Galactic Wars EX Reviews

Quite creative in a very established genre

Love the retro aesthetics!

Its a dam good game i would recommend this game for anyone who likes retro games.

If you like retro Shoot 'em up you definitely need to give it a go to Galactic Wars EX. Pros: - Great retro visuals - Old school Shoot 'em up - Good OST - Lots of fun :) Cons: - Keyboard bindings could be improved

Great shoot'em on a budget for the old school fans. If you liked Gradius and R-Type back in the day you'll like this one. Not a lot of extra features or modes but for the super cheap price it's a good shmup.

Galactic Wars EX is a game that has solid foundations, yet fails to realize its potential due to some of its design decisions. Therefore it ultimately ends up being frustrating. As I have not played this game enough to warrant a full fledged review, I will not go into details. I simply did not enjoy my brief time the game and therefore see no reason to continue playing. If you want detailed explanation of the game's features, I recommend looking at the other, well-written negative review on the store page. With that said, what you read below are my impressions of the time I spent with the game and stuff that I do believe are flaws that drag the experience down. - There is no options screen in the game. You cannot change the controls, change display settings or tweak the audio levels. - The keyboard layout is... very unintuitive if I may say. Player 1 needs to use WASD to move and G to shoot, while player 2 uses the directional keys to move and numpad 0 to shoot. While these bindings do separate each control scheme to a side of the keyboard, they are very uncomfortable to play with. With the lack of rebindable controls, this becomes a big issue. - The missile powerup is a massive let down. It's very much useless. Not only the missiles you shoot are very slow, but they can be destroyed by enemy projectiles. Basically you need to be incredibly close to bosses or enemies to make sure the missiles hit the target. - There is no autofire button. You have to constantly press the fire button in order to shoot. I understand this has been done to fit the weapon energy feature, but it doesn't allow the game to be played for long periods as it will cause needless fatigue on your finger. Especially when you have to hammer the shot button after getting the unlimited energy powerup. - While the weapon energy system is interesting and tries to add depth to the game, I can't help but feel the game suffers a bit because of it. Whenever you run out of energy, your fire rate will drastically decrease, forcing you to stop shooting in a shoot'em up game and wait for it to get filled. All while the enemy is sending barrages of projectiles at you. - The shield powerup does not provide efficient protection. While it gives you an extra hit point, it does not prevent powerup downgrade after getting hit by a projectile. You will still lose a random powerup upon taking a hit. - Continues are more like a punishment than a second try, as your ship starts with no upgrades after respawning. This can become incredibly frustrating on boss fights.

[b]Introduction[/b] Galactic Wars EX is a retro arcade game inspired pixelart horizontal shmup. Choose from three ships, destroy waves without miss to increase your multiplier, pick up power ups to boost your ship and make it through all three levels to clear the game. At the start of the pandemic Itch had a big giveaway with many free games including the original Galactic Wars which I tried for a bit. I liked the art and gameplay enough to follow VolcanoBytes. That's how I learned about Galactic Wars EX, I'm not into Kickstarters but I did keep track of the progress. [b]Game[/b] The UI is a bit minimalistic with no menu or remapping options but there are function keys to use (see the manual), for remapping you can use Steam's Controller Configuration. The game has no auto-fire, instead your weapon uses energy with a limited supply. The HUD has an energy bar if it turns red your firing rate drops. Although it may give you a bit of an unfair advantage you can add auto-fire through Steam's Controller Configuration. When used in moderation in addition to regular fire it works really well and prevents a sore thumb. Best way to play it imo :) Missiles are powerful but slow and can be destroyed. Best to fire them upclose or at least with a clear line of sight. [b]Powerups[/b] There are four types of powerups, weapon upgrades, missiles, speed upgrades and shields. Shoot a powerup to switch the type. If you're already maxed out on missiles you will fire two, if you're maxed out on another type you get full energy for a couple seconds allowing you to mash fire without repercussion. If you get hit you lose a weapon upgrade, speed upgrade and a shield but you often get the chance to pick one back up right away. If you get hit with no shields you lose a ship and all its upgrades. [b]Conclusion[/b] Personally I don't like having to mash the fire button. The limited energy weapon mechanic does make it stand out between other shmups. I can only applaud that, all shmups should be unique and this one is. Looks great as well. After some initial frustration the game grew on me and (with Steam's auto-fire) became enjoyable for me. I found the game pretty challenging but with every subsequent run it gets easier. I've cleared the game a few times to improve my score. [b]Video[/b] Game clear / highscore chase: https://youtu.be/MSXrVFdrC_M

So first off, if you're looking for an easy shmup, this is not that at all. This is an old school arcade difficulty at heart but that is what makes this game great. So if arcade shmup is what you like then look no further. This game is fair and hard. Everything you do has a consequence and is your own fault. You can't just shoot aimlessly since you have a energy guage and need to be mindful of your shots. Power ups block your shots as well as some enemies shots so every shot counts. The ships are all different in the own ways. One is your general all around ship, another is your speedy less powerful and last is the slow moving powerhouse, so Theres a ship for different play styles. The games difficulty moves up from level to level. It's only 3 levels long but each has its own mechanics and feels different and allows you to learn as you go and replay as you will die many times trying to get to the finish. Overall fantastic game for the price point. Just go in with the mindset that this game is made to be hard as was arcade games back then but you will not be disappointed by this. Only feedback would be a menu to make adjustments like changing control layouts otherwise fantastic!