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| From: Square Enix
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $18.58
You Save: $1.41 (7%)
New (5) Used (4) from $12.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 2444
Platform: Nintendo Ds
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Nintendo DS
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 90802
Model: 90802
UPC: 662248908021
EAN: 0662248908021
ASIN: B00161I5IG
Release Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 11-15 of 15 | | « PREV | | |
 Proving that you can teach an old dog some new tricks June 30, 2008
Space Invaders was a little before my time, which may be why I've never had a great time playing the original game. Space Invaders Extreme however proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks though, giving the classic shooter a new coat of paint that works surprisingly well. Celebrating it's 30th anniversary, the core gameplay of Space Invaders remains basically the same, but now the enemies you shoot have new powers and abilities, and each level ends with a great boss battle to boot. The game has a pseudo-psychedelic look to it that suits it well, and there's even a bit of strategy involved in taking out the baddies. What makes Space Invaders Extreme a real keeper however is the game's local and online multiplayer modes, which are a sheer blast, and sharing your scores via the online leaderboards is an added bonus. The only real flaw about Space Invaders Extreme is that the game is short, very short. Once you master the game, you'll get through it pretty quickly, but trying to top your high score is reason enough to revisit the game as well. All in all, Space Invaders Extreme is a worthy update of a classic that is definitely worth your time, and the bargain price tag only sweetens the overall package.
 An excellent update to a classic game June 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Space Invaders is one of the most recognized games ever created. If offered simple yet addictive gameplay. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Space Invaders returns in an all new game.
The game offers several modes of play, each with 5 main stages where each stage has different branches to choose from. The first is "arcade mode" which allows you to go through the game at your pace and allows you to save and restart from the beginning of levels should you fail. So if you find yourself not able to always complete a full round of games or are new to the game this mode is a good way to practice.
The 2nd mode is "Ranking Mode" which is the same as Arcade mode except that you get no continues and you can't save progress. Whatever score you get is then flagged for upload when you look at the online leaderboard.
Both arcade and ranking mode are then split into two categories Normal and Extreme. Normal starts you off on an easier stage 1 and as you progress it lets you decide which route to take, either an easier or harder one, based on how well you do. Do well and you can pick the harder stage but if you do poor then you are forced to take the easy stage.
Extreme consists of 5 hard stages. You follow a set path and cannot pick different stages. As you would guess, the stages get harder and harder allowing for a much more difficult space invaders experience.
For offline ranking, both arcade and ranking are tracked for both normal and extreme modes. Online ranking consists only of Ranking mode. More on that in the multiplayer section.
Gameplay in Space Invaders Extreme is simple. You can move left to right at the bottom of the screen and you shoot with either A or B.
The thing that is different in terms of gameplay from the original space invaders is that there are several colors of ships, several ship shapes, several special ships, etc. If you kill 4 of the same color of ship in a row then you get a power up. Powerups range from a huge laser that blasts things, a spread shot, a bomb shot, a shield, etc. The more ships you kill also increases your "level" which makes your shot both stronger and bigger. A higher level also makes the powerup you have stronger, e.g. a level 1 blue-powerup is a lot thinner than a level 10 blue-powerup.
Another new addition is the Round feature. If you kill 4 colors in a row then kill 4 different colors in a row then a flashing colored UFO flies overhead. Destroy it and you get a brief bonus stage. This stage varies from killing a lot of enemies, certain enemies, formations, getting items, etc. in a time limit. If you succeed you enter "fever" mode in which your ship is temporarily boosted to Level 10 and given a power up to destroy the invaders. It's quite a fun addition to the game.
The graphics in Space Invaders Extreme is that of a very vibrant game. It uses simple colors and shapes that hold true to the original game. The invaders and your cannon use the same graphic that was used in the 1978 Arcade classic and it works well. The background is a trippy kind of graphic that changes a lot and can be distracting at times but can also be turned off in the options.
The audio of this game is pretty unique. Instead of having the classic shooting sounds they have replaced it with sounds that work with the game's music track. When you shoot you get a tune that goes with the song. When you kill invaders you get more tunes. It really adds to the gameplay in my opinion.
The multiplayer aspect of this game is great, it's basically who can live the longest. It can be played both offline and online via wi-fi. You are on the bottom screen while you watch your opponent on the top screen. You both have the same waves of enemies to get through and as you clear one wave another appears. While killing invaders you have a gauge on the top screen which fills. If you kill a UFO as it passes (they pass very often) then any of the invaders in that gauge will be sent to your opponent. They can do the same to you.
The online version of this consists of a ranking system that starts you off at 5,000 rating and increases or decreases as you win or lose. Only wins are tracked and shown in your rating window. Rating will determine who you face. You can battle players from all over the world as well. The game also supports friend codes.
As mentioned earlier, your high score from the Ranking Mode will be uploaded to the leaderboards and compared to those of other people. The game only shows the top 10 players worldwide but will also display your score underneath that along with your rank, for example I am ranked about 150ish in Extreme mode for ranking.
I was worried at first that they would only show top 10 and not give you an idea of where you were but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I can see my rank. The game makers also seem dedicated to making sure no cheaters stay on top for long. When I first started playing I looked at the scores and saw a score of "14,065,500,000" as first place with the 2nd place person being only "9,744,000". Within a few hours this bogus score was removed and now all scores appear to be legit. I hope this trend keeps up as I would like to have a chance to appear on the top 10 someday.
Final Verdict:
If you like shmups, classic gaming, or are just a fan of quick and fun to play games then this game is for you. I bought this game on a whim and am glad I did. It is one of the most addicting games I have ever played. The hours seem to just fly by. At only a $20 price tag, you should pick this game up, no questions asked.
A new classic derived from an old favorite. June 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Intense action. Great psychedelic graphics. Fun gameplay. Each run through feels different via all of the different random options, powerups and levels. There is a good bit of strategy required to max out the scores as you blast the aliens. Great fun. A new classic and a must buy for anyone who is familiar with the original.
Brilliant riff on old classic. June 19, 2008
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
To understand how brilliant this game is, one should look back a the original phenom and other, less successful attempts to revive it.
The old: 1978's Space Invaders took the world by storm. In Japan, this popular game caused a shortage of the 100yen coins needed to play a game. In the USA, it munched similar amounts of quarters. The simple gameplay appealed to all types of people in the then-new arena of video games. Two years later, Atari licensed the arcade game for release at home, and the box proudly trumpeted "112 VIDEO GAMES"! These were all slight variations on the theme, with moving bases, invisible invaders, co-op play, fat players, and other small tweaks. Neat!
The others: Space Invaders was brilliant thirty years ago. The "thump thump thump" sounds of the invaders, and their iconic look are known by almost everyone, but the old game is slow and tedious. As much as I want to love it now, it's just too crusty and dusty -- and younger people will certainly turn up their nose at the limited options for fun. I feel that I could get a high score on the old game but I usually quit before losing, as it's a chore to play. The game has been trotted out in "old faithful" and "reimagined" formats for just about every system available, but they all have suffered the same problems as the original: the turgid, formal, repetitive gameplay just didn't age well, and most designers felt that giving the game more flair would dilute the original feel, making it more like Galaga than Space Invaders.
The now: SPACE INVADERS EXTREME reboots the whole concept. If you look at the screenshots, it looks like more of the same: You're still a little shooter at the bottom of the screen, and the invaders are still coming down at you, firing missiles at you and your protective bunkers.
thump
thump
thump
Yawn.
But wait! There's also an "interactive" synth soundtrack that moves everything along like a dance club. The invaders aren't shambling zombies anymore, they're FAST, and so are you. You can grab powerups like lasers that can clear out a whole column (or more!) of baddies with one shot. There are spread shots that can nuke entire rows. The enemy's formations change, sometimes you get big invaders, sometimes they have shields, sometimes they blow up all their neighbors when hit. The once-rare UFOs are now plentiful. The old vanilla 4-digit scoring has been replaced by a dynamic, pinball-style multiplier system with lots of pyrotechnics to match. Every 30 seconds or so, the game changes everything up so you aren't looking at the same phosphor-burn grid for minutes at a time.
Regular, bonus, and "boss" levels cleverly steal from other shooter games like Galaga, Attack of the Timelord (leave a comment for me if you know this cool game!), Gyruss Centipede, Gorf, Megamania, Phoenix, and others. Yes, "boss" levels are in here, where you have some biggies that take multiple shots to destroy. With the lights and music blaring away, these battles are not the tedious grind of old. The game remembers your last completed level, so you can always feel like you're making "progress," not just chasing the pure abstraction of a high score. There are worldwide online leaderboards for comparing your skills with others, too.
The game is also dead-easy to get into, just like the original. Just point and shoot. If you're really hardcore, you can import the Taito Arkanoid spinner to control this game, but left-right-shoot buttons are really more "pure."
To sum up:
Space Invaders classic concept;
Dazzling psychedelic special effects;
Dynamic, "always-on" gameplay that challenges without frustration;
High-score arcade purity with enough progression to make the game feel purposeful;
All for a bargain price.
If you have EVER liked Space Invaders (even if, like me, the thrill is gone), and you have a Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable, you will get many kicks from Space Invaders Extreme.
Import note: the Japanese version of this game is almost identical to the USA release except for a few lines of self-evident explanatory text, but the USA version is cheaper.
Brilliant, One of the best shooters on the DS! June 19, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Wow.
This is Space Invaders? It is, but then again it's not. It's new, hip, challenging, trippy, amazing, but yet it still is very much Space Invaders.
Square-Enix truly has made something old feel amazingly new again. It's respectful of the classic 1978 game, but this is NOT just a rehash or classic rereleased. This high level of quality for a "classic remixed" game is a true rarity, you might find it only a few other places (Pac Man Championship Edition, and New Super Mario Brothers would be 2 good examples).
This is the new definitive version of the game. Forget all the endless rereleases that have come out through the years, this is "the one".
It's still 2d, with movements limited to left-right-shoot. But, there are new stategies. There are new enemies. There are enemies that hide behind other enemies, sometimes many of them. There are no bases like in the traditional Old School Space Invaders.
There's an incredible variety in the types of invaders, and they have various attack patterns and formations. The invader attacks are much harder to avoid, especially without the bases to hide behind.
Some invaders shoot the traditional bombs, others shoot large lasers, others have shields that block against certain types of your attacks, others wear armor so you have to shoot them several times.
There are bonus rounds which vary as well. You might have to shoot UFO's before a timer runs out, or shoot a certain amount of invaders before the timer runs out.If you can beat the bonus round you earn Fever Time, where you can power up for a short time.
Shooting a group of the same colored Invaders can yield bonus points and various power ups, like lasers, bullet spreads, and bombs.
There are Boss Fights. Yes, Boss Fights. In Space Invaders.
There is multiplayer. Local (from one cart), or flawless online. There is a Worldwide Rankings board. (The PSP one only has local multiplayer, the DS one is MUCH better).
The music is based electronic, and based on your gameplay. As you shoot, you make the music. And you will love the music you make. It affect the background as well. Trippy, groovy, and perfect for the game.
There is only one downside to Space Invaders Extreme. No paddle controller for America. In Japan, Taito made a weighted knob peripheral for the DS that plugs into the GBA slot at the bottom. It lets you play with a quick twist of the knob, and gives you a big advantage. SE/Tatio did not make this Paddle Controller available in the states but the game will support the paddle if you able to get one from Amazon Japan or PlayAsia. It also works for new new Arkanoid DS game. A definite purchase if you can.
For 20 bucks you won't find a better shooter than this. Buy this game. Now. If you like Space Invaders 1978, you should see what happens when a classic grows up.
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