3D Galaxy Force II

Genre: On-Rails Shooter

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Sega 3D Classics Collection Compilation on Nintendo 3DS, along with 3D Altered Beast, 3D Fantasy Zone II W, 3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa, 3D Maze Walker, 3D Power Drift, 3D Puyo Puyo 2, 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, and 3D Thunder Blade)

Galaxy Force II is an On-Rails Shooter originally released in Arcades in 1988 and later ported to numerous other platforms over the years. However, many of those ports (including Nintendo Switch version included in the Sega Genesis Classics Compilation) are based on the terribly lackluster Sega Genesis version of the game, while this release is based on the original Arcade game (itself just a re-release of the original Galaxy Force with new levels, and as with other games in Sega’s 3D Classics series, the 2013 Nintendo 3DS release of the game adds stereoscopic 3D.

I have to stress how very different the Arcade release of this game is to the Sega Genesis version. Where I felt like the Genesis version of the game was a barely tolerable nostalgia piece, the Arcade version of the game seen here is a different beast entirely, possibly making the most impressive use I’ve ever seen of the faux 3D visual style used in many of Sega’s classic arcade games, with levels that feel like they have real depth and dimension to them, with hills and valleys, mesas and tunnels, and all of this accompanied by decent digitized voices and backed by a decent chiptune soundtrack.

This release of the game includes numerous additional options, including save states, numerous difficulty settings, and various control options, including the ability to use either the touchscreen or Circle Pad Pro as your throttle (or at least supposedly this is the case – in practice I didn’t notice any difference).

This game is still particularly hard, and it sometimes seems like there’s no way to avoid taking damage, but overall Galaxy Force II is one of my biggest surprises in Sega’s 3D Classics lineup on Nintendo 3DS. If you’re looking for a great Arcade-style old-school game on your Nintendo 3DS, this one is well worth a look.

tl;dr – Galaxy Force II is an On-Rails Shooter that uses faux 3D graphics for a game style similar to the Afterburner series. Unlike the lackluster Sega Genesis version of the game, this release is based directly on the original Arcade game, and it’s surprisingly how much they were able to stretch the faux 3D graphics in this release. It’s still overly-difficult and can’t hold up to the likes of Star Fox 64 3D, but this is nevertheless a surprisingly good On-Rails Shooter well worth owning on Nintendo 3DS.

Grade: B

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