Mini Review – Galaga Legions DX
Shoot ‘Em Up/Puzzle
Galaga’s Galaga makeover gets another makeover.
Rich
As far as developers go, Namco are one of PEOWW’s least-favourite ones. From their well-documented (well, by us anyway) DLC shilling shenanigans to the way that they constantly dredge up their old franchises, they’ve always managed to bore and appal us in equal measure. Occasionally though they’ve managed to delight us as well. Mainly with their wonderful Pac-Man: Championship Edition titles. Two fantastic, modern reworkings of a classic that we didn’t even like. Good work too. They tried it in 2008 with Galaga Legions though and, despite good early impressions, it was utterly ruined by a difficulty spike that you could spear elephants with.
Galaga Legions DX follows the template laid down by its predecessor. It’s a fixed screen shooter that sees you fending off huge waves of fast moving enemies whilst dishing out ridiculous amounts of firepower yourself. Each level is broken into waves and each wave has a time limit (although failure to clear it in time just moves you to the next wave) with the last one of each level seeing you gathering a legion of ships with a view to destroying as many enemies as possible before the time runs out.
- Like looking at all of Child of Eden in one solitary moment.
The difference between DX and its predecessor is that instead of laying down turrets, you now have a choice of two weapons – spread fire and a stronger, concentrated beam – both of which are aimed with the right analog stick. It’s a more straightforward system than before but a little dull at the same time. The problem is that, like the previous game, DX is all about placing yourself in the right position and then hoping your immovable object is stronger than the enemies’ irresistable force rather than the traditional shoot ’em up skillset of dodging and moving, making DX more of a puzzle game than a shoot ’em up.
It all looks and sounds nice enough with a ton of neon retro loveliness ready to assault your eyes and the usual techno bollocks to make it feel ‘1997 fresh’ but it’s not nearly enough to stave off the rather dull gameplay.
On the plus side, there’s more levels and a smoother difficulty curve this time – although you could say the game is a tad too easy even on the hardest setting – so it’s probably alright for quick plays but overall, Galaga Legions DX neither impresses or disappoints and will be forgotten by pretty much everyone as soon as the next half-decent shooter hits Xbox Live.
Rating: 
5/10