Developer: Taito

Publisher: Square Enix

Release Date: June 17, 2008

Systems: PSP (reviewed), DS

ESRB Rating: E

0:00 I've never been a huge fan of the original Space Invaders (I was always more of a Galaga man, myself), but I've been hearing good things about this fast-paced, portable remake. Before I even turn on the game I'm entranced by the clear plastic shell for the UMD. Wicked!

0:01 "Taito Corporation. Space Invaders 30th Anniversary. Space Invaders Extreme!" reads a sexy voice right out of the Starship Enterprise. The title screen has a large dancing invader with lines of other invaders across the top and bottom. The logo/title replaces some Es with 3s for no apparent reason. What is this, Driv3r?

0:03 I have a love/hate relationship with games, like this one, that let you preset your starting number of lives in the options screen. I always set it as high as possible, but I always feel bad about it, like I'm cheating somehow.

0:04 "Stage 1, Let's Go," reads the screen. A driving techno beat matches all the crazy, multicolored crap floating around the background. Like the original game, I've still got a little ship at the bottom of the screen, firing up at the slowly encroaching invaders. Luckily, though, the firing rate is much faster. The n-shaped shields from the original are gone, making it feel a lot more like Galaga -- a good thing.

0:05 Power-ups? Really? A blue block floats down from a destroyed invader and gives me a thick blue laser that absolutely EVISCERATES everything. Hoo yeah!

0:06 I somehow activated "Roulette" and shoot a red for a "Random Round." This brings up a side game where I have to collect 50 gold coins that drop from the dancing spaceships I hit. Craziness!

0:08 Two more types of power-ups: A "Broad Shot" that shoots five purple lasers side-by-side, and a thick yellow "Bomb" shot that explodes on impact. I still prefer the laser. Also, new enemies alert: large invaders (just like they sound) and invaders with yellow shields that need to be blown away. Nice!

0:09 "BOSS," the screen practically screams. He's a large red invader made up of tiny red pixel blocks. I have to knock out the blocks to get to the core ruby. "STAGE CLEAR3D." I get bonuses for chains, "Features," "Breaks" and "No Miss" waves, plus "Fever Time," a special state I reached once (don't ask me how). I end up with "Rank C." I feel I'm missing a lot of the deeper scoring strategy here, but I don't really care.

0:11 I love the way the sound of my shots melds with the sound of the music ... reminds me of Lumines.

0:12 I notice that when I hit an invader, it fills up a meter on the right that's divided into two sections of four invaders each. I try filling up each section with a single invader color: green, then blue. Nothing happens, as far as I can tell. Then again, if something did happen, I'd probably miss it given all the craziness on-screen.

0:13 My first death, from an errant shot that I didn't see amidst all the craziness. I'm kind of surprised it took this long, actually. Being able to block most incoming shots using my own bullets helps a lot.

0:14 I unlock another bonus round for hitting a UFO at the top of the screen. This time I have to hit 10 red invaders with blue, shielded invaders flanking them. I hit nine before time runs out. Grrr.

0:15 The powered-up super-shots are really key, at least for me. I feel naked and defenseless with my basic pea shooter, but when I have one of the super-shots, I'm near-unstoppable.

0:17 I somehow activate Fever Timemode again and get three 10,000-point "jackpots" for hitting UFOs with bombs. Why is all this happening? Don't ask me ... I just work here.

0:18 Ah ... apparently the game explains that I got the "Roulette" bonus chance because I "shoot UFO quickly." I missed this the first time, as the message appears for only the briefest of moments. Anyway, the bonus round here unlocks another Fever Time with a lot more UFO jackpots. I'm impressed with how well I'm seemingly doing.


0:20 BOSS! This time it's a large one made of gray blocks, with blue invaders as a shield in front. It's pretty tough to penetrate, until I get the laser, which slowly but surely eats through the gray outer shell to the vulnerable blue filling inside. Yummy. Another "Rank C," even though I got "Fever Time x 2" this time. Hey, staying alive is good enough for me.

0:22 I focus on trying to get a high chain multiplier this time by shooting enemies without much pause in between. I get up to 136 before I get stopped by an errant diagonal shot. Wait, diagonal?!?! That's cheating!

0:24 Ah, I finally figured out what makes the power-ups fall: I just have to hit four invaders of the same color in a row. Of course, I figure this out just as I lose my last life to the barrage of bullets known as Round 3. "Retry? YES/NO." Um, yes?

0:25 Another bonus round ... this time I have to work through rings of rotating invaders to get to the UFO in the heart. I like how they keep mixing things up with these themed interludes.

0:26 I don't know what's more annoying: the invaders that split in three when you hit them, or the other invaders that turn into kamikaze death-divers when you hit them. Oh what the heck: It's a tie!

0:28 For some reason the invaders all briefly changed to UFOs, which means they all drop power-up-granting blocks. Hey, fine by me!

0:30 The latest bonus round has UFOs flying in distinctly Galaga-like patterns. I love it!

0:31 BOSS! He starts off pretty boring ... two large blue invaders moving around in a lazy circle and firing slow yellow shots. Then they merge together and turn into a blue and red pixilated beast firing unblockable purple lasers. Still, pretty easy to kill...

0:33 Heh ... these invaders have turned to the side, so they're one pixel wide. Why didn't I think of that?

0:35 OK, I'm sorry, but the laser is just too powerful. Whenever I get it, I end up just clearing wave after wave of enemies with the utmost ease. The only hard part is ... getting more laser power-ups before it wears off!

0:38 Another "Bonus Roulette" gets me the "Multi-player" power-up, which is just a shadow ship that trails behind me and fires when I do. Only it doesn't get the special shots, so it's kind of a useless extra shooter. Oh well ... better than nothing.

0:40 BOSS! And it's a nasty one ... a giant green invader with an impenetrable yellow shield. I have to hit the shielded blue invaders floating around to get a laser power up, then use the laser on the blue guys to bend my shots around greenie's shield. I succumb to the constant purple shots raining down before I can get more than a couple of hits. Retry!

0:43 ARGH. I got nine out of 10 in that bonus round with the red invaders ... AGAIN! I swear my winning shot was traveling towards the invader as time ran out, too.

0:44 Wow ... I just lost my laser and hit an extremely bad stretch where I died three times in a minute. I think I'm losing my endurance here...

0:46 I seem to have found the laser's Achilles Heel ... it can't get through the yellow shields effectively. Nice that they put in something to balance all that power. Also, I'm dead again. I'm definitely losing a step here. Isn't it sad that I get tired playing a VIDEOGAME?!

0:48 Tiny invaders are super-annoying without a power-up. In fact, everything is super-annoying without a power-up. I'm already using them as a crutch. Hello, my name is Kyle, and I'm a power-up addict.

0:52 I got to the boss, but died again after only getting a few hits in. My brains hurt.

0:56 Broad Shot seems to be the way to go for Fever Time, letting me cut through enemies regardless of their shielding. Or, y'know, the need to aim.

0:57 I just got a 190-chain without really trying. It's just shoot, shoot, shoot, and try to avoid the opposing shots. Yawn.

0:59 Greenie goes down! WHOO! I just had to focus, that was all. And somehow I got a "Rank A." Don't ask me what I did that was so much better than last time ... For the next stage I can choose "5-A (Easy)" or "5-B (Hard)." I'm gonna choose "5-C: Something Else" to rest my tired, tired brain.

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes.


Why? Crazy, trippy twitch action that avoids getting TOO crazy. I probably wouldn't play for more than an hour at a time, though, to spare my poor brains. My brains...

This column is based on a retail copy of the game rented from GameFly.

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