Davey Winder
Monday, 30 June 2008 19:58
Your IT -
Entertainment
Page 3 of 4
So, you can throw in new waves of attack using new
weapons. You can add boss invaders into the mix along with multiple
stages to get through. You can play online or head-to-head via a WiFi
link-up. Even the sound effects have been updated to reflect what we
are used to today.
But, and it's as big a but as you will find on
the average opera singer, you are still in control of that laser base
at the bottom of the screen. You are still attacked by wave upon wave
of alien invaders intent on destroying your base.
How those waves appear, level to level, will take most old school
players by pleasant surprise. The formation they take changes each
time, and they come in many different colours. Shoot down four of the
same colour one after the other and you get a weapons upgrade for a
bit. Upgrades like a wider field of fire or even the ultimate laser of
doom for some real heavyweight power.
Go for another four of the same colour and you get to pigeon shoot a
new UFO which takes you to a bonus stage if you are successful.
Complete the bonus stage and move up to the next level. see how the
game play becomes more involving without ever getting too complex?
I like the use of combo-chaining, which modern shoot-em-up gamers will
be very used to, and which works so well in Space Invaders Extreme. The
more kills in a time limit that you can chain, the bigger the bonus
score that you get.
Want even more in the way of bonus scoring? No problem, how about
shooting that gold UFO when it appears in order to throw up a Space
Invaders roulette mini-game. It all works really well, and I'll say it
again, it does not detract from the fact that this really, truly,
honestly is still Space Invaders. The multi player mode is something
that was never even on the radar back in 1978. The Nintendo DS is
perfectly suited to this, with top screen used to display the remote
player progress.
For the final verdict, flip over to the last page...
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