TeamXbox writes: "It's time for me to face the fact that I'm old. Not old in the real world sense, but too old for my tired eyes to keep up crazy fast-paced shooter games like Sierra's Aces of the Galaxy. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the game, I do immensely. But the fact is, my tired old eyes can't keep up with the relentless and insane action happening on the screen. It's too fast, too furious and I should probably just sit an old rocking chair the rest of my life with an afghan over my knees and a book of large print Sudoku puzzles.
Screw that, I'd rather shoot stuff. And boy does Aces of the Galaxy let you do that. You're the pilot of a small space craft that appears to be the last hope of humanity. In your little fighter you'll blast away at wave after wave of incoming enemy fighters as well as mid-sized corvettes and cruisers who sometimes launch other smaller ships or minefields to trip you up as you cruise through space on a rail. It may not be your traditional shoot-em-up, or shmups as the kids on the interwebs call them, but considering that your basic intent is to shoot the hell out of anything that moves, we'll call this a shmup par excellence."
RunDLC posted an article listing its top five underrated Xbox Live Arcade games. The list includes Poker Smash and Rocket Riot.
I bought Rocket Riot when it was on sale for 400 points. It's awesome old school gameplay with really nice art direction. The later levels demand old school perseverance though :)
Resumeplay writes: "Developed by Black Fire Games, Alien Dominion: the Acronian Encounter is a high-flying shooter set in space where you have been signed on as the gunner on a spaceship. Before I get into that, I thought I’d mention the activation of the game because it was different than most that I’ve played. Once you buy the game, you copy your serial number and start the game. The serial number is saved on your clipboard and the full version of the game is then activated. To make sure you’ve done it correctly, the timer at the top should no longer be counting down. It was easy and painless, unless you have difficulty copying and pasting. I saw that a few people on the developer’s site felt that the game should be included on Steam. But, I think they’re doing pretty well with what they’re doing now. However, Steam would be a definitely good way to keep track of the game, your information and maybe have some achievements to share with your friends."
Sounds like a whole game like that "defend the hull" mini-game in Dead Space. Which was cool for awhile, but I can't see a whole game out of it.
Yeah, it was fun just to jump into a mission and go crazy shooting up enemies but after 30 or so minutes, I was pretty much done.
Games32 writes: "In this age of Pixel Shaders, MMOs and DirectX 10, "Aces of the Galaxy" comes as a blast from the past, to remind us that arcade games are still out there, alive and kicking. Do you have what it takes to fly your spaceship through the numerous meteor belts while destroying every single enemy ship on screen?
Arcade games are somewhat of a rarity nowadays since everything seems to revolve around huge skill trees, moral choices, higher Fps or resource hoarding. What happened to those games that we used to play when we were growing up? Yes, I'm talking about the platform games that would keep us up at night trying to make that final, difficult jump and to those easy, yet challenging arcade games.
"Aces of the Galaxy" not only brings back memories of those games, but also manages to do what others have failed: to become a good game by its own, and not depend on nostalgia to keep its fan base."
