Galaxia Chronicles
Galaxia Chronicles is a side-scrolling Platform Game developed by Renato Depaoli under the company name eiVix. It was released in 2010 for the PC, and a demo is available on their web site.
The game follows the story of Maxx, an orphan boy who grew up in Rio de Janeiro and never knew his parents. He experiences a strange dream after falling unconscious on a beach, and before he can return home, he is abducted by aliens known as The Greys and taken to Galaxia, the birthplace of the universe. Before they can tell him why, though, their UFO is gunned down and pushed into a minefield by the Siris, a race of Mechanical Lifeforms. As their ship falls apart, they help Maxx into an escape pod and send him soaring towards the moons of Galaxia.
From here, Maxx must travel across four of the eight moons - Fioni, Oceoni, Ceoni, and Geloni - in order to unlock the Seal Crystals, discover who he really is, and defeat the Siris, all while a mysterious prophet in black robes guides him along the way. Many of the game's events are revealed through animated CG cutscenes, and the graphics as a whole are one of its major selling points.
The game contains RPG Elements. Collecting crystals will allow Maxx to level up, gain more HP and cause more damage to enemies. At certain levels, the range of Maxx's melee attacks will increase along with their color, and he also unlocks magical abilities that can be used through a menu.
Be careful, though, for HE is watching your every move...
- Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The final battle takes place on one.
- Bottomless Pits: One of the more frustrating elements of the game, especially during the longer levels when falling in one forces you to start all over from the beginning.
- Big Bad: HIM
- Chosen One: Maxx is a pretty straight example.
- Creator Provincialism: The Greys show up in Rio De Janeiro to abduct Maxx, which happens to be the author's home town. Not really a bad thing, since this sort of thing almost always happens in the United States or Japan.
- Darkest Hour: After the Siris Queen is defeated, The Phophet, who was the player's Exposition Fairy, is revealed to be under the Big Bad's influence and delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Maxx. Afterwards, Maxx's dream sequence comes true, and by the time he finally confronts HIM, everything HE has been doing has gone perfectly to plan. The only thing that led to HIS downfall was that HE underestimated Maxx's Heroic Resolve at the very last second. eiVix did a really good job of convincing you that Maxx really was going to die.
- Defeat Means Friendship: The inhabitants of each moon only seem to help you after you bash their faces in through a miniboss fight.
- Does Not Like Shoes: Granted, Maxx is wearing a scuba suit for most of the game, but the only time he's not barefoot is when he's forced to dress warmly on the Geloni moon.
- Or when he's in his Galaxian form.
- Dreaming of Things to Come
- Elaborate Underground Base: The Siris have one on the Geloni moon.
- Evil Laugh: HE indulges in this a few times, though it's only text.
- Evil Plan: The Big Bad was manipulating Maxx from the very beginning. The Prophet isn't actually a person, but an animated cloak owned by HIM. HE uses The Prophet to convince Maxx to embark on a journey to reactivate the Seal Crystals and destroy the Siris, so that HE will be freed from HIS prison in the Bell Tower. Maxx, although skeptical, is nonetheless oblivious to this for the entire game. The only reason HE doesn't succeed is because Maxx's Heroic Resolve allows him to change into his Galaxian form seconds before the Big Bad tries to stab him with a knife. Keep in mind that Maxx is only eight years old!
- Exposition Fairy: The Prophet, whom you meet on the first moon.
- Floating Continent: The Ceoni moon is made up almost entirely of these. The later stages combine this with Big Boo's Haunt.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Maxx's main form of attack. Notable in the fact that in certain levels, he can destroy such things as trees, stone walls, giant debris and even towers by punching and kicking them.
- Green Hill Zone: The Fioni moon combines this with Jungle Japes.
- The Greys: These show up in Rio to abduct Maxx. They're more muscular than traditional greys, but other than that, they're fairly standard.
- The Lost Woods: Levels 1-4 and 1-5 on the Fioni Moon.
- The Mole: Black Shell is this to the Siris. He ends up destroying White Shell shortly after Maxx activates the final Seal Crystal.
- Mood Whiplash: White Shell hits Maxx so hard that he starts to graphically bleed from the mouth.
- No Name Given: HIM.
- Palmtree Panic: The Oceoni Moon combines this with Under the Sea.
- Platform Game
- RPG Elements
- Scenery Porn: One of the major selling points of the game is how gorgeous its graphics are, especially during the CG animated cutscenes.
- Shout-Out: Word of God says that Astal was a major source of inspiration for the game. The boss fight against Purple Shell has ties to Astal's Evil Eye battle.
- The second magic ability Maxx learns is the Hadouken. Sound familiar?
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Geloni moon.
- Space Does Not Work That Way: Galaxia is the birthplace of the universe, but it just happens to be a massive Earth-like planet surrounded by eight small moons, each of which have drastically different climates and themes. It could be argued that mystical forces caused this, but still.
- Underground Level: The Cave of Wonders, on the Fioni Moon. The cave on Geloni is an icy variation.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: The first time Maxx transforms into his Galaxian form, the game switches to a side-scrolling shooter.
- What Could Have Been: The special features reveal that Morcego the Purple Shell was supposed to have a pre-fight cutscene, but it was excluded from the game due to time constraints.