DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ (Nintendo Switch) Review

TAITO and ININ Games have brought more DariusBurst to Nintendo Switch and PS4. This time, it’s in the form of DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+. For those who aren’t familiar with DariusBurst, this is a shoot-em-up side-scroller from Taito that has had massive success in arcades in Japan. DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours came out a couple of years back on Steam and eventually made its way to PS4 and Nintendo Switch too. Now, in 2021, we finally have the additional content from Another Chronicle EX updated and revised. 

DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ is the latest revision of DariusBurst AC. There are four game modes available to players and there’s new and exclusive events in these modes. The game now features a ghostship function and has support for local co-op for up to 4 players. This is fantastic for fans of playing side-scroller games cooperatively with siblings or friends. 

Each of the levels in DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ feature waves of enemy ships and culminate in a boss battle against a gigantic battleship. The enemy ships and boss battles are all marine life themed and there’s plenty of eye-catching designs in this game. Players of DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ will also be able to choose various Silver Hawk designs, each with their own unique special abilities or perks. The Silver Hawk Murakumo in particular is a new addition in this title and it looks fantastic.

Being a side-scroller shoot-em-up, DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+’s gameplay is fairly straightforward. Players will move their ship up and down, and can change direction from left to right and vice versa quite easily. Players will also dodge enemy fire and fire their own weaponry back at waves of enemies. Projectiles, asteroids, machinery, space debris and more abound and you’ll have to use your reflexes to avoid certain death. 

Destroying enemy ships in DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ never gets old and thankfully since there are so many levels available in the game, players can easily spend hours playing through each level or branching pathways, racking up high scores along the way. If you’re not a fan of dying very often and being met with a game over screen, you can also make use of the “Infinite Ships Entry” which stops you from losing your ship stock while also disabling the score recording feature.

The four modes on offer in DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ are self-explanatory with the sheer number of levels on offer being immense. There is an incredible amount of gameplay content to get through in this game and we’re extremely here for it. DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ on Nintendo Switch is great to pick up and play in short bursts thanks to the length of each level. Players can easily load up the game, play through a couple of levels and put it down for a while before returning to it later. That’s not to say that you can’t do the same elsewhere such as on the PS4 but being able to play DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ on the go is definitely a key selling point of being on the Nintendo Switch console. 

Unfortunately, the game’s story is extremely barebones with the main focus being on the gameplay itself. See enemy ship, destroy enemy ship is the order of the day. Players will fight through levels and pick a path, with the lower paths leading to more difficult battles. Branching pathways means that you’ll have plenty of variation to your runs through the game.

The Event mode also includes content which was time-limited in arcades. The Event mode also has brand new EX+ missions which delivers some challenging additional content to get through. DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ can get slightly repetitive over time but this is par for the course given the game’s emphasis on playing through multiple branching pathways before reaching the end of a run.

Graphically, DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ looks fantastic in both docked and handheld mode on the Nintendo Switch with both modes never suffering from any slowdown or frame-rate drops. The flashy effects in DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ can be quite intense with beam battles, missiles, lasers and more populating the screen in every single mission. Players will also be able to zoom into the action and zoom back out for moments when they want to focus on a more confined battle space around their Silver Hawk spacecraft. 

The soundtrack, once again features TAITO’s in-house band Zuntata delivering fantastic electro beats and tunes which suit the game’s atmosphere and theme perfectly. The sound effects, especially the iconic “Warning” sound as well as the sounds of the beam battles make a return too and are great!

Overall, DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ is a solid addition to TAITO and ININ Game’s lineup of DariusBurst ports to Nintendo Switch and PS4. Playing it on Nintendo Switch in handheld mode, the only major gripe to be had is the small size of the actual gameplay field of view, which is reduced even further by black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. This can be mitigated by playing with the console docked but it does take away from the handheld experience somewhat. Players will definitely want to use the zoom feature though this does handicap them when a lot of the playable area becomes hidden from view. If you’re a newcomer to DariusBurst you may want to pick up the DariusBurst Cozmic Collection first but if you’re a fan of side-scroller shoot-em-ups, DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ will definitely appeal to you. 

A review code for DariusBurst Another Chronicle EX+ was provided to Gameblur by the publisher