Twenty five years ago, the gaming scene was a lot different than it was today. People had to pile in to arcades to play their favorite video games, and the only home play they got was with the Atari 2600. It was during this era that Namco launched their shooting game Galaga, a sequel to their flagship title Galaxian. In the game, players take control of a spaceship as they shoot flying aliens out of the sky, while using tactics to their advantage in stayling alive. The game remains a classic experience today, and Namco Bandai Games just released it for the Xbox Live Arcade service.

The so-called tactics that the game uses are simple. You have to avoid alien gunfire that comes in as they fly towards you, and sometimes they'll even spin around and fly back into formation. But the real trick lies with the bigger aliens that sit on the top row. Not only do they take two hits to defeat (instead of one), they also have the ability to fire out a tractor beam that can capture your ship. However, if you successfully shoot this alien out of the sky, you can reclaim your ship and give yourself a dose of double firepower, allowing you to eliminate these aliens even quicker.

The gameplay remains just as great as it's always been, with numerous stages that feature advanced alien formations and tougher skill levels. The graphic display is real nice, showing the full screen of the arcade game with some nifty cabinet art filling the sides. As for sound, it's pretty simple, made up of small musical samples and shooting effects. But it works.

The main problem, though, is that the only thing Galaga contains is the original arcade game. While other Xbox Live Arcade titles are featuring extra goodies, there's only two features that stand out with this game. The first is the inclusion of online leaderboards, where you can compare scores with other gamers. The second are the achievements, although most of them are easily earned.

This is kind of a shame. It would have been great to see an enhanced version of Galaga get included (like the one that's in the PSP release Namco Museum Battle Collection) or even a two-player co-op mode, like the one Frogger contains. But the game is still only 400 points, and there's hours of gameplay to rediscover here. So if you can accept the fact that the game is just the arcade game and little else, you'll have a good time with it. It's almost like it's 1981 all over again...except A Flock of Seagulls are nowhere to be found. Perhaps that's a good thing.