Galax-e-mail by Bog Turtle Games

Community Game Brief

We’ve had it wrong all along. The internet isn’t what we think it is – emails are delivered via intergalactic wormholes. Apparently, aliens don’t appreciate this. It’s up to you to stop them and make sure our rick-rolls and penis enlargement spam make it home safe.

Galax-e-mail evokes the 70s with its Atari-era graphics and spacey, haunting score. It’s a twin-stick shooter with exploration. You grab an email, kill all the aliens, and dump the email in the next wormhole. Each level ends in a little questionnaire asking how hard it was. Then, you’re sent on to a new level, presumably based on your answer.

With 100 levels and a low price-point, Galax-e-mail seems like a sure bet. It’s polished and looks sharp for what it is, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen in a sea of previous twin-stick shooters. While the ability to morph into three different ships and accumulate an army of helpers is novel, it never comes close to the excitement of Geometry Wars, even when sampling the later levels.

Price: 200 points
Verdict:
TRY!

Community Game Briefs are short but informative impressions on the ever-expanding Community Games catalogue on Xbox Live. These are not full reviews. The verdict comes in three flavors: AVOID, TRY, or BUY. Anything can be awarded an AVOID or TRY rating, whether I actually buy it or only sample the demo. You can be assured that any game awarded the BUY rating has been purchased and played extensively.