Framerate during combat is still pretty rotten after the patch. Dunno why virtually every review glosses over that.

When the hell is this coming out on PC, anyway? It's a day one buy for me when it does.

It would be interesting to see how this opinion of "empty nostalgia" would play out if Galak-Z didn't specifically appeal to Austins interests in anime, robots etc. Although I do appreciate that it is a game that does evoke an old-school feel while maintaining at least a semblance of modern design sensibilities. Despite being almost universally praised, I always though Shovel Knight leaned incredibly heavily on empty nostalgia by basically recreating an old game without adding significant new-age flair to it.

Dev says at the end of the QL:EX around September/October.

I appreciate a different sort of review, but it takes a little sifting to get to the "tell me about the game" bits.

Well, that's a spectacular review of a game I wanted anyway, but got super hype about after reading. Thanks, Austin!

Hell of a review, dude! You are an excellent writer. Nice to see something break away from the standard game review formula. You're spot on about this game, too. It's got a few shortcomings, but holy hell is it fun!

Once you get a grasp on the movement, the depth and dynamics of the combat reveal themselves in a glorious way. The other day, I was fighting one of those long purple ships (dick ships, as I call them). It fired a missile at me. I grappled the ship and used it to block the missile it just fired and destroyed the ship in the process. Very, very satisfying. I love all the factions fighting each other, too.

One thing, though. I don't think the levels are procedurally generated. It seems like there are a handful of layouts it will choose from. In Season 1, I got the exact same level for two episodes in a row. A little disappointing, but the combat is good enough to make up for that.

Slowly making time to play this game. I really like the ship controls and I'm slowly getting used to the mech controls. Plenty of fun so far.

@milkman: @party:

Definitely not making a "good" vs "bad" claim, but I am making a subjective, evaluative claim about what I like.

What I'm calling "empty" nostalgia is the sort of media that seems to work on the belief that repetition of and references to previous media are valuable pursuits in and of themselves (See: Pixels). Contrast this with works that successfully interrogate, question, enhance, or (as Galak-Z does) translate some quality of that old, revered work.

Think of "empty nostalgia" as "empty calories." Not judging anyone who wants to eat their favorite junk food, but what I really love is a meal that tries something different. And this review was me answering the question as to the question of which category (and the categories are blurry, for sure) Galak-Z falls in.

Can you play as a Zaku II?

@austin_walker: Thanks for replying Austin! And I certainly get what you're going for by differentiating, or rather building classifications of, forms of nostalgia. I tend to fall in the same camp as you, as I prefer experiences that do something fresh with old material and force us to rethink past conventions.

That being said, maybe it's important for us to look at the way label things in this case? I think "empty nostalgia" is a pretty charged term that carries a decent amount of negative connotation. While that sort of referential material is not for me, I don't look down upon the many who love Ready Player One and other such referential material. Even I, with all my hoity-toity "do something new and interesting" vibe, like to indulge in a trip down good old nostalgia lane. I think it's fantastic that we live in a world where this is space for both types of nostalgia to coexist.

The fact that there has been Macross, Gundam, Robotech, and Love Live mentioned on Giant Bomb since Austin has been here is just the best thing. That "Newtype Rougelike" headline made me giggle. Great review, Austin.

Stuff like Ready Player One just strikes me as obscenely referential, which is usually pretty lame in my book.

The distinction between "empty nostalgia" and whatever we're calling the other nostalgia seems to mostly just come down to how good the thing is on its own merit, in that vacuum.

I didn't quite enjoy this as a review, but it was an interesting read all the same. Thanks!

Before people complain, remember this review was edited and read over by the staff before it went up. Therefore they approved of it.

Frankly, I'm glad we're getting more Austin pieces, and a review that's longer than the back of a DVD case. Sorry, Dan.

Dope!

This review (like the game) is friggin' delightful. The idea that Austin should "just talk about the game" is nonsense, y'all. The game fits into a growing trend in the industry, so he related it to that. The game is unique in the ways in which it relates to his life, so he talked about that. He did nothing but talk about the game in this review.

Cool review, Austin. Galak-Z looks awesome.

Never thought I'd see the day where a Giant Bomb review references Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Great review Austin, though I'm not sure how Galak-Z could be empty nostalgia. It's not like there are a ton of games out there trying to recreate the aesthetic of 80s sci-fi anime (even more specifically, the aesthetic of American dubs of 80s sci-fi anime) and the game part isn't leaning on any single old-style game for its influences. For that matter, what even is an example of empty nostalgia in video games? I guess I'd say something like Xenonauts?

Austin is the dude that shows up at your tree-house and hangs some art on the wall. At first you are all, hey man, we don't need any art, this is a tree-house! For smuggled smokes and poker! Then you leave the painting there and forget about it. Then, one day, you realize the painting is cool. Then, one day, you realize you can't imagine the tree-house without it.

@arbitrarywater: Like I said, I've played a LOT of Gundam games, and many of them do a poorer job than Galak-Z of evoking the feeling I get watching their source material. (Some of them are fantastic, tho)

This is the kind of top-notch writing I've come to love from you, @austin_walker, and I'm so very glad you've found a home that gives you the space to do it. I don't think Galak-Z is for me personally but this review helps me get the love so many have for it, and that's the best thing I can say to any reviewer.

What a stellar fuckin' review. Games writing should aspire to be like this, and reviews like this should remind us why writing still matters in the age of the rise of video dominance.

PC when?

I never, ever read normal reviews anymore; and I think a lot of people are in the same boat. They are almost always redundant. I like any written review to give the writers personal opinion and pull from their own experiences. This review does that. Great work, Austin, really enjoy reading your work.

Spot on and well said, my man.

And for all of the dudes in that tree-house who were there when he put it up and thought it was rad but felt the social pressure of resistance pressing against their desire to say as such...don't hold it in. Remark on that cool shit you see on the spot and in the moment so that there doesn't have to be that time of forgetting before everyone just recognizes it as the way things always have been.

Austin is killin' it and ahead of the curve with games criticism / journalism. While he's not without fault, he's definitely worth the word of recognition and grats. Keep on Walkin', Walker.

So for anyone who has been encountering the bug where the controls just stop working mid-mission, apparently there will be a patch coming asap.

https://twitter.com/TheZaikman/status/630904251288453120

Ahhh yes. That's the stuff. Excellent work, Walker.

It's really a shame that anyone would read this and wish that it read more like a review of a washing machine. It's personal, it's contemplative, it's touching, and it still manages to be informative.

I, for one, love that this is a site where Austin's lyrical, interdisciplinary writing about games can stand alongside Dan's efficient, spartan prose. Keep doing God's work.

really cannot wait for this to come to PC.

Austin bringin' the heat! Nice review.

I feel weird about reading a paragraph in a review about that time you watched anime after your mother had surgery. But if there's anywhere personality-based stuff is supposed to be expected, it should be Giant Bomb. The reviews on this site reflect what everyone were doing before they got here more than anything else on the site, they are comparatively dry when looking at the podcasts or the let's plays. More reviews like this would be nice.

Shame about the flash animation. I know hand-drawn animation is time-consuming and expensive, but it's really what was called for to make this look good.

I think discussion of nostalgia can get wonky very quickly because I'd argue there's also a value in a reference taking you to a time and place that you're not nostalgic for. I never watched the anime that Galak-Z references but I think that aesthetic is cool on its own and I know it's a reference. Assuming the aesthetic is effective (which it's not 100% but let's go with it for now), it can be way to reach back and appreciate a touchstone of the past without coming to it with the same personal attachment as someone who does have nostalgia for it.

This way execution, historical reference, and nostalgia as distinct but related factors can more clearly make sense of cultural works that evoke the past. This is rather than trying to just use the term nostalgia to describe those things.

So when nostalgia can be used to refer to something making a literal reference, a stylistic reference, a later continuation of an old work, a remake of an old work, or an old work getting a rerelease at a certain time, keeping all three in mind may help when trying to evaluate the success of each of those things.

Just throwing that out there since, as you say Austin, it's been on the brain lately.

@humanity said:

So for me, I have exactly zero fond memories of the type of things that Galak-Z references (more general things like the VCR menu pause screen excepted), but it doesn't ring of empty nostalgia to me.

When it comes to Shovel Knight, it also doesn't feel empty to me, even though I can understand why it might to someone else. It's something incredibly difficult for me to explain, but some abstract sum of the amount of obvious love was poured into its creation and the fact that it feels more like it was working within a particular aesthetic than purely saying to us, "hey, remember that thing? yeah, us too" that makes it ascend a vibe of "cheap retro throwback".

It's definitely an interesting thing to think about and discuss though, for sure, and also fucking hard to make sense of.

ANYWAY, holy hot goddamn, Austin, you killed this review.

NEWTYPE Roguelike lol. Austin you and your Gundam references.

I'm not the biggest fan of the game. On season 4, I just feel that the upgrades aren't game changing enough, making most run feel the same to me. Compare that to Binding of Isaac, where runs feel different depending on what you get, and I feel that Galak-Z is a fun game but is definetely inferior to others in the genre. Well, to me anyway...

That said, I think this review amazing. I don't share Austin's opinion, but he explains his very well, delving in his own subjectivity instead of wrongfully shying away from it. I can find reviews that will talk about the mechanics of the game everywhere, but reviews with deeply personal takes on games are harder to come by. I'm happy I can find those here.

Wonderful review, Austin. As you made clear, it is the essence and emotion of the things we love that we strive to recapture. Emulating the sights and sounds is not enough. From your examination of Galak-Z, it seems that it addresses the core of what made and makes sci-fi Anime so great: the bombast, the tension, the fast-flowing action and the sense of evolution in the face of extreme odds. I hope to see more games pay this kind of respect to the icons of our past.

@bacongames: Yeah! This is a great point, and like I say in the review, part of what makes Galak-Z work is that it successfully recreates those feelings in a new medium instead of just symbolically pointing back towards the sources of its inspiration. Thanks for the post!

I now understand what Galak-Z is on a fairly deep level. Thank you, my good sir!

Congrats on your first review. And much respect for the NEWTYPE reference.

I never comment on anything on this site. I have been a paid member for 6 years. Fantastic review.

Damn fine review @austin_walker!

I never watched anime as a kid so it's cool to read about how it influenced your experience. I love the way this reviewed is structured. At first I thought maybe you should have had a second article focusing on nostalgia, but you really brought it back around.

I love this game, but feel like I've hit a bit of a wall. I blew though season 1 & 2, becoming so OP by the end of season 2 the boss took about 60 seconds. When I failed season 3, and lost all my crash coins because the game crashed (teehee) I was kinda excited to try a fresh run.

Now I've failed about 5 or 6 times, that last time actually getting a decent upgrade set early on, I kinda want to give up, or farm crash coins from an earlier season. (I'm not even sure if that can be done, but...) However, thanks to your review, I think I have not really been learning from my failures, just getting frustrated and trying to kill everything and luck out on upgrades by episode 3, After I play some "Everybody Dun Got Raptured" I'm definitely getting back on this hottness.

For me it's the exact opposite, trying to evoke the look of these series and falling short just turns me off of what otherwise seems like a decent game. A pale imitation of the art and design with some shoutouts to the childhood experience layered on doesn't do anything for me except make me wish i was just rewatching the series themselves.

Yo Austin, you're fuckin' *rad*.

I think just about every approach to nostalgia, from empty to subversive, can be found in the Legend of Zelda series. Look at the radically differing ways Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker handle the core of Ocarina of Time, for example, or the way Link Between Worlds reimagines A Link to the Past.

" Newtype roguelike"...See what you did there, Walker.

Man, an awesome review. Nice to read something beefy here every once in a while. Thx. Austin.

@austin_walker I legitimately think you're one of the best writers doing this games journalism thing. Great work!

Holy Moly, Is this is a review or an essay?

Either way I really like it if this where Austin is going to take reviews. Possibly the best review I' ever read on Giant Bomb (or Gamespot)!

@austin_walker

re: Cara Ellison's observation-

I think that is a very salient point on her part (and yours too).

I think what bugs me about some of these "retro" indie games (not all ) is that they remind me of the clothing store Anthropologie. It's a faux look or as you excellently put it "empty calories". Some will ape the look or style of the 80's without understanding the intent and concept behind why the style/ideas worked in the first place and furthermore don't strike me as something the creators of the original properties would even consider making today. There wasn't an ironic enthusiasm for giant robots in the 1980's, it was genuine without really any pretense.

Part of what made classic old games cool in their day was they were products that were created for the now, trying things that were new or were just trying to excel in some way. They were trying to be themselves, their games weren't nostalgia fests (although they certainly drew heavily from other media) they were seeking some sort of unique identity

There's definitely games today that have new or clever ideas with an old aesthetic (like Fez or Rogue Legacy as you mentioned), but there also just seems to be a flood of Steam indie games that really don't.

long story short: Mechs are cool man. I'm glad Galak-Z got it mostly right in your eyes.

Thank you for the great review!

This Austin guy's alright, guys. Great article