Galaga: Legions and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Shoot-up E3 '08

Amidst all the beefy news and surprise announcements (FFXIII on 360? Holy crap-monkeys!) from Microsoft's E3 '08 press conference, two ultra radical shooters were revealed for Xbox Live Arcade: Galaga: Legions and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2.

We already knew the Galaga: Legions name from an ESRB leak long ago, but now we have official announcement on the all-new Galaga. Galaga: Legions is being made by the same team that did the addictively superb Pac-Man Championship Edition. From the lone screenshot at Joystiq it looks like GL will have the spruced-up HD graphics, refined gameplay, acid trip inducing colors, and leaderboards. It might also have remixed bass-pumping music and evolving stages. The only thing I hope Galaga: Legions has that Pac-Man: CE didn't, is an un-timed game mode. I wanted to play Pac-Man: CE for as long as I could, not just in five or ten minute Pac-bursts.

For some reason, Galaga: Legions is being called the "first true sequel to Galaga." I beg to differ. Galaga is actually the sequel to Galaxian. There are also Galpus A.K.A. Galaga 3, Galaga '88, Galaga: Destination Earth, and Galaga Arrangement. If Galaga: Legions is the first true sequel, then why not call it Galaga 2? Probably because people would get it confused with all the other Galaga sequels that have been out for twenty years. Maybe they mean the first true sequel to Galaga '88? That would make a lot more sense because if any Galaga game is a sequel to Galaga, it's Galaga '88... and maybe Galaga 3 since it's called Galaga 3. I think saying it's the first true sequel is just an attempt at building the hype up for the game, which could work for those that know nothing of the other Galaga sequels. What ever kind of sequel they're calling this, it is great to see another new Galaga game.

The new Galaga would have been more than enough exciting shooter news for the day, but then Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was unveiled. The shooter that pretty much revitalized 2D shooters is getting a sequel. Geometry Wars: Galaxies was more of a side-story. GW: RE2 will have a remixed mode of the first game along with five other game modes. Pacifism, King, Deadline, Sequence, and Geometry Wars: Waves. Waves was previously only available with Project Gotham Racing 4 and if anyone bought PGR4 just for Waves, well, you may have gotten suckered. The racing part of that game isn't too bad, though. GW: RE2 will features four-player local co-op. It will also feature the new Co-Pilot co-op mode where one player pilots and the other shoots. Sounds kinky. Check out the screenshot gallery at Joystiq. Geometry War: Retro Evolved 2 will arrive on XBLA August 6th. No release date for Galaga: Legions has been announced yet.

Galaga: Legions and Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 are going to explode your shooter mind into awesome.

- Shawn - 07/14/08