Game of the Day - Nebulas Ray

A few days ago, I did a special GOTD post on games don't emulate correctly but are still great games.  Several had no sound.  Today is the first GOTD that I WISH had no sound.  Nebulas Ray (aka Nebulasray by some) is a straight-forward but very cool vertical shooter.


The gameplay is pretty standard stuff.  There are typical shot and bomb buttons and plenty of cool-looking power-ups to collect.  The big draw here are the mesmerizing graphics and the interesting enemy A.I.

The first round is space based and looks like you are flying through an enemy armada.  Lots of huge, detailed ships to fire on.  There are also many ships in the background in different shapes and sizes.  Some you can fire upon, some are strictly background eye candy.  While there are giant ships to shoot at and destroy, they also have accompanying smaller ships that jitter, twitch and fly every which way you can imagine.  These smaller ships are as detailed as the large ones.  They all have a quasi-3D, photo-realistic look.  In fact, they roll and spin and move in a way that adds to the 3d feeling.  It all reminds me of the scene in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon is pulling away from the Empire's armada.

Subsequent levels take place in different backgrounds, but the game is just as enjoyable.

Now for the bad part... the sound.  It's awful.  Yeah the music is bad and yeah, the sound is tinny, but the really bad part is the voices.   There are folks communicating is some combined English/Japanese/Nonsense that is particularly grating.  Also, as part of this communique, they say "Okay" a gazillion times (I counted).  So, turn the sound down and play Nebulas Ray, it's worth it.