Galak-Z Reviews
Galak-Z is the very definition of awesome. Playing it makes me feel like the badass intergalactic pilot I always dreamed of being as a kid, and I love it even more because it makes me work for that ecstasy.
A rogue-lite with more substance than most, Galak-Z is equal parts brutal and beautiful. If you can hang in long enough to conquer the steep difficulty curve, what lies within is a rewarding, nostalgic trip.
Galak-Z is a brutal, demanding, and ultimately rewarding 2D shooter.
Galak-Z features some fantastic gameplay in a beautiful package.
The occasional technical hiccup aside, Galak-Z is a brilliant take on so many different genres, but it's the game's roguelike innovations that make it soar. Some lesser entries in the genre use permadeath as a blunt tool, wielded to tack some artificial length onto a repetitive slog. Galak-Z is going to kill you back to a season premiere constantly, but not for lack of content — it's part of a laser-focused intent to make Galak-Z as tense and thrilling a game as can possibly be.
I wish Galak-Z: The Dimensional wasn't so fragmented, because the core experience is a treat for roguelike and space combat fans alike. Even 15 hours through I was still seeing new items and upgrades, which is a testament to its lasting power, warts and all -- I just need to take breaks from the tedium every so often.
With perfectly weighted physics that feel nice on the thumbs, tactical combat that allows you to deal with any situation in a number of ways, and a soundtrack that's catchy and euphoric, Galak-Z is one helluva ride. Though the framerate can detract from the experience at times, it makes up for its one notable shortcoming with charm, nostalgia, and by bombarding you with joy.
Indie 2D space shooter is crazy hard and has an unusual interface, but deserves respect for being exactly the game its creators wanted to make
Galak-Z is the perfect game to play in short bursts. Its random nature means the balancing feels off, but the tight combat will keep you coming back
Galak-Z rewards players who stick with it. There's an overwhelming sense satisfaction that comes from seeing player growth, and I know I improved as I played more of the game. I learned enemy patterns and knew when to pick my battles, which is a stark contrast to when I first loaded the game up and went in guns blazing. The mission structure and narrative leave something to be desired, but when I think of Galak-Z, I think of my many triumphs and the elation I felt when I completed a season. Few games manage to instill that feeling of triumph quite like Galak-Z.
By letting players use their environments to their advantage, change from a spaceship to a mech, and by giving players the opportunity to let their enemies kill each other off, GALAK-Z manages to separate itself from the rest of the space shooter pack and give fans something fairly unique. If you haven't already picked it up, I recommend you do so as soon as possible.
If you can get over that though, there's a great game to be found here. It's visually pleasing, the audio is top-notch, the writing is good, and outside of a few technical hiccups here and there, it performs pretty well. It's not for the faint of heart, but Galak-Z offers enough depth and fun that it will likely keep you coming back, even after you've died for the hundredth time.
Galak-Z pushes the freewheeling buoyancy of 80's anime against a hostile ecosystem of evil empires, insane pirates, and skeevy space bugs. Beneath this veneer of chaos is a shifting alliance of applied skill and honest luck, and muscling toward the former forces the player to fight every fight like it's their last. As roguelikes go, Galak-Z's tireless air of optimism makes a case for its own dimension.
Galak-Z took the simple, addictive gameplay of an arcade space shooter and built something wonderful out of it. A simple game to get into with an underlying complexity that never gets in the way of the fun of the game.
Galak-Z may be rough around the edges, but the core of it is so good that it's easy to recommend regardless. It's a game of ecstatic moments, where you'll kill a boss with only a sliver of life, or dodge a barrage of lasers at the very last second. Galak-Z may not have the highest production values, but it's one of the most energizing games we've played on the PS4 this year.
Galak-Z falls just shy of genius. That it quickly reveals itself to be a demanding game is no surprise considering its lead designer's heritage (Jake Kazdal worked at Sega on exquisite yet challenging titles such as Rez) and the source material from which it draws inspiration.
Though GALAK-Z's roguelike elements are fairly basic and stripped down, they do succeed in adding extra layers of challenge and replayability to an excellent space shooter. Progressively mastering its wonderful controls and unlocking new upgrades had me totally hooked, and even though its idea of mission variety is something of an illusion, its smart, playful personality kept me too entertained to care.
If you can ride out the learning curve, there's plenty to enjoy in Galak-Z, and it could very well last you for 20 hours, but be prepared to endure a lot of frustration along the way.
By combining tactical action, complex enemy design, and a whole lot of style, Galak-Z offers an intense game that's more than just empty nostalgia.
Galak-Z is a smartly-designed, highly enjoyable shoot 'em up that does everything in its power to leverage its '80 mecha anime aesthetic. Frankly, there's not a lot like it on PSN these days. On that basis, it's easy enough to recommend it, but what really pushes it to the next level is the tremendous amount of detail put into the enemy design and the combat. It has a steep learning curve, but mastering it is an extremely rewarding experience. Even if you don't particularly like Macross, it's well worth checking out. It's one of the best shoot 'em ups I've played in ages.