Galak-Z Reviews
Galak-Z is like a workout for your video game brain: it hurts but the pain will make your skills stronger.
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 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.
There are plenty of upgrades and the way that you can mix and match them to create new attack types is fantastic, but enemies and objectives are locked into a handful of templates, and those dungeon-rocks all start to look the same after a while. Even so, I've had a tremendous time playing. Galak-Z is a smooth, polished and compelling arcade shooter that trades in tension and tactical awareness rather than screen-clearing power-trips.
Like the cartoons that inspired it, there are big ideas displayed within Galak-Z, ideas that are exciting and worthy of deeper exploration. Also like those cartoons, the resulting product feels rushed and indistinct.
Hopefully the highly hinted at sequel will shore up some of GALAK-Z's weaknesses - namely lack of narrative closure and an unrefined difficulty curve - and I'll be able to more wholeheartedly recommended it.