A bit of Galaga 88′
Let’s start with the remixed version of the hit classic.
What you should expect out of Galaga Remix is something that is crossed between the original, Galaga 88′, and M.U.S.H.A. for the Sega Genesis. I know you might think that the last one there is a stretch, but bare with me. The remixed version of this game has all of the foundation of the original. It contains space bugs that are flying in formation onto the screen, while you’re trying to blast as many as you can in attempt to clear the level. That is all this remixed version has of the original game.
From there you get a healthy dose of Galaga 88′, which wasn’t a huge hit here in the states when it first came to arcades. I don’t know if it was bad timing or what, but it simply did not take off like the original did. Anyway, what made Galaga 88′ such an upgrade from the original game was the it featured more defined enemies (they looked like bugs as opposed to giant pixels) and it carried over a really neat element which featured a variety of formations from the enemies. In the original game, after a while you could literally memorize the formations, how they were going to fire and what to expect (stage 16 of Galaga the enemies don’t fire as they’re coming down in formation — yes I’ve played it that much). So what made Galaga 88′ unique has made its way, in a more refined fashion, to the remix. You’ll have waves of enemy formations coming at you and you won’t have time to memorize them. What’s even better is that there’s no clear indicator when the enemy waves stop until you win the level. So you could wipe out a screen of enemies, the game will let you think it’s over and then proceed to bring in more troops. Yeah, it’s a bit cheap, but it still makes the game a definite remix.
Now for the stretch here. M.U.S.H.A. was this wonderful Sega Genesis game back in the early 90s. It featured a flying robot, that basically had a top-down view, that destroyed waves and waves of enemies. As you destroyed certain enemies you would get weapon upgrades. The enemies varied, the weapon upgrades were plentiful. It is what made the game really cool and noteworthy. Ask any fan of the game and they’ll confirm this. In the remix, you get your standard option to have your ships captured, but instead of getting two ships you get weapon upgrades. Each upgrade depends on which enemy you were captured by. There are three to four different bugs that can capture you. If you have multiple captures, which is now possible in the remix, each enemy can give you multiple upgrades. So, for example, if you get captured two times by the same type of bug, you get an upgrade on top of an upgrade. Makes for an interesting concept and really does help a game when it’s called ‘remix’. Dig Dug featured this type of weapon remix, but it certainly didn’t work as well as Galaga. Kudos to Namco for this.
Let’s discuss controls for a minute.
In the last few ‘remixed’ games that Namco has released, they have toted their different control types. The iPhone is a bit versatile with what you can do with it that it has allowed the company to tinker with new ways to control a game. They’ve mostly been using different control schemes on remixed classics; some work, some don’t. In the case of Galaga Remix most don’t work well. s
You get three types of controls: Arrow Keys, Slider and Accelerometer. The Arrow Keys are murder on your thumb. You’ll press left and right on the screen between two buttons to move your ship into position. The main problem, outside of the fact that you’re thumb will feel like it’s been trying to place a push-pin on your iPhone, is that you’ll feel like you’re going to break your screen. You’ll be placing so much pressure on the screen that it’s a bit distracting.
As for the Accelerometer, bad idea for this game. This method requires you to tilt the phone to get movement from your ship. I’m not sure if you can imagine this through my words, but picture 20-30 bugs coming down on you at once and having to physically move the phone left to right. You won’t be able to keep up with the enemies and your eyes, if they’re less than 20-20, won’t be able to follow the action very well. This worked great in Pole Position Remix, but not so much here.
Finally, you have a Slider method which is an absolute gem. Basically, a slider appears at the bottom of the screen next to your firing button. You simply, and gently, slide your finger back and forth to move your ship. It’s easy, it’s incredibly comfortable for your finger and it works the best because it’s accurate. It should have been the only option.
Moving on to gameplay
The actual gameplay is setup in multiple tiers of levels rather than just a bunch of stages. You’ll go through a stage that contains five sub-levels on it. That’s quite new and so is a boss fight at the end of the stage. What’s great about this is that it provides you with an actual goal to work towards, not simply an endless game of killing. Not to knock on the original, but if I have to spend eight hours to kick the crap out of a shooter, that’s a tough shooter. With each stage you’ll the level of difficulty will increase, as will the enemy waves. So, you’ll definitely feel like you’re progressing.
The biggest issue I have with the gameplay comes in two waves. The first, is that I hate that it’s only taking up three-fourths of the screen. You’ve got this nice, wide screen and you only get three-fourths? Certainly they could have managed that a little bit better. I can see why they had to give some space on the bottom, but it could have been better. It’s tough on the eyes. The second wave is that the enemies, at times, seem to be a little bit repetitive. Granted, you get a lot more enemies in the remix version, but they do tend to repeat and it gets a little bit boring after the first hour. Those issues are my two biggest complaints.
As for other pluses in the game, you get a nice feature that allows you to continue. Not only continue at the end of the stage, but also turn the game off and come back. Namco could have improved the latter by allowing for games to be saved on the iPhone. I’m not sure if Apple allows this feature to happen, but it would have been nice. Certainly for 8gb/16gb/32gb phones this should be an option. I can’t knock Namco for this because I don’t have enough information on who to blame, but it would have been nice. Still, if you turn off the game and come back later (actually booting yourself out of the app), it does allow to start where you last left off.