11 page document awaits. Talk about overkill... Summary Overall the game was fun and something I could see myself sitting for hours trying to complete if just a smidge easier. For $3.99, I would say it's still a good deal for you professional gamers.

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