Dear Sonic Team,
The reason why I am writing this letter to you is to help you learn a very valuable lesson. You used to be on top of your game and now, you have become a mere shadow of your former self. Your jealousy over Mario's flawless transition into 3D with the release of Super Mario 64 made you commit a terrible crime against Sega's own superstar: Sonic the Hedgehog. Let me tell you something that you obviously haven't learn throughout all these years following the creation of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast: Some games are not meant to transition into 3D gameplay.
It's all about enemy pattern memorizations and there is a lot to remember.
The ship has detachable satellites to help destroy the brutal formations.
I introduce to you Galaga Legions. Do you remember the original Galaga? That game was the first game I have ever played. I still remember going to a video game arcade for the first time and was mesmerized by the promise of its space adventure. As you know, the original game was about moving left and right in 2D space, shooting at different alien ship formations on the top half of the screen. Namco Bandai knew that to make a true sequel to this game, new technology has to be infused to widen its appeal and like you, Sonic Team, they also had 3D in mind. But here's how you differ from these geniuses: Only the game's graphics were transformed into absolutely stunning 3D while the gameplay itself is still in all its untouched 2D glory. By doing this, the players are given absolute control of the ship and the gameplay remains highly polished, clearly reflecting the same core mechanics of the original.
The score-multiplier system requires you to continuously land your shots on enemies.
Instead of just moving left and right, Galaga Legions allow the ship to move everywhere on the screen - a new kind of freedom yet everything is still 2D. Namco Bandai avoided the pitfall of having the game become a full 3D space mess because by doing so, they would not have been able to achieve the sense of control and precision desired here. The game is about rapidly destroying waves after waves of enemies and doing that in real-time 3D would be confusing and slow. They have divided the game into 5 stages - each with its own escalating and complex enemy attack patterns that eventually lead to a grueling area boss! I know you are crazy about adding story elements to your recent 3D Sonic games but notice that in Galaga Legions, the story is kept to a minimum and you only hear a computer voice explaining what happened between the stages and while battling the Galaga hordes in a non-intrusive manner that allows the action of the gameplay to be the primal focus of the experience. The game is short but what it has over all your 3D Sonic games is an infinite replay value. To add nostalgia to the game even more, Namco Bandai allows the player to change the ship and enemy graphics to a variety of old-pixel look. There is also a championship mode where the players can select a stage to play in to beat the high score on the X-Box Live Leaderboards. Your long-winded 3D Sonic games on the other hand, as if they are not horrible enough, have no replay value because you have forgotten that the best of games are the ones that can be completed in one-sitting - average of 1-2 hours or less - but begged to be played again and again like your old 2D Sonic games.
The boss formations are insane!
Sonic Team, Galaga Legions is the perfect example of the fusion of old and new. The 3D graphics technology needs to just be that - a graphical technology update - when it comes to your Sonic franchise. Namco Bandai must be commended for the creation of Galaga Legions not only because they have created an instant classic but also because they are showing developers like you the right way to revive and reinvent a 2D game.
Sincerely,
Loner Gamer
RATING: 5 out of 5
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