High Intensity Eye Candy but the Game's a Dud

Big Bang Mini never rises above being simple interactive eye candy because of its gameplay problems and inconsistencies, one of which is explained in plain text within its opening tutorial.  But as you play past these issues, you'll probably have a fun experience flinging technicolor fireworks at floaty oddball enemies in a Space Invaders-style shooter.  While the experience may be forgettable you're left with the impression that Arkedo studios has a real concern with keeping things fun.

 

In the tutorial you learn how to shoot fireworks from the bottom screen by creating an upward motion with the stylus.  The tutorial likens this to a lighting a match.  You'll also have a small avatar (a pyramid, a fluorescent circle, or some other inanimate shape) that you'll need to weave between bullets and projectiles or else you'll be destroyed and the level will end.  I realized right away that the game would have control issues when the tutorial said: "Make sure you shoot in a different place and not on the blue triangle.  Or else you'll be forced to move and that could be risky."  So when you're spamming your fireworks upwards you might accidentally click your avatar and send yourself flying towards oncoming projectiles.  You'll die a few times this way; I guess the game is just 'warning you'.  And this will happen to you for a while in Big Bang Mini because for most of the game you'll have your eyes focused solely on the bottom screen and will have no time to see what the flying skeletons and squids are doing on the top screen.  You'll shoot off several fireworks hurriedly with no real care as to your aim except to make sure you're shooting upwards.  Then you'll click your little ship and weave between enemy attacks and the exploding shells from your own missed shots. Its really disappointing to have tunnel vision for the bottom screen because the creatures and enemies that are attacking you are wonderfully cute and fun to look at but you'll be too busy trying to stay alive.
 
Big Bang Mini's graphical style is very, very busy.  There will be dozens of small flaming balls and electric bolts whizzing around either of the DS' two screens.  When you shoot a firework that misses an enemy, it creates an explosion that sends fiery balls flying back down at you that could be your death.  Another of its major problems is that you can't trust which projectiles will actually kill your avatar.  Some bolts definitely strike your little floating orb but they seem to pass right through you.  This poor hit detection really leaves the player feeling unsatisfied and is not the stuff of great game play.  In Space Invaders or Galaga you know exactly when you're ship is going to be killed and you know that it was your own fault for not dodging.
 

If you find this DS game on the cheap I'd recommend Big Bang Mini simply for its colorful holographic cover, but that really isn't much a compliment when you're reviewing a video game.  It's game play problems and overall lack of depth leave you feeling a little underwhelmed after the first hour or so.  Any seasoned gamer is going to realize that the game has used all of its tricks early on and that the game play isn't going to change in later levels.  You'll repetitiously be spamming fireworks towards the upper screen in the hopes of killing something and then picking up their stars to become closer to the level's completion.  The addition of charge attacks or a shield really add little depth and after the first four or five worlds you'll be at the point where you are tired of dying when its not your fault and tired that your missiles aren't firing off like you intended.  The game's music and graphics are highly commendable and the game can be a neat display of the DS touch features, but aren't we all over that gimmick by now?  Hopefully somewhere down the road someone will put Arkedo studios to work in an area that really focuses on their strengths of visual design while someone else stitches together a more memorable game.