|System: PSP, DS||Review Rating Legend|
|Dev: Taito||1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid||4.0 - 4.4 = Great|
|Pub: Taito||2.0 - 2.4 = Poor||4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy|
|Release: June 17, 2008||2.5 - 2.9 = Average||5.0 = The Best|
|Players: 1||3.0 - 3.4 = Fair|
|ESRB Rating: Everyone||3.5 - 3.9 = Good|
Instead of a large, hostile block of enemies that need to be picked at for a couple minutes, enemies now come in Galaga-like waves of enemy formations, and each of these can be cleared in just a few seconds. Enemies are closer together and a lot easier to hit. Killing enemies of the same color will yield different power-ups, which can clear out enemies even faster for the few seconds they last. Shields are long gone, as is the methodical pace of its ancestor.
Pinpoint accuracy and timing may not be a requirement any more, but Taito has made sure sharpshooters will still be rewarded. The complex scoring system awards bonuses for clearing waves without missing, chaining like-colored enemies, and clearing vertical rows without hitting anything else. This adds an incentive for not only careful execution but planning, as clearing levels in different ways can net larger jackpots.
Bonus rounds are triggered by shooting those pesky flying saucers that sail across the top of the screen. These short, random challenges can net you a pachinko-like "fever" mode where scores go crazy for a short time. Giant, pixelated bosses help to cap off each level with another unique challenge and help to add some punctuation to the flow of the game.
In theme, premise, and execution, the classic Space Invaders is an archetypal cliché. Space Invaders Extreme recognizes this, and it succeeds where other revivals have failed because it isn't concerned with what Space Invaders was, nor does it try to imagine what Space Invaders would be had it been imagined today. Instead, Extreme looks at what Space Invaders is; what it means to all of us. It's a clever, original game that embraces the iconography and spirit of the original, while avoiding the baggage that comes with being one of the most imitated and influential games of all time. Here's to 30 more years, old friend!
CCC Freelance Writer