Review: Galaxy Angel

Hello again, everyone.
Since people seemed to like the idea and my first review got more than 2700 hits (thank you very much! :D), here's my second english bishoujo game-review :)

I will only cover the first game, because (as far as I know) the other ones have not been translated into english yet.

A long time ago there was a great human civilization in the galaxy. Nobody knows why, but after a cataclysmic event, the "Chrono Quake", this civilization was wiped out, throwing humanity back into the stone-age of space travel, but leaving their valuable and mysterious technology behind.
With the help of these relics humanity was soon able to travel space again, although most of the technology is still not fully understood by the researchers...

Our main character, Tact Mayers, is on patrol in the outskirts of the Transbaal empire, when news of a coup d'état reach him. Shortly after this his former mentor arrives and asks him to escort the last surviving member of the royal family to safety.
Commanding the flagship "Elsior" of the Transbaal Empire, its five royal fighter guards, the "Emblem Frames" (both using the unknown and powerful ancient technology) and their female pilots, the "Angel Wing" Tact now has to brave the usurpers to find the remainders of the imperial fleet.

With the Angel Wing pilots (which are also the heroines) we have a balanced selection of a tsundere, a tomboy, an ojou-sama, a klutz and a silent or (seemingly) emotionless girl - each of them having a special character trait (from extreme luck to mind-reading abilities) up their sleeve to make them more interesting. Tact on the other hand is your typical plain bishoujo-game main character - sadly there's nothing special about him.
The story itself is pretty straight-forward and if you have ever watched a space-opera, you will most likely see everything coming from miles away. Nevertheless the interaction with the Angel Wing proves to be the most entertaining part of the story - I found experiencing their special characters and quirks quite enjoyable.
Of course your ending will be affected by your chosen heroine to a certain degree, although only the epilogue and one of the last videos will change.

The gameplay consists of two different parts - the social part and the battles.
In the "social time" you have free access to your ship, where you can visit the heroines (indicated by icons over certain rooms) and progress their personal story further. In dialogues you can earn their trust by giving favourable answers, but also lose it when you choose the wrong option. You will get an audio-feedback right after your choice, so there's no danger of reaching a dead end if you do a little saving (although I doubt that a bad end is even possible).

In the battles you command your ship and the Angel Wing on a 3D space-map. Attack orders and movement are controlled with a 2D-overview, which activates when you choose to issue an order. The rest of the time the camera will snatch onto the ship you selected and follow it. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but after that it feels quite natural to use.

Each of your fighters has a unique fighting style and use, featuring:
- an allrounder
- a fast, strong ship with weak armor
- a long-range-fighter
- a slow and sturdy ship
- and a "healer"

The Angel Wing also have to refuel their Emblem Frames from time to time, but this only happens during very long missions and is easily managed with just a single hotkey or command and a flight back to your ship's hangar bay.

After dealing or receiving a certain amount of damage (depending on their trust in you) each fighter gains an individual "limit attack", which can easily destroy even the strongest enemies with one hit.
Although these attacks look nice, they are also the reason why the game is quite easy - in some missions you can just fly to the target you have to destroy and annihilate it with a single limit attack - "Mission Complete!"

It's game over for you if any one of your Emblem Frame fighters or your flagship gets destroyed, although this practically won't happen at all if you just use the healing ability properly.

The 2D-Part of the game is drawn in quite a simple way. It's not ugly or deformed, but you get the impression that some outlines are a little too thick (at least in the in-game-movies). The character art is well-done, although by far not as detailed as in other games. The heroines all have a basic set of expressions, although there is not too much variation between the sprites (opened/closed eyes, transitions).

Clearly the game does not shine with just its 2D-graphics, but there is more to it: The Battlefield!
The graphics here are smooth, nice to look at, and might remind you of the game "Homeworld". The models themselves do not have too many polygons, but they're well-designed and the ship battles look cool and flashy.

It seems that the sound is a bit on the lower-quality side - at least the encoding of the voices.
But I can't blame the game, after all it's quite old already (at least in terms of PC standards).
The music isn't especially noteworthy, except for the main theme, which reminds me a bit of older anime, but only plays in the last few missions and the intro.

Galaxy Angel only comes in an all-ages-version. No ecchi stuff here, except for some skimpy clothing on the Angel Wing pilots :)

Galaxy Angel is a solid, typical space opera with a linear texbook plot and interesting, but easy tactical combat. The heroines are well-selected and implemented into the combat system, and complete the overall experience.

I'd give it a 7/10