Dash Galactic is a third-person co-op multiplayer twin-stick shooter for Android that puts players in the shoes of three heroes against the evil TOXON empire. Players will need to control Dash Galactic, one of the very last Galactic Knights, EMMA 10 the one-woman assault force and Xeno, a mysterious Alien Ninja that uses melee weapons to devastate the enemy. Dash Galactic gives players the opportunity to choose missions, which last for about three minutes at a time, and play either with the other two computer heroes, or play online with others in real-time co-op. With luscious 3D graphics, randomly-generated mission structure and lots of loot to acquire, Dash Galactic sounds more like a great console game, not something you’d find on Android smartphones. Dash Galactic is fast-paced, accessible and finally addresses one of the biggest problems with dungeon crawler games like these; it let’s you choose your loot at the end of each mission. So let’s see how it plays, shall we?
Users can download Dash Galactic from the Play Store, once they have it loaded up, they will need to choose their desired username. As the game has just launched, it’s more than likely that your preferred username is definitely going to be free.
Once you’ve gotten your ideal name, there’s something of an intro to seat through, which doesn’t take too long to go through, and is a nice introduction to the world that Dash Galactic is set in.
The controls are simple to get to grips with, and there’s little that people need to remember in the long run, making Dash Galactic a pretty accessible game to get to grips with.
One thing that Dash Galactic sets itself apart with is through its character design and overall atmosphere and setting. There’s not a huge about of backstory, but the other two heroes, besides the Dash Galactic that you become, are introduced well and it’s clear right from the get go that the TOXON empire is not to be messed with.
The first few missions take place on the ship, and they do a great job of introducing you to the overall controls. Speaking of which, Dash Galactic plays very well, and feels almost as if a console game has been brought down to the smartphone, not the other way around. Character design is great, and the graphics look excellent.
In Dash Galactic, the main gameplay revolves around users choosing missions to embark on. These are often placed in different environments, and depending on the difficulty and level of your character, there will be more or less loot to choose from.
Players will be paired with other players all over the world, and end up playing a real time, 3-player co-op game with other people all over the world. This is great fun, and again gives off the impression that this much more than just your average F2P shooter on Android.
Of course there are other games that do this sort of thing as well, but Dash Galactic’s level of polish and overall featureset help to deliver an experience that just feels a cut above. There’s even a better way of handling loot, too.
While most games simply leave loot lying around for players to fight over, Dash Galactic does things a little differently, and actually rewards players that support teamwork. Which is mostly done through the synergy abilities, and players that trigger this more often than just just thinking of themselves will end up being rewarded better than others.
This synergy ability then gives players the option to choose their loot at the end of each level, which is something that very few games of this nature even think of implementing, let alone going through with.
Playing through Dash Galactic frequently reminded me of playing something that was perhaps ported from a console or something. The 3-player co-op was seamless and just worked, allowing myself and my two companions to get on with the bite-sized missions and enjoy the gameplay. Which is fast-paced, easy-to-play and lets people play together with little to no fuss. The graphics at work in Dash Galactic all look great, and there are some great sound effects to boot as well. While the performance isn’t fantastic, this is set to improve over time, without doubt. Little touches such as the loot system, giving players a little more control over the game as well as involving them more closely in a core mechanic of a game that many other titles wouldn’t dream of, make the game feel really fully-featured and it gives players a lot to get their teeth sunk into.
Ratings
- Speed (3.5/5) – On a Galaxy S7 Edge, I didn’t think that the game ran all that brilliantly, but there will be improvements coming to the game over time, and I think that the majority of players will be very happy with the overall performance for the most part.
- Theme (5/5) – Dash Galactic has some pretty amazing graphics to look at, including some great textures that really help make an atmosphere and there’s even some great music and sound effects, too.
- Features (5/5) – The gameplay here might seem a little on the simplistic side, but it actually has quite a bit of depth to it, and that’s the beauty of Dash Galactic, it makes something complicated feel easy and fresh.
- Overall (5/5) – With great graphics, good controls and a lot of gameplay that’s both great fun as well as easy to get into, there’s not much that should put users off here, and it’s well worth giving a try.
Pros
- Letting users pick their loot at the end of each mission is a great idea that freshens up the monotony of random, disappointing loot drops in other games.
- Great graphics, sound effects and setting all make Dash Galactic the sort of game that feels a lot more expensive than it is.
- Gameplay is fast-paced yet accessible, and gives players a lot to enjoy, regardless of how skilled they are thanks to some simple controls.
- Backstory is thick enough to give players some sense of purpose for their missions, but also thin enough to make sure players don’t sweat the details.
Cons
- Performance wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but this will no doubt improve over time.
- Different objectives beyond just eliminating all enemies would help give the game a much better feel in the long run.
After spending quite a bit of time with Dash Galactic, I can see why the developers are bullish about how it might perform on Android. It’s a new game, but one that feels well-polished, with great graphics and gameplay that is accessible, but also fully-featured enough to make sure players never get board or ask “what else?”. Sure, there needs to be more content added to keep those players satisfied indefinitely, and that will come in time, but for right now this is a game that feels more like a console game and one that should please the vast majority of players out there.