Gaming Review: Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury

The original game debuted with a limited print run of just 10,000 Nintendo 64 cartridges, but despite a clear lack of publisher confidence, developer Treasure had delivered an addictive shoot-em-up.

Fans of fellow Xbox Live Arcade titles Geometry Wars and Hard Corps: Uprising will surely enjoy this re-release.

Missile Fury is far from intuitive, and the complicated tutorial does more to confuse you than actually help you learn the game. Regardless, you’ll soon get a feel for how the combat mechanic works. Each stage is timed and ends whenever you wipe out all enemies on screen, or reach an exit. With so many bad guys and enemy missiles flying around at once, you need to move fast and return fire with your heavy-hitting counter attacks.

The key to success is in triggering huge missile attacks at key locations of the map to thin out enemy ranks and to buy yourself precious survival time to let the attacks recharge. As such, the game frequently descends into a frantic dash away from enemy fire in order to survive, and is similar in pace to a fast game of Pac-Man, if not more tense. If you like tons of firepower, a challenge and loads of enemies to obliterate, then you might want to take a chance on Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury.

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury

£7.99, Xbox Live Arcade