Galaga Legions DX Review

[Zera]

Greetings, folks. Today I'm here to review Galaga Legions DX. This game released for XBLA and PSN in 2011 as part of the Namco Generations brand, following the footsteps of Pac Man Championship Edition DX. Much like Pac Man DX, Galaga DX is a kind of re-imagining or evolution of classic Galaga gameplay. Similar to the arcade original, this is a 2D shooter where you try to blast as many insectoid alien ships as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtZdskSL6JI

Gameplay: Unlike Pac Man DX, which barely touched the core mechanics of Pac Man, Galaga DX has numerous mechanics that aren't present in the original. In Galaga, you could only move left or right and fire straight up. In this game, you can move and shoot freely like a twin-stick shooter. As in the original, you can only have a couple shots onscreen at once. But because you can move and aim freely, you can get right up to enemies and drastically increase your fire rate. Because your damage output is essentially proportional to how close to enemies you are, aggressive play is encouraged. You also get two satellites that triple your firepower, and you can switch between two firing modes. With Focus Shot they fire along with your ship for concentrated destruction. With Spread Shot you can aim them symmetrically diagonally or sideways while your ship fires up, allowing you to fire in multiple directions.

In order to compensate for a way more powerful ship, the Galaga themselves have a vastly more immense army. When I say hundreds of enemies swarm the screen, I'm not exaggerating. To deal with this threat there are three enemy types that you'll always want to aim for. Destroying a Galaga Leader will destroy its squad as well. Destroying a Galaga Bomb will destroy all enemies within range. Destroying the Galaga Mid-Bosses will wipe out the entire wave. The catch is that enemies destroyed by these means will award half as many points.

Each of the game's ten areas consists of five levels, each of which has a number of waves you must destroy. The spawn locations and movement patterns of the Galaga are telegraphed before they appear, giving you a chance to plan your attack. Levels 1-3 give you 1:00 of time each, Level 4 gives you 1:30, and Level 5 gives you just 0:30. Now, here's where things get interesting - any extra time from Levels 1-4 is added to Level 5, in which all score is doubled. To get a high score, you want to clear Levels 1-4 as fast as possible, then rack up tons of points in Level 5. It's easier to eliminate waves in Level 5 because you get a free legion of Galaga and two extra satellites, increasing your firepower even further. Your goal is not simply to survive the Galaga, or to destroy them, but to annihilate them.

You can play on Easy, Normal, or Hard mode, which will determine your initial lives and game speed, both of which increase over time with skilled play. Simply surviving each area is pretty easy on any difficulty, but more skilled players can take advantage of Hard mode's higher initial speed for a higher score.

Presentation: The graphics and music are both excellent, but there isn't as much variety as in Pac Man DX. I can't fault the game for this though, as it has a strong theme, something that Pac Man lacks. If you don't like the HD redesigns of the Galaga, you can change their looks to match their appearances in other games like Galaxian, the original Galaga, Galaga Arrangement, etc. There's even a skin that replaces the ship and Galaga with Pac Man and ghosts.

Flaws: This game is not very long. With ten areas that are about five minutes each, and a time trial mode for practicing individual levels, this game will last you about two hours if you have no interest in high scores. It's only $10 though, and if you do have an interest in high scores, bonus points (literally). That being said, this game can't hold a candle to Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury. That game has deeper mechanics, more content, more variety, more challenge, and a level editor, despite costing the same.

Conclusion: Galaga Legions DX is a fun, if short, romp through Enemy Hell. Despite the high-octane action, this game is actually way easier than the original Galaga. I would recommend it to Galaga fans and shoot-em-up players who are looking for something unique.

8/10 Great!

[Moishe Oofnik]

The graphics are not excellent but I think you ment aestetic anyway

really good review but I dont fault a game for being short

[Zera]

The graphics are not excellent but I think you ment aestetic anyway.

The graphics are clean, stylish... what are they lacking?