The announcement of Galaga Legions was met with much excitement months ago when folks realized that it was developed by the same team responsible for must-have Pac-Man Championship Edition. While this is better than the typical retro port XBLA usually gets, given its pedigree, it is hard not to feel that this one is a bit of a letdown.
The game maintains its classic vertical shooter frame, but makes some major enhancements that extend beyond its updated looks. Your classic spaceship now has two 'satellite' ships attached, which serve as turrets, of sorts. While attached to the ship, they make your steady stream of fire a little wider and more effective. A quick flip of your right stick places one away from the ship, firing in whichever of the four main directions you pressed. It is a nice novelty at first, but becomes essential to your success by the second area, as the speed and number of enemies begins greatly increasing. While originally a vertical shooter, and it still somewhat is, enemies now come from all sides; leaving you in need of watching your own back with a satellite or two often.
Since your ship can only fire upwards, satellite management becomes vitally important. Reattaching the satellites can be done quickly by either touching them with your ship, or hitting the left bumper; though it is not necessary to reattach them prior to repositioning them on the screen. Your main satellites are indestructible, but any bonus ships (attained through in-game black holes) disappear as soon as they take any damage. The other main change is with the enemies, with the original bug-shaped sprites becoming much more dangerous than you remember. Rather than just lining up in classic Space Invaders fashion, which they still do occasionally here, most enemies now more closely resemble a swollen caterpillar hell-bent on destroying you. Each of the strings of baddies does have a weak-spot to hit, which will self-destruct the entire chain.
The trick is hitting just that spot, as on how much of the line explodes with the explosion determines your multiplier. The game alerts you to this in the pre-game options, by offering either Auto or Manual firing modes. They wisely recommend the first option for beginners, since it requires the least amount of skill; essentially holding down the trigger for you at all times. Really, it is how most gamers will tackle their first few attempts at the game regardless, so it seems like a pointless inclusion. Manual firing is the better of the two options, as there is no penalty for missed shots or holding down the trigger. This gives you the control to better time your shots in an attempt to hit only the destructive orb in the swarm.
If it sounds like a blast, it is. Unfortunately, the excitement gets stale rather quickly because of the overwhelming lack of variety. From one area to the next, the game does not evolve as much as it just speeds things up. Not even the backgrounds or enemies differ much, save for the occasional new enemy or formation. The game only offers two modes, Adventure or Championship. Adventure mode takes you down the familiar path of blasting your way through the game from one area to the next until the finish. With its five areas and a ragged difficulty, the game will take you a decent amount of time to get through. Sadly, championship mode is identical, with the exception of only playing through one of the areas (with all unlocked) for high-score.
The overly polished presentation has a stylized neon look, to an annoying degree. The futuristic piped font is rather tough to read, especially when shrunk down below the level numbers in each area. The re-imagined graphics fare slightly better, with the massive swarms of green baddies making an impressive appearance. The explosions are rather weak, though. Those who want a more familiar look can switch to 'vintage', which provides scaled-up versions of the old graphics with a hazy neon sheen around the edges. The trippy techno score and arcade-ish announcer voice fits into the tone of the game well.
Given how well they did with Pac-Man, it is hard not be disappointed with the lackluster Galaga Legions. You cannot help but feel like they could have done much better. Legions is a solid offering, but lacks the depth to justify the 800 MS Points price, and is certainly not the next great XBLA title.
