Galaga is a game that should need no introduction to anyone. Since it was released in arcades way back in 1981, Galaga has blasted its way onto a number of systems, from the Atari 7800 to the iPhone. This review is based on the Xbox Live Arcade port, which is presumably arcade-perfect.
At heart, Galaga is a very simple game. You move your ship horizontally, blasting wave after wave of enemy fighters before they kill you. It was certainly influenced by the classic shoot ‘em up Space Invaders, but it’s by no means a clone – it introduces several new ideas that establish its originality.
One of the said features is the ability to double your ship’s firepower by combining two ships to make a Dual Fighter. To do this, your ship must come into contact with a Tractor Beam fired by a certain type of enemy, known as a Boss Galaga. Your ship will then be sucked up by the Boss Galaga – you can retrieve your captured fighter by shooting the Boss Galaga as it descends. But don’t trying doing this if you’re down to your last ship, because it’ll result in a Game Over.
As you would expect, the difficult level gradually increases as you progress, but it’s not as though you’re suddenly bombarded by a billion bullets flying in every direction – Galaga’s relatively lenient difficulty curve ensures even novices should be able to survive the opening rounds. That said, the game does get pretty challenging in later stages, and trying to beat your high score can be very addictive.
Sure, Galaga doesn’t boast the complex weapon combos found in modern shmups, but simplicity isn’t always a bad thing. There are no gimmicks that get in the way of the gameplay, instead you get a straightforward shooter without all the bells and whistles. Galaga is both challenging and enjoyable, and it should keep you coming back for more.
The graphics are also of a high standard. The visuals aren’t anything to write home about by today’s standards, but back in ’81 I imagine they’d have been pretty impressive. Galaga makes good use of colour, and the enemies have a consistent design that ensures the game appears professional and polished. I didn’t notice any slowdown, since this game doesn’t throw millions of bullets on screen – instead it’s more about having quick reflexes. Due to the differences in resolution between the arcade cab and TVs, the game doesn’t take up the whole screen, but you do get some cool arcade artwork in the background, which makes up for this problem.
The audio still holds up well to this day. Whilst music is used rather sparingly in Galaga, the tunes that are used are very memorable – this is truly a case of quality over quantity. The sound effects, which consist mostly of explosions, do their job nicely, and overall the audiovisuals are a terrific complement to Galaga’s awesome gameplay.
Galaga’s precise controls allow you to control your ship’s movement with ease. Granted, all you do is move from side to side and mash the fire button, so there’s relatively little that could go wrong, but the controls are extremely effective and allow you to play with confidence. Whenever you die, you always know it’s your own fault, rather than being down to a design flaw, which obviously decreases the sense of frustration you feel when your ship gets destroyed.
So Galaga’s got great gameplay, memorable music and vivid visuals… surely it can’t be all good?
Well, to be honest, I can’t think of anything bad to say about this game – it’s a classic shoot ‘em up which remains one of the best examples of the genre. Whether you’re new to ‘shmups’, or you’re a seasoned gamer with years of experience blasting invaders, I guarantee you’ll have a blast with Galaga. Like I mentioned earlier, Galaga is available on a plethora of platforms, so there’s really no excuse not to give it a try. Stop reading this review, and pick it up right now… you’ll see what I mean!
By Chris Burridge Barney.
This reviewer is awesome! :D
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