Last week we published our TalkAndroid Staff favorite game list, in which I expressed my love for the relationship-ending Angry Birds. Well thanks to Galcon, I think I can finally say with confidence that I’ve completed the 12-step process that is Angry Birds Anonymous.
Galcon is a highly addictive, fast-paced strategy game which features both a Single Player and Multi-Player mode. The object of the game is to conquer other planets, and eventually eliminate your enemy (or enemies) by taking over all of their planets. Each planet features a random number, which represents the number of ships required to take that planet over. You continuously increase your ship count on each planet that you hold, and the challenge becomes finding a balance between using your ships to take over new planets, but still maintaining enough to defend against enemy attack.
Single Player is a great way to learn the ropes before you unleash the true awesomeness of Galcon: Multi-Player. I highly recommend trying out some of the different difficulty settings (there are a total of ten, the highest being Grand Admiral), which will prepare you for the difficulty that ensues when playing against other people.
You have the ability to move ships from individual planets, or from two or more at the same time. If you want to launch an all out attack, you simply double tap any one of your planets and all of them will be highlighted. When playing against other players, you have no idea how many ships they have on a planet once they take it over. You can only estimate by observing how many it took them to take it over, and try to keep track of the rate that they gain new ships.
You can play with a maximum of four other players, which can become absolutely hectic to keep track of. It’s extremely enjoyable to try and formulate a strategy, which can range from full on defensive mode, a more moderate approach, or a blitz-like offensive tactic which can be extremely effective if used correctly. If you play Multi-Player, you will come across some very skilled players, but don’t get discouraged!
Another really great aspect of this game is that you can play with anyone on your network who has the game, regardless of the platform they are using. I tested this between a Droid Incredible and an iPhone with absolutely zero issues. I’m a huge fan of cross-platform gameplay, so this is definitely one of my favorite features of Galcon.
Overall, this is an extremely fun and addictive game which only suffers from a couple minor issues. I never experienced any crashes while playing, but sometimes the game will freeze up and quit while navigating the game menus. Also, there is no landscape support, so you are forced to play the game in portrait mode. Other than these couple of issues, however, Galcon is easily worth the $2.99, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys games that keeps you on your toes, and makes you think fast.
Download: Galcon ($2.99)