Seriously, this game JUST came out. New top-down shooter with 4 player co-op.

More info on it here: http://www.nintendolife.com/games/wiiware/vampire_crystals

I tried out the demo with 2-player co-op and its pretty fun. Reminds me of that canceled game that never released. That one with a zombie zoo. This seems like a pretty good replacement.

It does look good. Too bad since it's WiiWare it will fail sales wise. I know the developers said a 3DS version is coming out sometime next year. Since I don't got a Wii I might just pick that up.

I bought it. The single player seems very short — if the map screen is to be believed, there's only 15 levels (which only take a few minutes each) and 3 boss fights. The game's controls are very simple — just move and shoot — and they work perfectly. The Wiimote and Nunchuk is my preferred way to play due to the pointer, but you can play it with twin stick controls with the classic controller if you'd like. There's a few different weapon powerups you can pick up and use for a limited time, but apart from that the gameplay is extremely simple and straightforward — just move around, mow down zombies, avoid projectiles and collect crystals and items. The destructible environments are a nice touch. The game performs admirably, as it runs at 60 fps without a hitch, even with large numbers of zombies and other stuff on screen. It's quite a nice looking game, as well. I haven't tried out the multiplayer yet. Overall, it's tough to say whether the game is worth the $10 due to the short length, but it's a fun and entertaining (albeit a bit mindless) game for sure.

Looks like the second boss is pretty much impossible to defeat. So I guess that solves the game's length problem.

Looks pretty good. I might consider getting the 3DS version if there is one coming.

Ha ha, I finally took the second boss down after about a dozen tries. You have to forget about trying to keep yourself safe from all the other crap on the screen and just circle around him and try and take him down as quickly as possible.

I take back what I said about the framerate, the game becomes a friggin slideshow in World 3! It was still great for most of the game, though.

Also the levels become quite a bit longer and more challenging at the end, so it'll probably take you at least a couple of hours minimum to finish the game by yourself in Normal mode, which isn't too bad.

Is there an Easy mode too?

At the end of the game there is a surprise, the map gets duplicated and turns into Night mode, it becomes more difficult.

No, there's only Normal and Hard

Good to hear! Is it any different than playing the game on hard difficulty, though?

I really don't see how level 3-5 can be possible to complete. You have to kill 1200 zombies within a time limit of 50 seconds. The game has hourglass pickups that give you an extra 20 seconds each, but they show up rather infrequently and at completely random times, and there doesn't seem to be any way of telling when and where they appear other than randomly stumbling upon one. The odds of finding enough hourglasses to give yourself enough time to complete the level are infinitesimally small.

Is the game bugged, by any chance? It seems like they probably meant to give you a time limit of 05:00, rather than 00:50.

Hello accc,

I got it walking around the stage in circles looking for watches and do not stop to kill enemies.

Good luck.

I've tried that strategy but it doesn't work, I usually can only find at most 5 hourglasses before the time runs out.

I'm assuming you're one of the developers? For the 3DS version you really need to increase the time limit for this stage. Or at least do something with the hourglass pickups that will allow the player to collect enough of them. (Either significantly increase the rate at which they appear or make them reappear in the same spots after a fixed interval of time.) Right now this stage is very frustrating.

All right, I finally managed to beat that stupid level! You do need a lot of luck to get enough hourglass items to be able to finish, but it actually wasn't as bad as it seemed at first. (Also I started circling around the entire level rather than just the main square part like I was doing at first, which helped me find more hourglasses.)

The final boss was easy! Time to try out NIGHT mode, I guess.

Yikes, I can't even come close to beating the second level of NIGHT mode.

Thanks for all of the impressions, accc! I'm considering picking up this game. Sounds like the full game is plenty difficult.

He shouldn't have so much invincibility when there's a time limit.