If you grew up in arcades with a hard-on for games like Raiden, 1942, or even Galaga, one of two things most likely happened to you: either you moved on, realizing you can never find the experience of those games at home again, or you fell down a rabbit hole of bullet hell shooters which may or may not contain tiny Japanese robot girls that blow shit up and look like nonsense to anyone watching you play. For those in the latter scenario (like myself), it’s hard to come across good shooters without jumping through the loops to import games or install some sketchy emulators. Much like brawlers and puzzle games, however, some shooters have found a new home on the downloadable market. I think these two recent releases do a good job of capturing the essence of shooters in their own ways, and they probably only cost whatever you paid in quarters to type “ASS” in the #1 spot at your local pizza shop.
Galaga Legions DX (Xbox LiveArcade- 800 Points)
OOOOOHHH!
Galaga Legions was a good game, but it didn’t blow many people away. The complicated nature of controlling your “satellite” ships didn’t really lend itself all that well to such a fast paced game, and there were certain scenarios where your only wait out was dying and waiting for a wave to finish. Much like the Pac-Man DX before it, Legions DX takes everything from an already updated Namco classic and makes it…well, it makes it all rainbow-y and nuts. I mean that as a compliment.
AAHHHH!!!
At its core, Legions DX is a dual-joystick shooter, but you really don’t play it that way. In fact, if you want to score the most points in the fastest time possible (which is basically your whole goal of the game), you’re going to end up staying in the center of the screen a whole lot, switching between your two ship formations (direct and spread) to shoot everything in its weak point before it even gets a chance to fully appear on the screen. Making certain enemies explode can cause chain reactions which have that nice Namco DX game touch of slowing down just a little bit before it happens. The less time you spend in each wave, the more time you get in the final wave, in which you repeat every stage over again at break-fucking-neck speed with what I can only call ALL THE GALAGAS shooting right behind you. It’s cathartic.
SHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!!
While I highly recommend Legions DX to anyone looking to recreate the arcade experience in the home, what of the shooters we used to play on our SNES consoles? Surely not all of us were gifted with arcades that had Gradius or R-Type. Some shooters just took a bit more time to finish, and had some silly story thrown in for good measure.Jamestownhas more than just a little story, and some of the best shooting action I’ve seen outside of something made by Cave.
Jamestown(PC – $10.00)
Historically Accurate
Jamestown takes place with John Smith on the colony of Mars. You play asRaleigh, a man on the run from his own nation, only fleeing to the Martian Colony to be attacked by, well…Conquistador Martian ships. I know, right? It must sound stupid coming out of my fat mouth, but the people at Final Form Games make it work so well. The pixel art in both the levels and cutscenes are amazingly well done and are so bent on making the story work that you just allow it seep into your brain as something that makes sense. If you want something a bit sillier, though,Jamestown includes a “farce” mode, which you can unlock by earning enough ducats by playing well, or for just long enough.
Shoot That...Thing!
Unlocking plays a big part inJamestown, which helps gives the game some legs, although some may argue artificially. Different ships, bonus stages, and the like can all be purchased with the ducats you earn by playing through levels. The better you play determines how much you earn, as does the difficulty level. If you want to see all the levels, you’ll have to bump it up to hard, but by then you’ll probably have played the levels so many times you’ll be well equipped to handle it.
Sticky Situation.
I mentioned Cave earlier, and the credits even cite them as an influence and special thanks, so it almost goes without saying this plays a bit like the games made by the company that many say invented the bullet hell shooter. If it could be compared to anything, DoDonPachi would be the closest analogue. If you know what that means, you probably already own this game or are going to buy it now. If you don’t, just know that being compared to DoDonPachi is a big compliment in the crazy shoot-ey world we freaks live in.
I had more fun playing these two games than I have with some of the bigger releases as of late, and even if you’re not way into these games, the low price points are great for those even a little interested (I would highly recommend to at least check out Steam and see if Jamestown is on sale if you’re reading this and still curious about it; I’ve seen it as low as five bucks and just about any computer can run it). Galaga Legions DX scratches the highly competitive itch of the arcade, whileJamestownemulates spending an evening in with your 16-bit console and looking all wide-eyed at explosions. Go get your nostalgia on.