1UP writes: "The original Nanostray (and its precursor, the Iridion series on Game Boy Advance) was a technically impressive shoot-em-up hampered by mandatory touch control where your ship -- y'know, the important part -- was usually obscured by your hand. The good news is that Nanostray 2 is, for starters, a more traditional shooter -- and, therefore, a more enjoyable game. Touch control is now a secondary option to the button-based default layout. But with an adherence to tradition comes a few complaints as well.
You start Nanostray 2 by having to complete a handful of stages in any order you choose, and you're presented with a few more after that. By that point, however, you may have already spent most of your credits and lives, leaving you with just a couple of chances to get through every stage. Regardless, if you completely fail in this second tier at all, you get the final Game Over and are forced to restart the entire journey from planet one -- there's no "checkpoint" after completing the first set of planets".
