Windows

Galaga: Destination Earth

Galaga: Destination Earth is a combination of new technology and a somewhat altered contents of the original game. A lot of things happened in computer industry since the times when things like FPSs and hardware acceleration didn't exist. Atari is no longer on the gaming scene so Hasbro Interactive took up the job. In regard to the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken," they barely changed anything about the game concept. The gameplay remained the same, apart from some technical improvements. The graphics have been changed in order to suite modern standards, and the entire game has been converted to a pseudo-3D environment, with a four-way side-scroller (meaning, you can't move the camera freely through the otherwise full 3D environment). The game also features a multitude of new visual effects and pre-rendered video sequences... Still, the new Galaga is more of a tribute to the original than a modern PC game.

After all this game is an allright title but it doesn't introduce anything new to the genre AND gets boring really fast: i got tired of it after half an hour of playing. If you like arcade games go and grab it, otherwise don't bother. Of course this game will please those mad retro-guys that are still playing the original with mame or other emulators, well at least u can buy and own this remake, anyway the magic of the original is mostly lost.

Как бы там ее ни ругали, но отдать должное Hasbro нужно. Она умеет переделывать игры для детей, причем на достойном уровне. Именно благодаря ей в наше время выходят игрушки чуть ли не двадцатилетней давности, пережившие не один десяток компьютеров, консолей и портов куда бы то ни было. Думаю, об этом не стоит забывать. Иначе что мы оставим потомкам? С чего будут начинать они?

There are two great industry secrets to a successful arcade game. 1) The game should be exciting or interesting to play from the very first second. 2) The difficulty level should be such that you lose your quarter (probably $1 today) before you get bored of playing. Frankly, Galaga: Destination Earth fails on the first, so who the hell cares if it succeeds on the second. This game could be improved 3000% just by allowing me to skip stages I've already completed when I start a new game. As it stands, the later stages are fun, but not worth the tedium of the earlier stages to get there.

Trotz der Verbesserungen blieb nichts vom Charme des Oldies übrig. Die Grafik sorgt in Verbindung mit der oft unübersichtlichen Perspektive für mehr Frust als Lust bei der Alien-Jagd.

Nach gelungenen Remakes wie Frogger, Breakout oder Centipede hat sich Hasbro diesmal einen Schuss in den Oldie-Ofen geleistet. Mit dem guten alten Galaga hat dieser Weltraum-Schrott nicht viel zu tun.

Think Space Harrier but worse and you're not going to be far off. As we've said before, sometimes Hasbro gets these updates right. Often they get them so badly wrong, you wonder if the developers have got any sort of passion for the game they're converting. On this sort of evidence you'd be well advised to dust down your old BBC and play that version instead. At £5 a shot, we'd be more charitable, but this is strictly play-once, throw-away fodder.