Every 510 years a contest is held between rival nations of the interstellar planets. The reason behind the contest is for every civilization to test out their latest planetary defense systems in an effort to secure their dominance over the rest of the Galaxy. Since it would be considered an act of war if any one planet was to challenge another planets defenses, it was decided that an independent company called IDS (Interstellar Defense Systems) would have the "privilege" of fighting against the planets. You have been chosen to man the fastest equipped flying machine that IDS have created to weave and shoot your way through the hazardous planets. Your objective is to collect a certain amount of diamonds per level without being destroyed to successfully claim that planet as being conquered.

The name of this game is a little misleading. Race to Galamax is really a shoot em up with a time limit and enemies that don't move much. The idea is simple, find and shoot the droids and collect the diamonds, but there are obstacles to avoid too. You start out on a planet called Augerund and you are given an objective to find and destroy all the droids. Once you collect the allotted number of diamonds you move on to the next level. There are 3 levels on each planet and 7 planets to complete the race. Each level is harder and each planet is a bit different and in most cases harder then the last one.

My first impression of this game was that it was going to be cool because it seemed to be a new idea, but upon playing for a few hours I was very disappointed. The first thing that started to get to me was the annoying background music. At first it seemed kind of cool, it is upbeat and catchy, but it never changes and starts to drone on after the first 2 levels. The sound effects don't help much as they too are simple and repetitive. The voice effects when you start and finish each level are well done and serve the purpose. The controls of the game are simple and snappy. I had no trouble using the keyboard to move around and other then the occasional clipping problem I have no complaints about the controls.

The graphics in the game are bright and colorful, but clunky and chunky. Each planet has a few different objects thrown into the landscape, most of which look like a modern sculpture you might find in a park somewhere, but add to the color and make up the primary difference of each planet. The clunky part is a problem with the engine, when you get too close to certain objects there is a clipping problem that causes you to get stuck. The chunky part refers to the size of the polygons used to create the objects in this game. Most noticeable in the cut-scene where the planet is shown and looks more like an octagon then a sphere. The one advantage of the chunky graphics is high frame rates. Even when large amounts of objects were displayed the frame rate stayed high enough to provide smooth viewing. The high points of the graphics in this game are the explosions and light tracing of your weapon's projectile.

Good frame rate and snappy controls don't help a bit if the game is boring though. I got bored with this game after the second planet and trudged through all 7 planets only to find them all boring. This game might be worth checking out if you have nothing better to do, but its good bargain bin filler otherwise. Even with the somewhat unique idea it just doesn't deliver.

Highs:
Unique idea
Some graphic effects are nicely done

Lows:
Repetitive gameplay
Annoying music