Giveaway of the Day - Last Galaxy Hero

Last Galaxy Heroes was originally given away back in Dec 06 and then again earlier this year. It’s a space shooter reminiscent of a 3D space invaders clone , though in reality its nothing like space invaders. It received a positive 85% of 149 votes the first time it was given away shortly after the game giveaway project started. Then 51% of 330 votes the last time it was given away back in January of this year. You can check out all the comments by following the links below:

Jan 08:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/hero-last-galaxy/#comments

Dec 06:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/last-galaxy-hero/#comments

Get ready for the galaxy mission! Hard times fell upon the galaxy and you are the only one to save it. The problem is that you have only one space tank to destroy the attacks of space shooters. The planets wait for you to save them!

Reference: http://www.realore.com/lastgalaxyhero Accessed 28th Nov 08

Installation:

This is a 10.6Mb download that installs to 21.3Mb. It unpacks to a read me file and a combined activation and set up file. During the installation wizards progress you are given the opportunity to select your own download path if you wish (highly recommended, especially if you have a second HDD or a partitioned drive as it will help to keep your system running smoothly) and also a desktop icon which can be deselected. There’s a folder installed into the start up menu that gives you access to the games short cut and an uninstaller shortcut as well as a link to Realores home page (you can delete whatever links you wish from the start menus program list as they wont affect the running of the game).

The Game:

Once installed you are presented with a hard to see main menu options and help menus, well that is if you are red – green color blind. I can see it okay, but my son who inherited the condition from his maternal grandfather said he couldn’t see the menu very well. It doesn’t help that it’s superimposed over a screenshot of an in game image. That said the game is quite enjoyable; at least from my point of view.

The main options menu allows you to change the screen resolution from 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 and finally 1152 x 864 in both 16 and 32 bit formats, as well as the music and sound effects. The music is okay if turned low and the sound effects are what you would expect of such a game as this. You can also select the difficulty from this window as well as choose to play the game in windowed mode. The second options menu is accessed while in game by using the Esc key, which brings up a menu that allows you to abort the mission and restart, exit the game or enter a second options menu that again allows you to change the music and sound effects volumes and also allows you to change the X and Y axis speeds of the mouse as well as select between two control modes. Both use a combination of Mouse and Keyboard, though with the standard control you can use both mouse and keyboard, though you have to use the arrow keys when using the keyboard. The second option called A D and Mouse utilizes the A and D keys as opposed to the arrow keys for left and right. Both modes have their advantages, which is probably personal to each of us.

The help menu is basic, but that’s all you need. It details the power ups you can collect and bonuses of which there is a limited number, these comprise of weapon upgrades (as you would expect from a space shooter) and armor improvements as well as bonus points of various sizes. Bonuses are gained when you destroy one of the 12 different enemies that you will find in this game. There’s a simple HUD (heads up display) that shows you your weapon and armor strength as well as the number of lives (repair droids) you have at the bottom of the screen (plus a few others detailed in the help menu) as well as the number of bonus points and your score, which are found at the top of the HUD. To progress to a new world you have to attain a specific number of bonus points; for example, to get to the second world you require 15000 bonus points and to get to the third world 20000 bonus points etc. (I’ll let you discover the rest); before you enter a new world though you have to fight one of the five bosses that you’ll meet on your journey to becoming the last galaxy hero You must move your gun emplacement to capture the bonuses and power ups. The enemies shoot back at you and only need to hit you a few times to destroy your emplacement unless you’ve collected plenty of armor bonuses. These are easily missed though as they move towards you from the lowest axis of the guns vertical movement, which you are usually pointing at the sky, so watch out for those bonuses. You start with 3 lives on all difficulty settings, but there are power ups in the form of repair droids that you can collect, which give you extra lives. You lose a life when your shields are reduced to zero, see the help pages which are accessible from the main menu when you first start the game up, for details of each power up and bonus There are three difficulty settings Easy, Medium and Suicide. The differences between these are how fast the enemy shoots back at you.

The game is quite easy for the first few levels, but can then get quite hard thereafter, that is unless you are a seasoned galaxy hero, especially when playing it on the suicide mode.

The game controls include mouse, keyboard and joystick. You can use a combination of each one or individually, which makes the controls very versatile. There is an option to change the control keys, but this is very basic I’ve detailed the differences in the second paragraph of the ‘intro and game section’ above. There are 5 different worlds to explore (see the Googled images below to get an idea), and at the end of each world you encounter a boss. I’ve taken about 15+ screen captures, but as the Googled images show some excellent in game images, I’ve concentrated on the menu’s.

If you miss today’s game, lose it to a format or decide you want it after the giveaway has finished, the good news is that it’s available for free 365.25 days a year over at Gametop, though its had a name change to Star Gunner, via the link below. For those who are not familiar with Gametop games, your browser is always opened when you shut the game down, though there’s no malware. Gametop have recently been adding a toolbar and or asking if you want your home page changed to Gametop, so keep an eye out when installing because these can easily be avoided by ensuring the appropriate boxes are unchecked:

Download link for free version:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/star-gunner/

Screen captures:

All on one page:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Last%20Galaxy%20Hero/

As a Slideshow:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Last%20Galaxy%20Hero/?albumview=slideshow

Googled:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Last+Galaxy+Hero&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

System Requirements:

o CPU……………………………………….Pentium III 700
o Operating System…………….……Win98/2000/XP/Vista
o 3D emulation………………………….DirectX 8.0 or higher ….
o Computer memory…………………128 MB RAM
o Video Card memory………………..32 MB Video RAM

Conclusion:

This is a reasonable 3D space shooter on the lines of a three dimensional space invaders, where you have to destroy wave upon wave of oncoming space craft, though some may find it a little retro in its graphics and design when comparing it with many other games that have been released over the last few years, despite it only being about four years old.

I had loads of fun playing this the first time it was given away and was pleased to see it in the first rerun as I’d lost it to a format. It’s worth 6.5 out of 10 for its game play, which is very basic. Despite it being fun I did find it soon became a little stale if I tried to play it for long due to the lack of anything really interesting.

Other similar games:

There are loads of other space themed shooters that you can get for free from Game top and FreeGamePick, (there were 11 full version commercial games at Gametop the last time I looked)which are linked to via the free shoot ‘em ups thread posted over in the forums. Make sure you check out all the posts in the thread though because I’ve posted several in different posts, plus others have posted suitable games as well. Most are in my opinion much better than today’s giveaway, but if you like space invaders, it’s a great 3D version. My favorite free space game is Universal Combat, which was converted to abandonware at the beginning of this year by it’s developer. It’s a 3D space shooter of epic proportions which is well worth the download if you like space orientated games. You can find details and a link to the download page via the space shoot ‘em up thread that I’ve linked to below:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2724?replies=33

The yearly Galaxy Hero:

December 30, 2006:
User Rating: *Up: 127 (85%) *Down: 23 (15%)
http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/last-galaxy-hero/

January 22, 2008:
User Rating: *Up: 170 (51%) *Down: 161 (49%)
http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/hero-last-galaxy/