Review written by Mike "Sponge" Rubits

Buy Galactic Assault from Clickgamer

Galactic Assault from PocketBlasters is the first in a series of games, claiming it'll be a five game space epic before it's finish. I sorely hope that the games improve, since as it stands, Galactic Assault is an uninspired Space Invaders clone.

Galactic Assault's graphics are hit and miss, starting right from the title screen. After the pixelated GD logo, and equally pixelated explosion, the game's title is drawn in WordArt, with one of the default designs in a different colour. Getting into the game, the menus are mixed with good looking buttons, and a nice, although static, space background, leading to a very unpolished look.

Getting into the game, you're greeted with equally good and bad graphics. The ship, which has no shading at all, is surrounded by a nice, if not properly blended shield effect, and a nice looking flame effect that for some reason flares over the UI at the bottom. Enemy ships teleport in with a multi-coloured fading effect, but however are just as undetailed as the player ship. For some odd reason, alien ships will extend and contract, looking like some sort of neon respirator used in hospitals. After a few moments, ships teleport in, and start zooming in and out wildly. The asteroids in the later levels look pretty nice, admittedly.

Upon shooting the ships with your yellow bullets, they'll explode in a cool pre-rendered (but again, poorly blended) explosion effect. Enemy fire is pretty hard to see, as they look like dark green peas. In the later levels, when shooting the enemy, they'll suddenly swing around, and fall down with some fire like pictures hung on a wall. While this effect is nicely done, it looks a little out of place.

Basically, the graphics are of varying quality. Since some of the graphics are cool, it's obvious that the skills are there, it's too bad they couldn't be put into improving some of the lower parts. It has potential - the game is already halfway there, but not at this point.

Sound

I'm happy to say that the sounds and music set the arcade pace that the gameplay tries to match. Keep in mind these sounds are louder than most games, so be sure to turn down your volume before going into the game. The sound effects, while a bit generic, are consistent. All the sound effects match their visual representations pretty well, so you don't have large explosions with a rather pathetic visual effect.

The music is also surprisingly good. It's a very upbeat fast song, most of the reason Galactic Assault feels so action-packed. I can't find much reason to complain here, it's a shame the rest of the game couldn't live up to the level set in the sound and music.

Gameplay

Unfortunately, Galactic Assault is a train-wreck in the gameplay department. It doesn't go for enough to make itself unique, and worth the price of admission. Infact, it does almost nothing to extend on the Space Invaders gameplay. It's basically the same game you've played long ago, except not as solid as the original, or the other available clones.

To get a little more indepth (or at least as indepth as one can get about an Invaders clone) you are presented with rows of enemies, which I feel are too low, causing the difficulty level to shoot right up from the start. This makes it very aggravating, especially playing it for the first time, as you'll die in nearly an instant at some points. I would've much preferred a more gradual transition, I can't even get to the dodging the asteroid levels later on in the game without using the level select in the options!

Speaking of the asteroid levels, this is essentially the only twist Galactic Assault manages to put on the tired Space Invaders gameplay. The object of these levels is just to last the long waves of asteroids by either dodging, or destroying everything in your path. This small twist breaks up the horrible monotony of the other levels.

Not to end this section on a negative note, the damage system was a cool idea. In the top right of the screen, there's a percentage of shield left. Once this hits 0%, a large popup in the middle of the screen alerts you of this fact, and if you get hit after that you die. There's also a handy auto-fire feature.

Pros:

 

• Still the same Space Invaders

• Good sound and music

• Auto-fire is implemented

Cons:

 

• Still the same Space Invaders

• Artwork is too simplistic

• Difficulty level starts off way too high

Conclusion:

By the sounds of the original description, I was expecting some sort of back-story that unfolds throughout every few levels that will span the entire game set. What we ended up getting was a below-average Space Invaders clone. There are much better top-down shooters for those who look around, some of them free. The idea of the 5 game space epic is a good idea, however if the other 4 games end up being like this, I can only recommend Galactic Assault for only the hardcore fans.

Score-by-score breakdown

Gameplay:  30%
Graphics:  50%
Sound:  80%

Overall:  40%

Please note that the overall score is more than simply an average of the individual ratings.  Many thanks to Pocket Blasters for providing our review copy.

You may wish to search for more reviews of games from Pocket Blasters. Alternatively, you can view all the reviews written by Mike "Sponge" Rubits.