If there’s a more generic name for a vertical scrolling space shooter than Galaxy Shooter, I’m yet to see it. But that’s exactly what we’ve got from Fantastico Studio; a pretty generic shmup that is capable of providing genre fanatics with the type of experience they need. It’s pretty good too – at least whilst it lasts.
A cheap and cheerful shoot ’em up should well be a staple for many gamers, if only so that they can graze on it with quick bursts in between the serious shooters, racers and RPG worlds that take up the majority of their time.
As a game to fit those requirements, Galaxy Shooter works too. Yet well before it, and the ideas of Fantastico Studio and Inlogic Games as a whole, get going, it all simply runs out.Â
Working a vertical letterbox-styled visual take, Galaxy Shooter sees you taking charge of a small ship, frantically moving upwards and onwards in hope of saving the galaxy. At least, the narrative and lore behind this shmup runs something along those lines, with the story itself told through character and text pop up. Honestly, it matters little in regards to what is really going on though as any really decent shmup needs focus to be placed on the task at hand – the shooting.
Thankfully Galaxy Shooter works well in that regard. Movement of your ship is precise enough to ensure you can swing across your playfield with ease, dodging the bullet-hell madness as you go. And it’s that dodging which will fast become a mainstay for your shooting action, all as you try to fight back against enemy forces, surviving until level end.
Without need to worry about shooting options, mostly as Galaxy Shooter employs a single automatically firing attack, it’s easy enough to centralise your concentration on the main event. In fact, with that auto firing, there’s very little reason to worry too much about anything else in Galaxy Shooter, with eyes kept on the prize at all times.
Take down your foes, collect the credits that are dropped and make it to the end of 20 stages, and you’ll pretty much have concluded the ideas thought up by Fantastico. The problem is, those 20 stages are over before you know it, with two bosses quickly dispatched with ease. From there, the story ends and you’re instead just left to continue working your way through additional stages in hope of grabbing more credits.
Why? Well Galaxy Shooter places a huge emphasis on upgrading your ship through a variety of methods, and when that tale is over, it’s the continuation of those upgrades which makes up the entirety of the rest of the experience.
It’s like Fantastico and the development brains at Inlogic Games got bored with trying to build out the story, and felt the need to leave players with little reason to continue their quest, aside from Xbox achievement and Gamerscore collection. It’s a little bit disappointing if we’re honest.
Thankfully if you do find it within yourself to continue upgrading, there are a decent number of options available. Four different offensive weapon types are in place, each of which can be upgraded multiple times through three levels. The usual forward firing shooter is the main option, but homing missiles, a minigun and more are also there. Begin to upgrade these and you’ll see your ship fast turn into an enemy-eating weapon of destruction.
Further, your ship engine will need enhancing, especially as the more weapons you add, the slower your ship gets, whilst numerous armour and shield types can be equally advanced.
And as with any decent shmup that requires the collection of credits though, it’s the onboard ship magnet that will be of most use, if only as the easier and quicker you can collect credits, the faster you can fully upgrade your ship. Whether you decide to pump your credits into offensive capabilities, defensive ones or just max out that magnet to help with cash accumulation, you can do so.
Whatever you decide, Galaxy Shooter plays out as you would then suspect with a range of enemies looking to bring the pain from all angles. Some move fast but are easily taken down, others pop up with homing missiles in hope of tracking you down, whilst others are more static affairs, just happy to fill your screen with as many bullets as they can. Honestly though, the variety of foes runs out nearly as quickly as everything else in Galaxy Shooter; you’ll have seen everything it can muster in just a few short levels.
This all means that even though Galaxy Shooter plays well, has plenty of ship upgrade opportunities and is able to deliver some decent bite-sized pieces of gameplay, it ultimately ends all too briefly. If you’re in the market for a new blaster, the cheap price means it’s one to consider, but don’t expect to be playing it for more than a few evenings down the line.
Galaxy Shooter is available from the Xbox Store
