Galactix

The Good
Well, to begin, I remember when this game came out and getting it on one of those shareware compilation CDs, along with a few other gems (Duke Nukem 1...YAY!!) and quite a lot of flops (Clyde's Adventure...UGH!). I almost didn't think anything of it at first, but soon after finding too many flops on the CD, I just ran straight for Galactix, installed and fired it up, and played for a bit. What did I think of it? Wellll....it's certainly quite good, but not perfect.

For starters, the premise is quite simple. Some ugly alien dudes calling themselves the Xidus are attacking Earth and you've got to go show them what happens when they mess with humans. So you're given a little battle ship and are sent off to destroy wave after wave of Xidus ships, and then find and blow their mothership to its component atoms. Quite simple, and maybe when you're done you can spin around to the local pub for a couple of pints.

So, about the gameplay...quick and easy to pick up. Your ship is on the bottom of the field, and the Xidus ships are zipping about along the rest of the field. It's sort of a Space Invaders/Galaxian type mix, as the ships can dive down and try to ram your ship, and they fire missiles at you in intervals. Thankfully, you don't have that "one hit and die" syndrome here; you have a deflector shield which can take some damage for you until it's totally depleted, and it refills itself as long as you don't get hit. However, you only have one life (BOO!!), but thankfully infinite continues, so you can die in one stage and either continue or just end.

As you blow up Xidus ships, you can obtain Power-Ups for your ship, which include extra missiles (fired seperately), bombs which destroy all enemies on the screen, energy tanks for your shield, or a Power Shot option which can give you rapid fire, twin fire, or even triple fire! However, be careful not to get shot with a Power Shot option on your ship, or you lose it! So once you get it, prepare for some mindless mayhem as you zip along the screen, frying anything that is unfortunate enough to cross your path!

Cosmetics? Nice 256 color graphics, decent music, and good sound effects round out the package. Although I wish there were a few more pieces of music in the game, what's here is adequate enough and at least does fit the mood of the game.

The Bad
Ummm....perhaps once in a while it gets a little TOO mindless.

The Bottom Line
A great little game that should appeal to people who hate playing long-winded games. It's small, nicely designed, and should provide anyone with a quick little diversion of entertainment in between other PC activities.

The Good
When Galactix was released, there weren't many independently produced shareware games wiith snazzy VGA graphics. Commander Keen and Duke Nukem were both EGA.

The Bad
Unfortunately, this game is another in a long line of Galaxian-styled games that spanned half a dozen platforms and at least a hundred titles (Astro Blaster, Cosmic Monsters, Threshold, Megamania, Spider Fighter, Moon Cresta, Bandits, A.E., Satan's Hollow, etc). The official sequel to Galaxian, Galaga, released 11 years earlier, still outdoes Galactix handily.

The Bottom Line
A poor Galaxian-style shooter notable only for having better production values than most shareware games of its time.

The Good
I used to play this quite a bit at a neighbour's house, but that was years ago. I still remember that the controls were smooth and easy, the graphics simple but well-drawn, the music and sound effects decent and gameplay very fun.

The Bad
It's repetitive and minimalistic, but still makes a great game.

The Bottom Line
A cool game which doesn't take itself too seriously.