Battlestar Galactica has a lot going for it. It’s pretty, it sounds good, it controls well, it plays well; it could have ended up being one of the best space combat games in the console world. But Battlestar has a problem. Battlestar is difficult, incredibly difficult. Battlestar has the three “kisses of death” that have put away more good games than a little bit – vague objectives, trial and error missions, and a harsh save system that requires obscene amounts of backtracking. If these problems could have been addressed, Battlestar Galactica would have been an easy recommendation.

The game begins 40 years before the television series. This will either excite or annoy fans depending on how sick of the whole “prequel” thing they are. For non-fans this will be neither here nor there. Regardless of where you fall, the story does an adequate job of giving you a reason to blow stuff up, just don’t be surprised if you find your mind wandering during cut-scenes – the plot isn’t the most riveting around and the characters aren’t very well defined. I guess they leave it up to the player to furnish the Battlestar back-story.

I, however, have never been one for needing much of a reason to blow stuff up, so a weak story doesn’t bother me any. Battlestar enthusiasts might feel otherwise, be disappointed, but for me, as long as the game is fun to play there’s no hard feelings. And for the most part, Battlestar Galactica is fun - at least for the first few minutes. After that how fun you find the game will depend largely on your threshold for abuse.

You’ll be amazed by how easy it is to pick up and play Battlestar. It’s the kind of game where you can grab the controller and instantly get into the flow of things, especially if you are a veteran of Star Wars Starfighter or the Rogue Squadron series; the core mechanics are exactly the same (nimble interplanetary dogfights, dodging incoming missiles, the occasional stationary target or bombing run, you know the drill), and since learning to track enemy ships and out maneuver targeting computers is like riding a bike (you never forget), there’s no need to cross-train. There are even a few twists to differentiate Battlestar Galactica from its peers. There is a handy on-screen reticule called the “Predictive Cursor” that shows where to aim laser fire so that it hits moving targets, making compensation for velocity and trajectory as simple as following a blue dot. Energy, which is expended whenever you fire a weapon or use the afterburner, can replenish your ship’s shields when not in use, which adds a bit of defensive strategy. Missile attributes can be configured on the fly to fit the needs of a specific situation, which adds a bit of offensive strategy. Both you and your wingmen’s skills improve based on mission performance. Sure, these tweaks aren’t revolutionary by a long shot, but they give the game some personality.

I can’t go so far as to say you’ll be “amazed” by how the game looks, but you may be a little surprised by how nice the visuals are. They have a realistic look and feel, and the developers have done a good job of making each level’s environment distinctly different despite the fact that the blackness of space isn’t much of a palette to work with. Not the most stunning environments you’ll ever seen, sure, but certainly respectable enough, as are the models, which sport those classic Battlestar designs that fans will no doubt be looking for. Plus the game is free from slow-down and other technical issues, even with dozens of objects on screen; what more could you want?

Something else that will surprise is the claim that Battlestar Galactica supports custom soundtracks – it does not. I’m not sure if this is a typo on the back of the box or what, but I’ve searched high and low and there isn’t an option to play your own music to be found in this game. It’s not that the game needs it; the sweeping orchestral score can do the job by itself, but it’s still confusing to players.

Battlestar Galactica does, however, have some great Dolby Digital support. It’s easily the best part of the game. Ships zipping by, missiles zooming past your ear, lasers flying in all directions, epic score booming in the background – at the right volume you’ll think you’re watching an early cut of Episode III. If only the same could be said about the voice acting. It’s passable at best – you’ve probably heard far worst, but you’ve certainly heard better. It’s not so bad as to drag down the overall quality of the audio, but just bad enough to disappoint fans looking for someone on par with the television series. However, that’s nothing compared to how much everyone will be disappointed by just how easily a few careless design decisions can ruin an otherwise good game.

So you’re sitting there and you’re playing your new Battlestar Galactica game. You’re enjoying the score and the colorful backgrounds and thinking, “hey, this game is pretty fun. I don’t know why it got such mediocre reviews.” Somewhere around the 12^th crack at beating the first level, however, you’ll begin to realize something. You’ll begin to realize that Battlestar Galactica isn’t as fun as you first thought. What it is is needlessly difficult and frustrating to the point that most people would rather turn it off and never turn it back on again than try to succeed. Levels are long, some spanning multiple stages, and objectives are given in rapid succession. You can only save at the end of each level, and there’s no checkpoint system, so if you die or fail on objective six of six with three seconds until victory, you have no choice but to start over from the very beginning, two stages back.

This wouldn’t be too big a deal if it weren’t so easy to die or fail. Enemies are brutal, though easy enough to avoid, wingmen are practically useless, and mission objectives are so loosely defined that it will often take multiple deaths just to figure out what you’re suppose to do next. And don’t bother to look for an easier difficultly setting – there’s only Normal and Expert. If you want to progress, you’ll just have to keep at it, no matter how long it takes. The question is, do you want to? I’m a reviewer – I had to play this game. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have stuck around past the third straight death less than a minute into the first level. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that the amount of fun this game gives back is in no way equal to the amount of effort you have to put in to get it.

To the game’s defense, it does give players a few tools to make getting through easier. There’s heads-up indicators to show how close missiles are to your location, and a cool sideways barrel roll for avoiding them, you can match speeds with an enemy craft with the press of a button, and if you hold the Y button you’ll be pointed in the direction of your nearest objective. These, however, fail to put a dent in the overall difficultly of the game and won’t save you from repeating level after level after level.

There’s even production art, character and ship models, and codes to unlock for completing levels under specific conditions, but in all honesty, this just isn’t enough to keep players motivated. As much as I would have liked to maybe unlock a code for infinite health or overpowered weapons, the last thing I wanted to do after finally putting a mission behind me was play it over and over to get some pencil sketches of Cylon Raiders.

If you are determined to play Battlestar to the bitter end, you will most probably find the game enjoyable, but ultimately not worth the effort. It’s fun, sure, but not so fun it’s worth drudging through hours of frustration, and not when games like Jedi Starfighter offer equivalent gameplay at half the cost. Only absolute space combat junkies will see this one through to the end, and only the most enthusiastic Battlestar Galactica fan will be lured into replaying missions for unlockable production art. If the save system could have been addressed early in development, if this game could have stayed as fun as it was the first 30 seconds you picked it up, Battlestar Galactica could have been the start of a million selling franchise. As it stands now, Battlestar’s reserved for diehard fans only.