Galaxy Force II

Galaxy Force is a fast and furious blast-'em-up on the ST. The sprites are smooth and colourful, and gameplay very involving. However, whilst it contains the heart of the coin-op (including the great soundtrack), it lacks the guts provided by the hydraulics.

Very similar to the ST: bright and bold, sprites often vague in distance but generally well designed. Tunnels approach jerkily but with reasonable speed so the illusion of depth is quite effective. The music is weak (for the Amiga) but effects are reasonable.

The Spectrum version is fast but sadly the chequered patterns on the planet's surface confuse the matter. Sound though is, like the ST, a great rendition of the arcade dance track.

I so really wanted to like Galaxy Force II. It was a favorite of mine in arcades, and the thought of it on my favorite console was more than I dared hope for at the time. I guess my friends all knew something I didn't, as no one else expressed any interest in the home port, even though we all played the coin-op extensively. It was a bitter lesson for me, and made me all the more angry towards the lack of intelligent use for the Sega CD later on. This could have been a killer app for that system if ever there was one, and instead we are left with a half baked port that barely shows up for the race, let alone keeps pace with its more powerful sibling. At least there is the much superior Saturn version, which remedies most of the problems that plague this horrible experiment. Cold comfort to be sure, and an even colder reality.

Your gun is pretty useless for the most part, but Galaxy Force has another trick up its sleeve. Markers appear on objects you move a cursor over, and by pressing the missile button, you can unleash a swarm of guided missiles that destroy these targets instantly - very impressive. If this sounds a bit familiar, that's because it's basically the same shooting mechanism used much later by the Panzer Dragoon games (Saturn, Xbox). Galaxy Force II also makes an admirable (but unnecessary) attempt as voice syntheses, telling you to turn left or right while navigating the tunnels. With all the technology, you'd think this would be a decent game, but it's too easy and gets downright boring after only a few minutes.