Highway to the Danger Zone! Ride into the Danger Zone!
Here's a question: ¿What happens when Bandai-Namco Entertainment is not overexploiting The Idolmaster (which already has the "Pokemon Syndrome" like Kadokawa's KanColle: Kantai Collection and Yostar's Azur Lane) or filling the arcades with Deadstorm Pirates? It makes returns to the classics of the Bally-Midway era. Galaga Legions is one of those games.
This game has two modes to offer: Adventure Mode and Championship Mode. First off, let's go with Adventure Mode, which is the main game. Despite the game is divided in five Areas, each area has its number of sectors. The best part of Galaga Legions is how it breaks with the traditional premise of "insects forming a pyramid" and throws you formations as the game shows a "trajectory" indicating the flight path of a Galaga formation, this is where do you have to decide if you want to take the formation at full force or use your satellites, these are a new feature of your ship which replace the recovered captured ship from the original game. By moving the analog stick in a specific basic direction, you can deploy one aiming up, down, left or right. Learning this is essential in this game, not only that, you'll have to learn how, where and when to deploy them as the enemy formations arrive with more frequency without giving you a break between them, making the deployment a win or die overwhelmed situation.
Destroying formations adds multipliers to your score, but the best way to get a large bonus is to destroy the "central" Galaga which is the insect with a yellow ball on its center, taking it down kills the whole formation, which is pretty much of a breather during the constant enemy onslaught.
Eject!, EJECT!, WATCH THE CANOPY!!
*Pilot is ejected but hits the canopy with his head and the canopy hits a Galaga's head killing both.*
Clearing Adventure Mode is not gonna be easy, 'cos someone at BNEI decided to make the game "A Cruel Galaga's Thesis" where the game doesn't give you a chance to continue the game if you lose all your lives. Yeah, get Game Over once and it's all the way back to Area 001, making the game an exercise of difficulty due to the instances where you'll be innevitably overwhelmed by the large formations despite using the satellites in the later stages.
Like a walk in the park, Kazansky!
Despite the disadvantages, you have one more advantage at your favor. Using captured Galagas as your weapons. To do this you'll have to shoot to a black hole carried by a group of Galagas and then they will be sucked in, and with some luck, a few formations and there you go 16 Galagas at your disposal. If you use the Satellites for lateral/vertical support, it will take 8 Galagas with them.
Remember; captured Galagas can't be destroyed by enemy fire, but they will go boom with a physical collision.
YOU! You are still dangerous!
If you're ace enough to make it all the way to the end you'll get this ending. I was about to throw the usual rant about the "A Winner is You!" type of endings, but at least is more rewarding than Pac-Man Championship Edition 2's Adventure Mode where you don't get even a simple "Congratulations".
And although we're not at war, we must always act as though we are at war.
After the staff roll we will see a brief flash in space implying the Galaga is still alive followed by the message "Soldiers fight on...", hinting a sequel for the game, which turned out to be Galaga Legions DX.
The game features a second game mode called Championship Mode which allows you to play one sector. The idea of this mode is to play each sector to unlock an achievement, but it can also be used as a "Practice Mode" of some sorts.
Graphically, it manages to bring something different than stars despite being a space-based game, as we have warp effects and space accelerating effects, but the best part is the light "tracks" indicating the path of the Galaga formations, which has a Rez feeling for some reason as they draw and disappear as fast as they appear, making a visual spectacle which is very appreciated. Along with the modern look for the game, there's the "Vintage" unlockable that allows you to play with the classic Galaga ship.
As for the sound, along with the arrangement of the classic Galaga theme, the soundtrack is your fast paced trance-like music which adds speed to the overall gameplay. There's also a few voice samples that bring a little life to the whole game.
CURIOSITIES LEGIONS
- The body proportions of the pilot figure on the Result screen imply that the pilot of the ship is a woman.
Now, we don't make policy here, gentlemen. Elected officials, civilians, do that.
We are the instruments of that policy.
In the end, Galaga Legions is an unique re-take of a classic shooter that proves to have what it takes to make its way to the 21st century and adapt to the demanding speeds today's shmups are requiring. I can only recommend it if you're looking for some Classic-yet-Arranged vintage-like shooter.