Nanotek Warrior

Imagine ultra-small robots capable of building things the size of microchips. With machines that are able to travel inside our bodies' capillaries to repair damaged cells, the possibilities are endless. However, what if these same robots went haywire? Then what would we think of them?

That's exactly what happens in Nanotek Warrior for the PlayStation. The nanomachines of the future get a mind of their own and turn on their manufacturers. Scientists try to stop them but to no avail. The world the nano-bots are in is microscop-ic-the only way to stop them is to terminate their existence once and for all. That's where gamers come in. We would describe Nanotek Warrior like this: Imagine the arcade game Stun Runner on steroids-real potent steroids.

Nanotek puts gamers in the cockpit of a NanoTek ship sent out to take out all of the renegade nano-bots and eventually save the world. The 10 environments that players will navigate their tiny ship through are far from cakewalks. In some areas literally 15 enemies are firing at the NanoTek ship at once-this isn't counting the obstacles that players need to avoid as they make their way to the level Boss.

Some obstacles in Nanotek Warrior include spikes that thrust out of the ground. Others include giant fans that'll easily crush the ship if they come in contact with it.

Gamers will come across a whole array of enemies. They are all polygonal in design, most looking like mechanized spiders or insects of some kind. The bright colors of the enemies combined with the psychedelic backgrounds create levels that give gamers vertigo.

The lighting effects of the weapons and the explosions as the enemies (or gamers) bite the dust are incredible. As players lay a few bombs in the torso of a nano-bot, the ground underneath it lights up. After it blows up, a dark spot appears on the ground like it is charred. Small details like this make for fun play.

The variety of weapons can be used to destroy enemies more effectively. Some enemies fly, so the air-to-ground missiles will take them out with ease. Others come in large numbers so the multimissile (that doubles as a homing missile) comes in handy then. Weapon ammo can be increased by obtaining power-ups that are scattered throughout the level. Check the sidebar on the weapons of the game for more info.

The sound in Nanotek Warrior is in speaker-booming Dolby Surround. The techno soundtrack really adds to the intensity level-like the game isn't hectic enough! Sound effects come from every direction as enemies fire missile after missile at the NanoTek vehicle. Sure, it sounds cool, but it's pretty deadly.

The game features hidden areas and power-ups to make the game more interesting. As these secrets are discovered we will pass them along to readers.

Though the microscopic technology sounds cool, Nanotek Warrior proves that there could be some ill side effects if the nano-things get a mind of their own. Hopefully it'll never come to this in real life since it's a scary thoughtbeing destroyed from a microscopic level.

Behind The SCREENS

What is it with games and Nano-technology lately? Sure, people may have heard about it before, but all of a sudden there's a fascination with the microscopic robots that can do things once thought impossible. Besides Nanotek Warrior, another game that has a lot to do with Nano-technology is Machine Head. (This issue features a Next Wave on that game as well.)

So what is Nano-technology exactly? Nano-technology is an advanced technology that allows the scientists and engineers to have microscopic "robot" or machines perform tasks on a cellular level. Little machines could literally go into the human body to repair cells. Materials could be reinforced fiber by fiber, thus stronger materials could be made.

Many movies have been made exploring this idea {Inner Space) but now the fantasy is becoming reality. It's kind of scary but interesting at the same time.

This one is a shoot-'em-up based in a microscopic environment. It's the 23rd century, and humanity has created ultra-tiny robots to meet its every need. As commander of a microscopic NanoTech ship, you seek out and destroy the Nano-robots through 10 increasingly smaller environments. The waves of opposing Nano-warriors come in a variety of forms, each with its own animations and play mechanics. Blit you have a few tricks up your tiny sleeve, too. Your ship can perform barrel rolls, dart through hyper space and pull off many more life-saving maneuvers. You'll also find hidden power-ups and other secrets throughout the game. Nanotek Warriors' texture-mapped graphics feature Gouraud shading, The soundtrack is techno so it should go well with the game.

Overview

Here we are. It is the future... again. For a change, the world has been at peace for over 100 years and starvation and disease have been eliminated thanks to Nano-robots. It almost sounds like a beer comercial. But wait! Things can't go this good for this long, can they? No way, because that would make for a pretty boring game. The nano-robots have taken on a mind of their own and have decided that it would be best to knock off all of the annoying humans. Since the robots are all so technologically advanced, they have warded off all large scale attempts to stop them. So, up steps... you! (I bet you had no idea.) Your job is to hop in your little Nano-war machine and kick a little robot ass. Don't worry, if you fail, it is just the end of the world. No biggie.

That is a great story and all but, believe me, as soon as you pop this game in, it won't matter. You will not care who, what, when, where or even why you are blasting through space tubes. All you will care about is more. Playing the game more. Nanotek Warrior is an action-packed, 3D shooter that boasts awesome graphics and gameplay that will take you back to the good ol' days of shooters. 18 levels of intense action will keep you playing for quite a while and then some. This game is what pure shooters should aim for.

Gameplay

Nanotek Warrior is a shooter that would be best compared to Tempest, but not really. The only reason it draws this comparison is because of the 360 degrees of motion. The game is set on the outsides and insides of tubes. You skim the surface of the tubes blasting anything and everything that decides to cross your path. Your ship can rotate the full 360 degrees around the tube or inside the tube. It is a bit trick to describe but it is easy enough to grasp.

Your ship comes armed only with a blaster and shields. Along your path, varoius power-ups will be encountered, including special weapons ans increased sheilds. You keep playing until your sheilds are gone. Your ship is also quite manoeverable. It is capable of jumping to avoid stationary abjects or to hit flying enemies, banking hard left or right to get the ship nearly vertical to make it through narrow passages, and strafing to allow hooting at angles without adjusting your present course. All of these controls must be mastered or your game will be short-lived.

Nanotek is a very challenging game. It has three difficulty settings to choose and it is a good idea to start at beginner. The controls are very complex in the sense that there are so many and the action is so fast. It is best to get the controls down on beginner and then advance or the only control you will master is the start button to restart the game. On beginner, you should be able to make it pretty far into the game right off. Switch to normal and things change. The game gets much more challenging. It is not too hard but hard enough to keep you playing. I was really impressed with this. There are too many games that don't have a good seperation between diffiulty levels. Beginners to pros will find a setting that fits them.

Nanotek Warrior has a secondary objective as well. At the end of each mission, you will be given statistics on your performance ans a ranking. If you get 5 stars, you get a special bonus at the beginning of the next level. I personally found survival a little more important than the number of enemies I killed. When I did try and concentrate on killing every enemiy, I did terrible. I liked playing at a fast pace and just blasting whatever chose to get in my way.

If you do manage to make it through the tubes alive, you will face the level boss in what is called the Orbit mode. This is a totally different perspective to the game. Instead of moving along a tube, your ship is orbitting around a boss. The boss has different machines and space craft protecting it which must be destroyed before killing the boss. This took me a bit to figure out what was happening but then it became easy. Too easy. The bosses were pretty easy until you got farther into the game. It is still a cool way to add something different to the game.

Graphics

The graphics in Nanotek Warrior make the game. They are incredible. I don't think a single color on the color palette was missed. The developer says the 3D game engine is proprietary and they used customized 3D software acceleration for the Playstation. Boy, I guess. All facets of the game are great and I never enocountered any slowdown of break-up. The feeling of speed was also excellent. You truely felt as though you were bailing down a tube, blasting for your life.

Bottom Line

This is the best shooter I have played for the Playstation, hands down. I really had a blast (no pun intended). Nanotek Warrior is what so many try to be and fail. This game takes me back to a time when gameplay was all that mattered. Luckily, we get graphics that are as good as the game itself. If you love action that does not quit and awesome graphics, check this one out. I think it will not disappoint.

Overview

Here we are. It is the future... again. For a change, the world has been at peace for over 100 years and starvation and disease have been eliminated thanks to Nano-robots. It almost sounds like a beer comercial. But wait! Things can't go this good for this long, can they? No way, because that would make for a pretty boring game. The nano-robots have taken on a mind of their own and have decided that it would be best to knock off all of the annoying humans. Since the robots are all so technologically advanced, they have warded off all large scale attempts to stop them. So, up steps... you! (I bet you had no idea.) Your job is to hop in your little Nano-war machine and kick a little robot ass. Don't worry, if you fail, it is just the end of the world. No biggie.

That is a great story and all but, believe me, as soon as you pop this game in, it won't matter. You will not care who, what, when, where or even why you are blasting through space tubes. All you will care about is more. Playing the game more. Nanotek Warrior is an action-packed, 3D shooter that boasts awesome graphics and gameplay that will take you back to the good ol' days of shooters. 18 levels of intense action will keep you playing for quite a while and then some. This game is what pure shooters should aim for.

Gameplay

Nanotek Warrior is a shooter that would be best compared to Tempest, but not really. The only reason it draws this comparison is because of the 360 degrees of motion. The game is set on the outsides and insides of tubes. You skim the surface of the tubes blasting anything and everything that decides to cross your path. Your ship can rotate the full 360 degrees around the tube or inside the tube. It is a bit trick to describe but it is easy enough to grasp.

Your ship comes armed only with a blaster and shields. Along your path, varoius power-ups will be encountered, including special weapons ans increased sheilds. You keep playing until your sheilds are gone. Your ship is also quite manoeverable. It is capable of jumping to avoid stationary abjects or to hit flying enemies, banking hard left or right to get the ship nearly vertical to make it through narrow passages, and strafing to allow hooting at angles without adjusting your present course. All of these controls must be mastered or your game will be short-lived.

Nanotek is a very challenging game. It has three difficulty settings to choose and it is a good idea to start at beginner. The controls are very complex in the sense that there are so many and the action is so fast. It is best to get the controls down on beginner and then advance or the only control you will master is the start button to restart the game. On beginner, you should be able to make it pretty far into the game right off. Switch to normal and things change. The game gets much more challenging. It is not too hard but hard enough to keep you playing. I was really impressed with this. There are too many games that don't have a good seperation between diffiulty levels. Beginners to pros will find a setting that fits them.

Nanotek Warrior has a secondary objective as well. At the end of each mission, you will be given statistics on your performance ans a ranking. If you get 5 stars, you get a special bonus at the beginning of the next level. I personally found survival a little more important than the number of enemies I killed. When I did try and concentrate on killing every enemiy, I did terrible. I liked playing at a fast pace and just blasting whatever chose to get in my way.

If you do manage to make it through the tubes alive, you will face the level boss in what is called the Orbit mode. This is a totally different perspective to the game. Instead of moving along a tube, your ship is orbitting around a boss. The boss has different machines and space craft protecting it which must be destroyed before killing the boss. This took me a bit to figure out what was happening but then it became easy. Too easy. The bosses were pretty easy until you got farther into the game. It is still a cool way to add something different to the game.

Graphics

The graphics in Nanotek Warrior make the game. They are incredible. I don't think a single color on the color palette was missed. The developer says the 3D game engine is proprietary and they used customized 3D software acceleration for the Playstation. Boy, I guess. All facets of the game are great and I never enocountered any slowdown of break-up. The feeling of speed was also excellent. You truely felt as though you were bailing down a tube, blasting for your life.

Bottom Line

This is the best shooter I have played for the Playstation, hands down. I really had a blast (no pun intended). Nanotek Warrior is what so many try to be and fail. This game takes me back to a time when gameplay was all that mattered. Luckily, we get graphics that are as good as the game itself. If you love action that does not quit and awesome graphics, check this one out. I think it will not disappoint.

Virgin is ready to launch yet another vehicle racer into an already-crowded field that includes Wipeout XL and Starwinder. Nanotek Warrior puts you on a set path where you spin your ship around a pseudo-tree-trunk track. There's some shooting, but so far the limited gameplay doesn't appear to lend itself to too much fun or too much variety. Hopefully, Tetragon will put some heat into this otherwise tepid racer.

Possibly inspired by the classic game Tempest, Nanotek Warrior sends you speeding through the interiors and exteriors of tubes while you blow away everything in your path. With suave scrolling in a colorful polygonal environment, Nanotek's eye candy complements the gameplay's fast, innovative shooting and jumping. Survive, and you'll fight some very impressive bosses.

Amid the drought of PlayStation shooters, Nanotek Warriors is a thunderstorm: It's an intense blaster with challenging stages and awesome bosses.

Shrunk down to microscopic size, you race down twisting tubes and surfaces, blasting enemies and dodging obstacles.

The colorful stages have big explosions and other cool visual effects. The sound effects provide a plethora of laser blasts, and the techno-music works well with the fast-paced action. The game also has excellent controls--essential with all the dodging and strafing you must do.

Those looking for a straight shooter will be well-served to rev up with this Warrior.