For $20 bucks you certainly do get a fun little game in Big Bang Mini, though it does have some drawbacks. It's a pyromaniac's dream come true as you setoff on a worldwide adventure by train and destroy various enemies with a series of firework blasts. You probably won't be sticking with the game for long or gaming in large chunks, but for the occasional quick play for a level or two, Big Bang Mini is a blast.

Like most arcade-based shooters, the game has no real story to tie anything together with. Each level begins with a view from a window on a moving train, which will then segue into the actual view outside the window, where your job is to destroy the various enemies floating on the screen, eventually working your way to the boss and then onto the next set of themed levels.

Boss Fight

The premise behind Big Bang Mini is extremely easy to grasp – avoid being hit by enemies while you fire fireworks to explode your enemies. In order to advance through the levels, you'll need to amass enough stars from the destroyed enemies, which fall down onto your screen and are then added to your meter as you retrieve them. Score enough, attempt the bonus connect the dots game, and then keep doing so until you fight the boss.

The game is completely based around the DS' touch controls, as you won't use anything but your stylus to perform every action in the game (though a button hold is sometimes required as part of a stylus move). You are able to freely roam about the bottom screen of the DS, while the upper screen is used to display where your enemies hang. To move your icon (since it varies depending on the level) all you have to do is touch it with the stylus and drag around to dodge. To fire your default fireworks all you have to do is make an upwards-flicking motion in the direction you want the firework to head. If your firework doesn't hit its target, it will explode into a shower of sparks that will descend on your portion of the screen, giving you one more thing you'll need to dodge. For the most part the controls do well enough, but it's not uncommon to flick for a firework, be too close to your icon, and then throw it right into harm's way instead. It's also too easy to accidentally use some of the more special powers that are received later on in the game, and the flinging of fireworks don't always head on the trajectory you flick, meaning you'll be missing a lot of your targets.

Instead of the game sticking with one thing, however, the game constantly switches up not only the enemies and levels, but changes gameplay on a dime and gives you other hazards to compete with. I expected Big Bang Mini to stay true to the arcade style, giving a natural progression in difficulty or speeding things up slightly – typical difficulty modifiers in arcade games. Instead, Big Bang Mini progresses more like a platformer, where the game slowly builds on previous things and adds new ones in the process to keep the gameplay fresh and constantly changing.

The game does a good job at keeping things fresh, but at times it's more irritating than anything else. I like how the enemies are built to coincide with the level theme, such as a horror themed land filled with ghosts, bats, etc. I don't like, however, how gameplay changes to almost something new entirely from world to world. For starters, an early world gives you the hazard of constantly shrinking walls, reminiscent of the trash compactor scene in Star Wars; if you kill an enemy they retreat back a little, but then slowly work their way back in. The walls turned out to be my first real challenge in the game, but because they were unexpected and changed up the formula more than any other reason. You don't teach a kid the sky is blue and then start teaching them it's red instead. If the game wanted to add it and then keep it going then that would be one thing, but once that world is done the use of the wall is finished too. Another later world will throw laser beams at you, which you'll need to quickly dart across to stay alive. Much like the walls, however, once the gameplay addition is added it's taken away to be forgotten again.

Much like what happens with the worlds, so too goes the weapons of the game. You'll only use regular flicking fireworks at first, but it's not long before you're given the ability to swirl the screen, sucking in all the bullets heading your way. As you progress you'll even get homing fireworks, the ability to draw a wall to shield yourself from bullets, and tap and hold on the screen to shoot three fireballs at foes. I wouldn't have a problem if the game let you keep all these moves, but only a handful are carried over. Instead, you'll get used to the idea of drawing a shielding wall, learn to play with it, and then have it stripped away in the next world.

Besides adjusting to the give and take of gameplay ideals, the biggest challenge comes from the epic bosses, which take several forms before finally being destroyed. I actually wished that there were more bosses in the game, as they're the true highlights of the game. I became very frustrated playing some of the later bosses, but I never blamed it on the game. The bosses are old school in design, meaning it's up to you to learn the patterns. Once you finally learn a pattern, dodge being hit, and destroy the bosses in a flash, you'll feel immensely satisfied.

Dragon Shoot

Besides the Arcade Mode described up above, the game also features a Challenge Mode, which is more akin to real old school arcade shooters like Galaga, Asteroids, etc. The gameplay of the mode is the same as usual, but this time the game features a constantly evolving difficulty like the Arcade Mode should've had, plus the difficulty changes up depending on the music, which is an experience that really sucks you in. After playing the Challenge Mode, you can then logon using Wi-Fi and post your scores to see who is the best. The game also features a Versus Mode for two players to see who can get a set amount of points first, a Relax Mode where you just explode fireworks to your heart's desire, and a Mission Mode that tasks you with completing goals such as defeating a boss in a set amount of time.

Despite its cheap price tag, the game isn't lacking when it comes to presentation. The enemies have a well-designed cartoonish design, are animated nicely, and the bright color of the levels and special effects of the fireworks exploding are all very "ooh" and "aah" issuing. Meanwhile, on the audio front, the game has a good soundtrack that ranges from more oriental sounds to tribal drums to techno trance, but it all depends on the world you're playing.

For $20 bucks, Big Bang Mini is certainly a competent package, and could've been a real sleeper hit had it not been for some of the problems like iffy controls, constantly changing gameplay, and a generally lack of that je ne sais quoi that makes you want to keep playing and spend hours and hour with the game. It lacks that "must play one more level" mentality. The game is definitely worthy of $20 bucks, but don't expect to get more than just an average game.

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