Space Invaders’ influence has been felt throughout the ages. When it first arose from the ashes after the meteor landed in northern Kentucky, it was but a wee invader. But now… it’s EXTREME!…. Okay I have NO idea where I was going with that…… Anyways. Space Invaders Extreme is one of the most recent reincarnations of a classic game given a sort of “remix” treatment, first executed with the XBLA title, Pac-Man Championship Edition. The ‘Extreme’ moniker would seem a bit pretentious but let me say that it certainly earns that name.

As I said, this is a bit of a remix of the original concept… Okay unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 30 years, the original Space Invaders had a large grouping of alien creatures coming down towards the surface of the planet. As a spac… Why am I describing this?! You should know this, and if you don’t, go Wiki it you ignorant mustard sucker! Anyways, the game takes the basic idea of a ship fending off the aliens, but also throws in power-ups, bosses, and challenges. It sounds blasphemous, I know, and it also sounds like a really dumb idea that could EASILY go wrong. But amazingly, Space Invaders Extreme does it right. Keeping true to the concept closely enough where it feels appropriate for the name, but still very new.

The first and most obvious difference is the introduction of colour. I know that sounds stupid, but it really does impact the gameplay significantly. You’ll find plenty of aliens, coloured red, blue, green, white and black. You could just take out these incoming patterns, blindly shooting and hoping your bullets make an impact with something solid. Hitting four of the same colour in a row, however, will send down a temporary power up for you to use. Red will replace your lasers with good ol’ fashioned bombs. Blue will power you up with a straight, streaming laser blast that works wonderfully, black creates a shield… etc. There’s a bit of strategy in how you deal with each situation and understanding which power ups will yield best results.

There are certainly other additions to the game. Some enemies which quickly fly by at the top can offer some bonuses. A few of these will actually put you in a ‘challenge’. These are quick scenarios, lasting maybe 10 or 15 seconds, requiring you to hit so many or specific targets in the time limit. Completing it successfully will put you back where you left off in the stage, except in a drug-induced fever dream with insane colours every which way. This is more acceptably called Hyper Mode which gives you extremely powerful attacks for a short time, depending on which challenge you’ve beaten. The challenges aren’t DRASTICALLY difficult, so as a result, you can feel a bit overpowered a lot of the time. But then again, if you’re busy surviving the onslaught of enemy fire, you might not be able to hit the bonus ship required to enter it. So in that way, it may balance things out a bit.

Another introduction is bosses sitting at the end of each stage. The look of these bosses are hilariously just giant versions of the enemies who are already in the game. It’s a great design aesthetic, and it fits with everything else really well. While still feeling nostalgic and simple in design, their enormity provides enough of a threat that you feel like this is something big. While most of the strategy revolves around hitting the obviously glowing spots on their body, sometimes the gimmick to doing so is fairly neat. One boss actually sits on the bottom screen while you sit on the top. You need to reflect the shots off of the shielded enemies who are sitting above you so that they bounce downwards and hit the boss. It’s creative, simple, yet fun and effective.

Most of the game’s length comes from repetition. Death will come down on some players a lot. You’ll see the Game Over screen a few times more than you’d like. Oh I am well aware I can raise how many lives I begin with in the Options menu. But it sort of feels like wimping out. It’s like being kicked while you’re down but then you ask your attacker to try and avoid hitting your shoulder for you think it might bruise. Okay, I’m over exaggerating. The game IS in fact pretty difficult. Fans of top-down shooters may have a bit of an easier time, but most people may have a serious case of “fist-in-your-balls” syndrome. There certainly is a reward for your performance throughout each stage via alternate paths. A complete play-through is 5 different stages. Receiving a higher rank at the end of each one will allow you to access the harder levels, allowing you to choose between the harder or easier route. There are four possible “last levels” so it will be most shooter fans’ obsession trying to access the path to get to Level 5-D. A task I haven’t had much luck completing.

The game’s style really touches the right note. Sticking with pixelated sprites, bright neon colours and cheesy techno music that reacts to the enemies you hit, everything just fits together well. There’s enough variety in the enemies as well without changing their designs too much. The minimalistic details prove that ’simple’ can work well if used appropriately. However they could have done a LITTLE more with the transitional visual effects.

There’s also more than the Arcade Mode. After accessing a level, you can then go back and try and practice in hopes of achieving a higher score. Of course there’s also a Survival Mode, requiring you to go through the levels without checkpoints between levels. There is also a local and online competitive mode. The mode honestly isn’t that much fun and feels like a throwaway. The inclusion of online leaderboards is always good though….until you start feeling bad about yourself.

Space Invaders Extreme is exactly what a revival should be. It doesn’t ruin the concept, and in fact makes it drastically better. It would’ve been sort of neat if they had included the original Space Invaders as an unlockable too, but considering the amount of value you get playing this game again and again, trying to up your scores, you can’t complain about too much. With addictive gameplay, online leaderboards, and plenty of replay value, all for $20, Space Invaders Extreme is an absolute steal.

Gameplay

Very addictive arcade mode. A great adaptation of the Space Invaders concept. A little difficult for some, but trying to access the higher levels is DRASTICALLY harder. Cool powerups.

Visuals

A FANTASTIC retro look. Great use of colour and pixelated characters and effects. Simple but VERY effective. Could have added a LITTLE more to the effects.

Sound

Interesting how music is effected by gameplay, but no real significance to it. Great techno themes. Great, crisp sound effects.

Stuff

Can access completed levels to practice further or raise score. Survival mode is VERY challenging. 11 possible levels. Multiplayer feels like a throwaway. Online leaderboards always nice. But no original Space Invaders?

Waffle Factor

With great powerups, great bosses, and a great presentation, all at a discounted price, you can’t go wrong with this one. Sh’m'up fans should DEFINITELY pick this one up!

SCORE: 9.0/10