Giveaway of the Day - Last Galaxy Hero

Downloaded and installed this game. It is an excellent game from what I played and it is not like some standard shooting game.

To some the graphics are not up to par as today’s games go, but for me I like it and it does not lag down the PC.

It is easy to uninstall if you decide that you do not want it. Just delete the folder it creates in the Games directory on the hard drive.

Last Galaxy Heroes was originally given away back in Dec 06 and then again twice in 2008 (version 1.2.02). 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 in January 2008 then again in November 2008 it received a positive 41% of 548 votes. You can check out all the comments from each giveaway by following the links below:

Nov 08:

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

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:

The downloaded zip file is 11.7Mb in size and unpacks to a read me that give you the terms and conditions and information about installation plus a dual activation and set up module. The installed game is 19.3Mb in size. If you are new to the game giveaway project all you ‘usually’ have to do is double click (unless you’ve set the clicks to single click) on the module and it’ll install and activate automatically.

The game installs to C:\Games\LastGalaxyHero …..{by default}.

However, during the installation wizards progress you are given the opportunity to select your own installation path if you wish; (it’s highly recommended, especially if you have a second HDD or a partitioned drive as it will help to keep your system running smoothly – the more you fill your root drive (usually the C: drive, the slower your computer will run – if you’ve got a decent sized hard drive of more than a few hundred Gigabytes it’s always a good idea to partition it into at least two drives so that you can keep the platform (usually windows) and other essential applications separate from other programs and games.
There is no shortcut installed, so you’ll have to create your own. (Right click, select ‘Send to’ then from the drop down menu select ‘Desktop (create shortcut)’. This will place a shortcut on your desktop. If you want a shortcut in your Start menu/programs list check out the tutorial in the game discussion forums. You’ll find the thread in the stickies (I think it needs updating though as it was created before Win 7 was released and there are some folder changes). There is no uninstaller, however if you decide the game isn’t for you, remove the game by manually deleting the installed folder. It’s self-contained which means there shouldn’t be any entries in the registry and there are no files written to other areas of the computer. (I’ve checked the registry and found no registry entries related to the game) If you still wish to check the registry for yourself to see if there are any orphan entries you can use the registry editor by typing regedit in the run command (in XP) or typing in the search box (in Vista or Win 7) you will open up the registry editor. It’s always a good idea to create a restore point before you make any changes to the registry just in case you mistakenly delete something you shouldn’t have. (I’ve been editing the registry for many years and to my knowledge have never caused a problem due to deleting registry keys). Once the registry editor is open, click on the computer icon that’s situated above the five registry hives ( HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER ……. etc.; then click on Edit, (which is situated in the toolbar along the top of the editor); from the drop down menu select Find or Find next then type in the key word/s, in this case Last Galaxy Hero, then click on Find next. If any registry keys associated with Last Galaxy Hero are found (right click on the entry in the left hand pane of the editor and select delete, or in some cases in the left hand pane (if in doubt, leave the key – you can always post a request for help over in the forums).

I’ve tested the game in Win XP 32 bit, Vista Home Premium 64 bit, vista home Basic 32 bit, Win 7 Pro 64 bit and win 7 Ultimate 64 bit and the game works well on all platforms with no installation issues (apart from the lack of a shortcut).

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 colour 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; one of my favorite arcade genres is space shooters.

The main options menu allows you to change the screen resolution from 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1152 x 864 in 16 and 32 bit formats, as well as sliders for 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. (The music files are OGG; you can change them for music you like if you find the music annoying, but you must convert your preferred music to the OGG format as well using an audio converster (you can find a couple of decent ones in the giveaway freeware section). 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 armour 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 armour 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 left or right to capture the bonuses and power ups, which remain where they are until you move directly beneath them. the danger here while you wait for the bonus to drop down to you is that you are vunerable to alien weaponry. 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 armour 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 in game 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. Aliens shoots back at you faster on the higher difficulty settings.

The game is quite easy for the first few levels, but gets harder as you progress through the levels; 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 from the November 2008 review and added another 25 captures from the latest giveaway.

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 it’s had a name change to Star Gunner. You can download it 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 installed. Gametop have recently been adding a toolbar and or asking if you want your home page changed to Gametop, so ensure the appropriate boxes (if presented) are unchecked. I recently checked to see if there were any toolbars etc and the file appears clean of any extras:

Download link for Gametop 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:

2008:

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

2011:

http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/Whiterabbit04/Last%20Galaxy%20Hero/?albumview=slideshow (25 images)

Googled Images:

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

System Requirements:

• CPU……………………………………….Pentium III 700

• Operating System…………….……Win98/2000/XP/Vista (The game was released in 2005 and hasn’t been updated since it was updated for Vista, but it works in win 7

• 3D emulation………………………….DirectX 8.0 or higher ….

• Computer memory…………………128 MB RAM

• Video Card memory………………..32 MB Video RAM

Conclusion:

This is a decent 3D space shooter on the lines of a three dimensional space invaders, where you have to destroy wave upon wave of oncoming space craft. 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, but the game play is solid.

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 a good 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 longer periods due to the repetitive nature of the game. Ut’s definitely good for some mindless fun when all you want to do is turn off for a while.

Other similar games:

There are loads of other space themed shooters that you can get for free from Game top, MyPlayCity 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 a few years ago 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

I’d also check the free games synopsis which has most of the games listed in the forums, tohough I’ve not updated it since before Christmas, so there are a lot of games not listed, but you can find these by sifting through the game discussion forums and specifically looking for the free games project posts. There have been several excellent freeware space shooters posted since i last updated the synopsis.