Review: Galcon Labs - Plus Video

Overview

Phil Hassey’s wonderful real time strategy game has a sequel, and it’s packed with features. The classic Galcon gameplay is included, but there are also four new modes. Galcon is basically a strategy game set in space happening in real time where both players move at the same time. In Galcon Labs there is online multiplayer for all the new gameplay modes. The single player is robust as well with 10 difficulty levels for all five gameplay modes. In Galcon you and your enemy have a certain number of ships, and you send them out trying to conquer a grouping of planets. The first to eliminate the other wins.

Features

The four new gameplay modes are the main feature, now you can play assassin, billiards, crash, and stealth. Assassin mode provides a different target for you and your enemy, and the first to completely crush the opponent wins. Billiards mode has the planets move around, so the playfield is constantly changing. Crash mode is the basic Galcon gameplay, but the ships battle in mid-air rather than just into the planets. Finally, in stealth mode the enemy’s ships become invisible, and you don’t know where they’re going until they get there. The other main feature is online connectivity. You can play live against anyone over the internet, and the game constantly keeps your world ranking. You can also play locally over wifi.

The Good

The outstanding Galcon gameplay is back, and with a few twists on the action. Real Time strategy is just so engaging with such fast paced games requiring a lot of thinking. Analyze the play area, decide what percentage of your ships to send out, and try to figure out your enemy’s strategy, all in a short amount of time. It’s just a simple tap and drag to send your fleet from planet to planet. The higher difficulties on all five gameplay modes are truly challenging, but still fun. Whether all of the planets are moving around, or the enemy’s ships are invisible, or even the planes battle in mid-air it is a worthwhile experience to have on your idevice. The varying colors of ships are nice as they fly around and conquer planets, and the overall polish really shines. There are a few nice techno background songs that aren’t overbearing. Also included are the ticks as your ships hit the new planets. Online multiplayer really adds a lot to the game. You can spend a lot of time online trying to improve your rank. Also in single player mode trying to beat all 10 difficulty levels. Having five gameplay modes provides the change of pace needed to continue playing this game down the line.

The Bad

The four new gameplay modes add a few things, but aren’t ground breaking. Also the online ranking system, takes you out of the app, and into Safari. The look and feel of the game is relatively basic, but is adequate for this type of game. The ship design is simple triangles, and the planets just circles. It would have been great to see a refresh visually, but sadly it’s the same. The online multiplayer, with no fault from the developer, is rather boring. Not that many people are online at a time, and then most of the rooms are full or empty. When you finally find a room you have to wait for the last match to finish, and they just aren’t as hectic as playing the AI.

The Verdict

Glacon Labs builds upon the success of its predecessor to make it the go to strategy game in the App Store. It’s a great experience going for galactic domination against the AI, and even better against your best buds. Besides the new gameplay modes, which aren’t too different, everything else is the same which is a bummer, when you think of what could have been. If you never picked up the original Galcon you should definitely pick up Galcon Labs. If you have the original, it’s not as high of a recommendation. Overall for only $0.99 Galcon Labs is a should buy.

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