Galcon is an easy to pick up and play real-time strategy (RTS) game . You play as one side of a galactic conflict, and have to send your ships out in swarms to take over all of the planets in the galaxy. While this might sound a bit overwhelming for a phone game, the developers designed this game so all the action occurs on one screen.
The interface is very minimalistic with only your current difficulty, for screenshot purposes I suppose, and attack level being shown on the screen. This really works well to keep down the clutter on a device that has minimal screen real estate to begin with.
Galcon ships with five gameplay modes which in turn have ten separate difficulty settings. Add that together with the fact that each level is randomly generated and you will find a game that will keep being interesting as your skill increases. Each level takes a couple minutes to play out, so it’s perfect for the quick pick-up and go nature of a phone.
In the main mode “Classic” you’ll have to take over all of the planets with your team-colored green ships to decimate the opposing orange team. Gameplay consists of you dragging your finger from one of your controlled planets to any other one on the play-field. This will send a certain percentage of that planet’s force (represented by the number on the planet) to the other. Get a planet down to zero and the next fighter to touch it claims it. The percentage of ships that will be moved from your planet is controlled by the attack level on the bottom right of the screen. Touch it to change the percentage between 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of your ships. Also, the bigger the planet, the more ships that will be created every second; there is a lot of strategy bundled into this small game.
As I said Galcon ships with 5 gameplay modes: Classic, Stealth, Vacuum, Beast and 3-Way. Each mode plays basically the same, but contains a few tweaks. In Stealth you cannot see your enemy at all. You can tell what planets they currently hold, but can’t see the numbers or ships. Beast has you battling an unrelenting enemy that controls a lot of little planets to begin with and will all-out attack you every few seconds. Vacuum is a timed game where you have to take over all of the planets on the game board without actually battling anyone, it’s you against the clock. As you can see there is a lot of variety thrown in to the game so you’ll always be able to find something that interests you or that will play to your skill level.
My only real complaint with Galcon isn’t actually with the game at all, and that would be the price. I’m still of the mind that $10 is too expensive for a mobile game, but have to give in for a title that is as fun and packs in as much content as this title. I greatly enjoyed Galcon and feel that it will be one of the few iPhone games that I own which I’ll still be playing in a months time.
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August 7th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Do you find the controls to me sharp? As in the dectwxtion between the planets and such. Looks like a good game that I’d like of the game controlled well.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
ah iPhone key detection ftl sorry for the odd typing.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Yeah the controls are great. You can drag from one of your planets to another or tap yours and then tap the destination. It works well! The only control issue I’ve had is tapping pause, but that’s due to my iphone having a dead spot where the pause button is. Time to pick up a 3G soon, I think
August 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
If there is a dead spot you might as well. As long as you don’t have to break the first contract and pay that fee.