Space Invaders Extreme

There isn’t much else to say about Space Invaders Extreme, except playing it is a whole lot of simple fun, and will trigger your nostalgia greatly. It takes a formula that worked in the 1980s and added just enough spice to give today’s gamers a thrill. At $19.99, it may be a little expensive to some who have never heard of the series (or played it on previous last gen platforms). If you haven’t, I highly recommend playing the original game, then once you are accustomed, jump into Extreme with both feet and have a blast. For those who love the series already, this is a no brainer. Space Invaders Extreme is a must own for your Steam library!

The story with Space Invaders Extreme is that it's brutal and unforgiving, but not in an immediately obvious manner. It's not like those danmaku shmups, where ships have to make pixel perfect dodges through seas of neon pink death. All of the challenge is in the complex and very exact scoring system. The infectious grooves and charming graphics could almost be considered a smokescreen, for all of the challenge and frustration that can be found within. Still, there aren't serious problems that could affect the player's chances of success. This puzzle-shooter is finely tuned and superbly designed. The perfect controls also ensure that it's only the player's fault if a run fails. All in all, Space Invaders Extreme is an experience as wonderful as it difficult.

Space Invaders had slipped off the gaming radar when Extreme revived the series and a decade later it’s still a great shooter that deserves to be pulled from the resting grounds of old hardware onto something more accessible. On the surface it’s a flashy crowd-pleaser, but underneath there’s a good amount of room for skilled play to pay off in high scores. Whether you choose to play for the light show or a spot on the leaderboard is personal choice, but neither option is a bad one and both offer plenty of high-energy shooting action. It’s great to have Space Invaders Extreme back, dancing away on a modern platform, and maybe if it does OK for itself we could get Infinity Gene as well. There’s always hope.

If the price were a bit cheaper, or if even online multiplayer were included, I’d readily recommend this port without a problem. As it stands, while Space Invaders Extreme on PC is solid and certainly looks and sounds the best out of any available version, the lack of such an awesome mode just sours my opinion on it.

An awesome way to re-visit the original experience but keeping in mind that this is a game actually appeared 10 years ago... with some interesting add-ons.