Galactic Aquarium will satisfy strategy fans or students of genetics (maybe). A basic concept but fun game.
There's been a slew of these kinds of games as of late, which all harken back to around the time of the first Lemonade Stand games, and then cultivated by the Sim/Tycoon games. The premise is simple. You start out with a little cash and some basic fish, and then breed your way to money through exotic fish species which are challenging to get.
Galactic Aquarium throws two interesting points into this tried-and-true (and fun) gameplay. First, you only have one fish tank, and with predetor fish in with your basic fish, its tricky to keep breeding enough of all kinds of fish without them disapearing. Plus, many larger fish need to dine on smaller fish in order to procreate, so you need to constantly manage a continually increasing chain of fish in order to find yourself successful. Thankfully you do have a freezer which will preserve any fish you create for any future you want to use it (quite an advanced freezer i'd say! practically cryogenic!).
Second, the point here isn't simply to make lots of money (though it's always a driving force). Not only will you be rewarded for building your fish empire, but GA also tracks which fish you've bred, such that you'll not only want to get rich, but also (as anyone focused on solid taxidermy) breed all of the fish in the game. This gives you a little more incentive to mess around and experiment. You won't be in the dark, however, since each fish (at least to start) has an indicated genetic line which can be accessed through the information menu, which also happens to have information on fish lifetime, breeding years, and other requirements.
The music is nothing to write home about and the visuals are cute but not what you'd call artistic, sty*lish, or anything other than emminently practical. All in all, however, Galactic Aquarium is a fun game that, while not reinventing the wheel, or inventing much of anything else, does nail the basic gameplay elements you need in this sort of game: diversity of objects, increase in difficulty, reward for time investment. It's a good game that should warm the hearts of fish-lovers around the globe.
Rating 7/10