Should have been left in our memories as a classic.
A good shooter is hard to find now a days unless you are of course on Xbox Live Arcade. I mean, god forbid someone actually forks out some decent development money to produce a high quality shooter. I guess I'm in the minority here as I assume the idea is too old school for mass production. Well, thankfully XBLA does exist, so we all are treated to great games like Ikaruga, Geometry Wars, and many other games that are destined to, or already are, classics.
As a perfect segway, I'd like to mention a classic that was always near and dear to my heart: Galaga. The premise was simple, but the challenge was intense, even back in the 80's. After hearing the announcement that a reinvention of the classic game, ala Pac-Man: Championship Edition and Space Invaders Extreme, I was drooling with anticipation to play one of my favorite oldies in a whole new light. Unfortunately either my memory has been damaged, or this classic redone isn't that good, but the end result was disappointment and not the addicting experience I was hoping for.
While Galaga Legions isn't a bad title, for 10 dollars compared to what else is offered for the same price, some may feel a bit cold by what actually is considered content. You don't have multiplayer through XBLA or any multiplayer modes for that matter for starters. There are also only two modes (Championship and Adventure) and five stages that change in visual presentation, but that's about it. If you can live with the lack of substance here, you will definitely find a fun and familiar game, but it is one that should have been 400 points in this editor's opinion.
Visually the game takes the old Galaga idea, tosses in psychedelic "Geometry Wars" style presentation, and fills the screen with enemies, almost to the point of over crowding the screen. Not only does this make the game feel claustrophobic at times, but you'll get that hint of framerate drops and slowdown when the action gets really heated.
You basically have the ability to shoot upwards towards enemies who come at you from all directions. The goal, obviously, is to kill them all. To help you in your quest of fending off alien domination, you are also stocked with satellites to help you dissolve some of the oncoming obstacles. These can be deployed with the right analog stick and serve to shoot any direction you desire. If you move over them, they will disperse, which you will have to enable new ones to take their place. You do this throughout the aforementioned five stages to try and obtain the highest score. Simple enough, yes? If things get too crazy, you can activate a black hole that will suck up everything in sight, but of course you have to earn these puppies as they just don't hand them out like candy. Oh and I should mention doing so makes the challenge even greater as the enemies will return as seeking insects that are more difficult than the enemies you sucked away. Have fun!
That is just what Galaga Legions is, it's fun, but it's far from great. I still find myself enjoying the traditional game more, but I appreciate the fact that Namco Bandai took a shot (no pun intended) on bringing an old idea back to life, they just missed out on some aspects that could have made the game great. Also, if it were only 400 points I could say "must buy", but at twice that, you may have to demo it to see if it's your cup of tea. I do like the game and will continue to play it on occasion; it just doesn't draw me in like their previous effort with Pac-Man: CE.
