Skurgians hate humans. There's something about our distinctly non-slimy species that rubs them the wrong way, and our differences have led inevitably to intergalactic war.

In addition to generally annoying them by being carbon-based, we've also apparently declared all-out war on the Empire and stolen their precious Omega Prototype space fighter for good measure. Translation: It's so on.

Thus opens Aces of the Galaxy, a new arcade space shooter developed by Artech Studios and published by Vivendi's Sierra Games division. Artech's most recent project was Boogie Bunnies for the Xbox 360's Live Arcade, a middling wow powerleveling match-three puzzle game featuring dancing pastel rabbits. Aces of the Galaxy couldn't be more different, and that's good news.

The non-automatic chain gun isn't the only throwback choice Artech made with Aces of the Galaxy. In true hardcore arcade fashion, each game is a one-shot chance at glory with no continues, no saves, no checkpoints and no quarter. There's also no "opening up" of levels in Aces of the Galaxy for later play. If you die in level seven, wow powerleveling there's no going back to play previous levels a la carte.

There are three tracks in Aces, and picking up the warp power-up in each level gives you the luxury of choosing your path through the game. Tired of those beautiful but deadly asteroid belts? Head over to the Ice Nebula for some different enemies and surroundings. It's a cool feature that keeps Aces fairly fresh when things begin to drag

Although Aces is full of action, it does begin to feel repetitive halfway through. And there are no boss battles at the end of each level, which would have broken up the monotony, somewhat. Although you do encounter Skurgian officers at the tail end of each stage, they're really more like annoying gnats than fearsome bosses. Along those lines, the end of Aces of the Galaxy is less than stellar and left me unimpressed. Sure, there wow gold were tons of Skurgian ships bearing down on me in wave after wave of alien onslaught, but after the last shot was fired, the result was a bit of a dud.

However, Aces more than makes up for its ho-hum ending one of the best credits sequences out there. After obliterating the Skurgian Armada, you're given the name of everyone who worked on the game, one by one... to destroy. As each credit pops up against the backdrop of space, you can use your ship's three weapons at will to blast them to smoldering bits. Satisfying stuff, that.

Aces' clever, self-aware writing even carries over into the credit-shooting sequence. I don't want to spoil anything, but you'll want to check this one out wow gold if you'd get a chuckle out of an alien threatening to have a Halamak slug-goat lay its eggs in your stomach.

There are two major issues with the PC version of Aces of the Galaxy. First, it costs twice as much as it's Xbox Live Arcade counterpart, so take that into account if you're considering purchasing it. Also, the PC version does not include co-op multiplayer, which is really too bad. So, if you're comparing versions, the XBLA title is definitely the one to choose. However, if you're just looking for a good arcade-style, single-player shooter for your PC and don't mind spending the dough, Aces is a solid choice.