It's kind of ironic that a little over a year since
my first blog post here at RF Generation, that I'd be blogging about another
Space Invaders game. As you may or may not know, 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Space Invaders in the arcades back in 1978.
To commemorate this milestone,
Taito, now owned by
Square-Enix, released
Space Invaders Extreme for both the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP roughly 3 weeks ago. A re-imagined game in the same sense as
Pac-Man CE, that has a mixture of the old gameplay and new modes and elements common by today's standards.
Now et me get the bad stuff out of the way first. There aren't any sound options for turning down the music or sound effects (which are both good mind you). The Ad Hoc multiplayer mode is really simple and not all that feature rich. That's it, that's all the bad I have to say about this game!
The first thing I'll mention I like about this game is it's price. $19.99 is a great value for any game new and this one is no exception. Since the DS has such tiny controls for my hands, I decided to opt for the PSP version instead. It's also my preferred choice because of the bigger screen.
One of the best features of this game are the changes made to the gameplay. Now I like Space Invaders in all it's revisions and spinoffs, but that's not to say that it can't change while maintaining it's identity and heritage. Taito did a great job of keeping the core game intact while adding such things as powerups, boss battles, bonus stages and colour coded enemies and UFOs. In some ways, this game reminds me of a Galaga/Xevious/Space Invaders mashup with all it's parts and pieces of added gameplay elements. The boss battles are cool because they showcase the pixelated form of the aliens on a larger scale as well as adding a bit of strategy as to how each one needs to be beaten.
Control is simple and you won't get cramped thumbs trying to be everywhere at once on the screen. Graphics are crisp and colourful and there is an option to turn the background effects on or off if you find them too distracting. If you do those effects are replaced by a colourful background that doesn't move.
Difficulty is on a more steady curve and those who may not be pros at shooters or twitch/reflex types of games will still be able to enjoy it and survive for 10-15 minutes at a time. In other words it's equally suited both as a short diversion as well as a marathon high score challenge. Also as you play you'll unlock Stages which you can always go back to later on and rack up more high scores.
I think Taito did an amazing job in re-invigorating an old game for it's third decade of play. This has to be among the most addictive, simple and enjoyable games on the PSP system and one of my favorite games of the year so far. As far as this wave of retro remakes is concerned,
Space Invaders Extreme sits very high on the quality list and sticks to it's roots while adding something new at the same time. A feat not easy to accomplish when you have 3 generations of gamers to try to appeal to!
9.0/10
