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GALAXIAN
Atarisoft / £7.99

Dave: I'll always remember the day I walked into my local pub and discovered that the Space Invaders machine had been replaced with something called Galaxians. The shock was so great that I had to have a drink pretty quick ... medicinal, of course, you understand!
I soon recovered and spent many happy hours (and lOp pieces) learning the movement patterns of the aliens, until I could almost play the game just by listening to the electronic blips and buzzes that accompanied you through the levels. Now Atari has brought out the home computer version for the Spectrum.
To be fair, though, there have been several other Galaxian variants produced for the Spectrum, some of which were very good. But Atari's is the first to include all the elements of the original, such as the movement patterns that I struggled so hard to learn. The only real difference between this and the original is in the way the meanies re-appear at the top of the screen.
OK, so this version's overpriced, but it's still one of the best 'shoot 'em up's around! If you want a trip down Memory Lane then buy it - but don't expect too much of the old fella ... 4/5

Ross: Another very good Atarisoft offering that seems to have all the features of the original. The sound is good, the action fast and it plays superbly. Well worth collecting, if only for the nostalgic value. 3½/5

Roger: Very close to the original. The only thing missing is the pub that used to accompany it! 4/5

Surely Galaxian is one of the most well known arcade games of all time?

Atari-soft treated us to the official ZX Spectrum conversion of Namco's classic game in 1984 - and to be fair it did the arcade original justice.

Galaxian basically expanded on the formula pioneered by Space Invaders. As in Space Invaders, Galaxian featured hordes of attacking aliens that took pot shots at the players ship at the bottom of the screen.

ZX Spectrum Galaxian Galaxian added a further element of gameplay by having alien ships dive bomb the player's ship (which was called the 'Galax').

Atari-soft managed to cram in the arcade game features, including the opening sequence which proudly stated that 'we are the galaxians' and displayed how many points you would get for each ship type destroyed.

The opening got you in the mood for Galaxian:
video

The gameplay was relatively simple. Swarm after swarm of alien ships attacked your ship which could be moved left and right at the bottom part of the wraparound screen.

Your ship could only fire sparingly by default, but rearmed instantly when an enemy was blown out of the stars. Once you defeated one swarm of invaders it was replaced by another more aggressive and challenging swarm. As you progressed the amount of 'dive bombing' aliens increased which made things more difficult for the player.

This repeated infinitely until all of your lives were lost.

A plain starfield also scrolled in the background too which looked quite nice.

Blast those aliens out of the stars before flying home for tea and crumpets
On Release:
Well Galaxian was considered a bit 'old hat' by 1984 - and even though this version was pretty faithful to the arcade original gamers wanted more. I suppose with games such as Manic Miner, 3D Starstrike and Night Gunner to play, the concept of Galaxian was a bit limited. At £7.99 it was also overpriced.

The test of time:
Well it's not bad to play and captures the spirit of the old arcade machine (which I can just remember). In fact, it's so retro now that it's more relevant today than it was back in the mid 1980's. If you're a fan of Space Invaders or Galaxian then give this a go.

We recommend getting hold of the real hardware - but if not then download a ZX Spectrum emulator and download Galaxian for the ZX Spectrum. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

GENRE: Arcade Game (Shoot Em Up)
RELEASE DATE: 1984
RELEASED BY: Atarisoft
DEVELOPER(S): David Aubrey Jones
PRICE: £7.99 - UK