It’s not everday I review an XBox Live Arcade title, well to be honest I’ve never reviewed one, but it’s been a little dry lately and I’ve been hooked on this game so I thought I’d give it a review. Auran Games and Sierra Entertainment have teamed up to give us the Battlestar Galactica arcade game via the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace. Battlestar Galactica (BSG) can be described as a mini version of a standalone action title that features an offline campaign and online multiplayer. The Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch gameplays can even be played offline, with bots filling in as your adversary. All of the features alone are enough to justify the 800 MS points spent for the download.
The campaign is a ten mission affair that covers both TV series. You’ll be piloting one of fleets Vipers in an attempt to rid space of the various Cylon Raiders. The gameplay is pretty basic with a pick-up-and-play style that thrusts you into battle quickly and easily. Your ship can only fly in a single horizontal plane, and the same can be said for your enemies. This gives an even footing amongst all the ships, making it somewhat easier to target your enemies. You can also pickup Weapons Chargers and Ship Cores wich replenish your special weapon or shielding respectively. Most of the mission objectives revolve around destroying the Cyclons one way or another, but there are some protect-the-friendly and other humanitarian missions thrown in to mix it up.
The multiplayer allows you to choose your own ship, map, time limit and number of players giving you a variety of playing options. The Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are good, classic gaming fun, but the team-based Domination mode is probably the most fun. In Domination, each team will have to defend a mothership by capturing turret points about the map. Once a turret is seized, these sentinels will fire at opposing ships, helping to turn the tides of war.
The graphics are excellent for an arcade title, with the ship models looking like they’re right out of the show. The audio package sounds great as well, you’ll really think you’ve got a Viper buzzing around defending a Raptor when you hear its thrusters kick in or hearing the guns firing. It’s like you’re watching the show. Battlestar Galactica is one of the best original XBox Live Arcade game to come out yet and it’s definitely something I’d recommend.