There we go; someone has gone and surrounded Earth yet again. That means, as is inevitable, it's up to one plucky pilot — you — to (this time) steal a prototype alien spaceship and blast your way through hordes and hordes of enemies and save the day. Somehow, though, it keeps staying fun.

Aces of the Galaxy is basically a third-person shooter in space. You can control your ship with the same stick that you shoot with, which means when you shoot to the right, your ship is going to go to the right. This set up can take a bit of getting used to, as I found when I didn't even realize I truly had control of my ship. When you start dodging asteroids, it gets even harder.

The heart of the game is frenetic action. You've got all kinds of opponents — from the Brood Master (who is always replaced if you shoot him down) to little wimpy ships to big tough ships to invisible ships you need to use your scanner to find. To counter these threats, you have a chain gun that you hit A to use, missiles that can lock on to multiple targets by holding down A and torpedoes that can do huge damage to ships (but are limited in ammo, unlike the other weapons).

That's not all; you've got defenses, too. Not only can you simply avoid enemies, but you also can barrel roll to the sides and occasionally use a “temporal slip” to slow down time. You'll find these tactics get more and more useful as you go on in the game.

Graphically, the game is gorgeous, if busy. There's tons of stuff on the screen at once — all kinds of things flying around — and you're going to have very little time to sightsee while you fly through various themed boards. Most of the time, you'll be blasting as fast as you can at enemies, though you'll also be keeping an eye out for power-ups to your weapons (too bad you don't keep them between levels) and warp points that'll let you pick a new patch through the enemies.

The game has a bit of a sense of humor, too. I found the repeated threats of the Brood Masters a bit repetitive but funny as you whittle them down. If you manage to get all the way through the game, you can shoot down the credits with your spaceship — and each time you destroy a name, it makes fun of that person or position. That I felt was one of the neatest things I'd seen in a while.

It's not all fun and games, though. Your chain gun is the most important weapon, but you must hit A every time you use it, quickly leading to crippling pain in my case. I seriously could not hold a controller for days afterwards, though I've also been recuperating from a broken hand (yeah, 6 months ago!). The sound effects are fine, if a bit repetitive, as is the gameplay, but that's usually what you're looking for in this type of game. I also found some of the levels to be annoying — such as trying to dodge asteroids — but at the same time, it's a fairly easy game.

So, is the game worth 800 Xbox Live Arcade credits? Well, probably. If you just want some great mindless shoot 'em up fun that also can be played multiplayer, it's definitely worth it. Just don't be looking for the depth of gameplay or a variety of game modes that you might expect from other games.