This review was based on a review copy of the game and not a retail copy, generously furnished by SouthPeak Interactive.
Arkedo’s DS shooter Big Bang Mini exemplifies the concept of simple fun, in the same manner that de Blob did last year on Wii: if you have a simple but addictive idea, and you polish it until it shines, you’re going to get a highly engaging and engrossing product. Big Bang Mini’s simple gameplay makes it a game that’s easy for anyone to pick up and play, but the creativity that Arkedo applied to this simple idea makes it something much more.
Big Bang Mini is a game without any sort of plot or context, which isn’t a bad thing at all, so don’t bother trying to figure it out; all you really need to know is that the things above you are bad, and that you have to shoot them. The game does this through the DS’s touch screen; you’ll drag your stylus upward across the screen to shoot fireworks at your enemies, and as they are destroyed, they’ll drop rainbow stars that your tiny ship needs to pick up. Your ship’s movements are also controlled by the touch screen, by touching your ship and moving it about. The location of your ship doesn’t limit in any way the direction you can shoot in, or the location you can shoot from; destroying enemies and preserving yourself are more or less separate endeavors.
In addition to these simple controls, though, you’ll have a couple of extra abilities that will change from stage to stage. In one level, you’ll gain homing missiles; in another, you can create a mirror shield that reflects enemy fire back at the bad guys; in yet another, you’ll even be able to stop time. Knowing when to use these abilities is going to be important, as this game is not in any way the kind of game where you can just fire all over the place; you’re going to have to get strategic, and time your actions carefully, if you want to make it to the very end of the game.
The specific strategies you’ll have to employ, as well as the variety of powerups you’ll receive, are delightfully creative, and each time your abilities change it feels fresh, so the game never really gets old, even after 90 stages. As you’re handed new weapons, powerups, and enemies, old ones are often taken away, so your playstyle is going to change often. In addition, each world has a different quirk to it that will affect how you play. It almost feels like you’re playing a different game with each new world you go to, and the game actually gets better the farther you delve into it, which is a very difficult task for most shooters.
The game does, however, get hard, and I mean extremely hard. The first few worlds are more relaxed and comparatively easy to complete, but near the end of the game you are going to need some quick reflexes and a lot of patience. It’s important to remember that every time a firework of yours misses, it explodes and the subsequent explosion rains back down on you; combine that with your enemies’s fire, and there are instances where your part of the screen will be covered in dozens of bullets for you to dodge. Other times, however, you may end up having to take some very carefully timed, and positioned, shots at your enemies, lest you hit a mine and destroy yourself. The later levels are definitely going to require a great deal of skill and patience.
Each main level ends with a Bonus Zone, which starts out as a basic connect-the-dots puzzle; as you progress, though, it gets more difficult, requiring you to touch the dots in time with music, or touch them while avoiding an eel, maintaining the level of creativity present in the rest of the game. Besides the main levels of arcade mode, each of the 9 worlds has a boss stage, wherein you fight against a giant, mass-shooting, multiple-phase boss. These battles are extremely entertaining, allowing you to fire at will without any repercussions for doing so, as a creative boss flies about the screen and shoots more projectiles at you than a gatling gun. The final boss of the game is especially creative, and challenging; I won’t spoil it, since it’s a great laugh when you see it the first time. Suffice it to say that the bosses are a good addition to the game.
Once you’ve completed the arcade mode, depending on how completely you beat it, you’ll unlock several other modes. Challenge Mode comes to you halfway through the game, which pits you in an endless stage to see how long you can last, and what kind of score you can obtain. You can upload your scores to an online leaderboard, as well, though my school’s internet policy prevented me from trying that out. Completing all of Arcade Mode nets you Mission Mode, which challenges you to complete certain stages under additional constraints, such as a time limit, or disallowing you from shooting clouds. If you complete all the bonus zones in Arcade Mode, you’ll unlock Relax Mode, which allows you to watch and make fireworks at your leisure. Completing Mission Mode unlocks something else entirely, which I’m still working on. You’ll end up playing this game for a while.
Having gone into depth about the gameplay, I must also acknowledge, on a closing note, that this game looks fantastic. Each world, as well as challenge mode, has an art style that is entirely different from the worlds that came before, and pretty much all of them are intriguing. You’ll go from basic line enemies to cartoony snowmen to 3D-esque dot graphics to my personal favorite, a level based entirely on comic book artistry. It exemplifies the creativity embued within this game, as well as the variety. The sound also varies from level to level, but was not quite as memorable; I will mention, though, that there is one level where, if you fire to the beat of the music, your fireworks grow stronger, and it’s awesome.
Overall, the best way to sum up Big Bang Mini is: it’s a simple and addictive package, made into an excellent package by heaping amounts of content and creativity. I give this game an emphatic Yay! for anyone looking for a good pick-up-and-play game experience. Traditional top-down shooter fans are probably going to enjoy this greatly, but I think that anyone who picks it up is going to be able to have a fun time.
