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Remember those old arcade hits we loved as kids and still have fond memories of? Remember when those games were re-released and fine-tuned for various 
consoles? Well, many of us were scared to try these new suped-up versions of previous hits, but I'm not and hopefully, after these reviews, neither will any of our readers.
One of my favorite games of all time was Galaga, which debuted at the arcades in 1981. Similar to Galaxians, this game featured waves of alien ships against your one dude. You moved back and forth (not up or down) and fired at these ships, while dodging your attacks. Stars in the background would move past you, giving you the impression that you were actually moving. Galaga was different in the fact that your ship could be captured and when you rescued it, you were able to battle side-by-side, wrecking havoc on the enemy. In addition to this, Galaga featured enemies that were distinct from one another. You knew who were the tougher ones, who were the intelligent ones and which one was the ship trying to capture you. Each group even had their own distinct pattern in which they flew. Now, after awhile, you get used to this pattern and the game becomes easy, as you just try to beat other top scores, losing only because you got tired or made a stupid mistake. That's what made games like this fun way back when. You don't have many games like this anymore. Score doesn't matter anymore and it's hard to make mission-based games where score counts for something. Not anymore.
While Galaga did have a sequel made, which I played in Arizona last year, and thoroughly hated, only the latest rebirth captures the feel of the original and adds to it. Galaga: Destination Earth is a true sequel to the original. After beating the alien force, known as Galaga, the planet decided it was time to colonize other planets. We created small insects, which reproduced themselves and made it easier to transform a planet to make it suitable for us. On our way to one of these planets Earth was thinking of colonizing, ships run into a bunch of aliens, reminiscent of Galaga. These ships get into it with the aliens and you are sent to check out the ruins.
Now the fun begins. This time you enjoy the same kinds of battles, with side scrolling action added in, plus top down views and an over the shoulder look all with the 3-D treatment. The 3-D effects do get to you, because you aren't always sure where things exactly are. Asteroids hit you when you think they were under you and ships fly under you when you thought they were right on top of you. Another great addition to the game is the mission completion aspect. You have to save escape pods or whatever other goal is set for you in your briefing. Fail to finish these missions, and you lose the game.
As you play the game, you face ships that move in the same exact pattern that they did in the original game. Enemy ships can capture you and when you free that ship you fight alongside it. Pretty neat to have that bonus ally. Always was a strategy to get captured so you can have a bonus ship alongside you once the fighting becomes intense. The difference in this game is that now you can capture their ships and use them against them. Cool. Also, your ship doesn't just fire one weapon. You can use smart bombs and other weapons you obtain from doing well. You must also collect merit badges and stuff like that to raise your score.
This game is a lot of fun. The graphics are nice and the addition of mission based objectives adds to the excitement. The original aspects of the game are kept intact and enhanced. The game is harder than the original and totally enjoyable. The only part that I did not like was the fact that you can't save the game and must rely on continues and power-ups to keep you in the action. I guess that keeps the flavor of the original game so I don't mind. Sometimes saving is cheating in my book.
Badseed's Bottomline: 5 out of 5. This game is mad fun. I was screaming while playing it. Yeah kid! I love the change of viewpoints and I love the fact that the original feel of the game was left in tact. I enjoy the extra challenges and I am thrilled to find out that I must complete missions and not just destroy things to win the game. In addition to all this, scoring becomes important as a high score list appears at the end of the game. Phat. Finally, the load times are pretty fast. This is a great rebirth game. I enjoy going back in time and this game brought me back to my childhood when games were more fun to play. Galaga is the epitome of all that was fun when it came to arcades. Don't rent it. Buy it.
Send your comments and questions about this article to Badseed@ybfree.com.