Artech Studios are certainly no stranger to Xbox LIVE Arcade development. Unfortunately, that past experience includes the abysmal Boogie Bunnies. Luckily, for their next effort, the developer has creating a worthy investment of time and money with a hardcore shooter in the vein of classics like Silpheed.

Now available on XBLA, Aces of the Galaxy is an old-school space shooter that wears its influences on its sleeve. The game emphasizes what the genre is best known for: flashy visuals, fast action, and tough difficulty. The game does extremely well at this, harkening back to a simpler period of gaming, making for a fun and furious experience that shooter fans will want to sink their teeth into.

Aces of the Galaxy features some low-key production elements when conveying its storyline, including kitschy artwork and some corny story elements. Fortunately, the game has a real self-awareness that adds some charm to the story and works as a somewhat charmingly cheesy homage to old-school shooters.

The gameplay is what you’d hope for if you’re a shooter fan: fast, intense, and quite difficult. The action unfolds from behind your craft, similar to Silpheed, and you’ll position your craft in order to target enemies and keep from colliding into objects like space debris and asteroids. You have the ability to perform barrel rolls to get out of harm’s way, as well as slow down time briefly in order to dodge enemy fire or get a better shot.

You have three different weapons at your disposal as you take out tons of alien opponents: chaingun, torpedoes, and cluster missiles. Depending on the situation, each of them will come in handy when disposing of your myriad foes. Additionally, you have a special scanner that will allow you to search out enemies who have gone invisible.

There are three different stage tracks that you’ll be able to take throughout the game, with a set of missions taking place above a fire planet, an ice planet, and a space battlefield. After completing each mission, you’ll be given the choice of where you’d like to play through the next one, which is a pretty nice touch considering that the game can grow rather repetitive after a while.

Aces of the Galaxy also features a co-op mode which can be played with a friend online or locally.

Graphically, Aces of the Galaxy isn’t a terribly complex game, but the sense of speed and smooth framerates go a long way. The game is bright and colorful and everything moves lightning fast, which is a quality that the genre demands.

The sound effects are also pretty good. The sounds are nothing spectacular, but they do their job here, and the music works well with the game and its theme of space combat.

Aces of the Galaxy is a solid shooter and a great fit for Xbox LIVE Arcade. While the experience can get a bit repetitive before long, it still offers the basics for shooter fans and would be a worthy investment from those who’ve already played Ikaruga to death.

Gameplay: 8.0
Fast, furious and, tough, Aces of the Galaxy offers what hardcore shooter fans would hope for, although the experience can be repetitious at times.

Graphics: 8.0
While not drop-dead gorgeous by any means, Aces of the Galaxy succeeds in being fast-paced, smooth, and colorful.

Sound: 8.0
The game sounds decent enough, and the music does a good job of setting the mood.

Difficulty: Hard

Multiplayer: 8.5
Co-op play both online and locally with leaderboards to boot.

Concept: 8.0
Aces of the Galaxy won’t dazzle you with its script, but the storyline is a nice throwback to the good ol’ days of space shooters.

Overall: 8.0
Aces of the Galaxy gets repetitive after a while, and the steep difficulty certainly isn’t for everyone, but those who are willing to enlist in a tough, fast, and intense shooter would do well to check this one out.