nlike previous iterations in this series, this entry isn’t limited to just one level. Players can now venture into 64 different stages, all offering new challenges, scoring goals, and of course, endless waves of enemies. Rather than just relying on one skill, some of the stages force you to think and act differently. You’ll come across enemies that explode into a handful of smaller ships, hazards like moving barriers and rotating grids, as well as mine fields that can detonate huge swarms of enemies.

All of these stages fit perfectly into the series’ established canon, and add countless hours of amazing gameplay to the experience. The thrill of earning medals and getting the top score on the Wii’s leaderboards is as strong as ever. You’ll also be playing to gain valuable experience for a new helper drone that accompanies you in battle, and as I found, will become your best friend seeing how often it saves your butt.

I didn’t think the game would control well with the remote and nunchuk, but after many hours of practice (it’s like learning how to ride a bike), I managed to hold my own, and get some gold medals with it. It did break my style of play, however. Like many of you, I like to kick back and lounge while I play. With the remote, you don’t get this luxury. You have to keep your arms steady, and unlike most other games, one second of lost connection between the controller and game can spell game over. If you foresee this being a problem, or prefer thumb movement over wrist, you can always pick up the classic controller, which works beautifully.

Multiplayer modes (both competitive and cooperative) abound and are a blast, and Kuju even threw in Retro Evolved (the Xbox Live Arcade game) for good measure. Like Tetris, Galaxies’ gameplay is so unbelievably fun that you can’t put it down.