Sweet Revenge Broken Into Chunks – Space Invaders Get Even Reviewed

Downloadable content is quickly becoming a staple in gaming.
Not only is it doing a great job of filling gaps between big budget
releases but often it makes those big budget releases even better
with additional content or fixes. On occasion, DLC games even
outshine their current retail game contenders. It’s doubtful that
retail game sales will disappear soon, but it may only be a matter of
time until most games go downloadable. The ease of putting a game up
for download means better games for less coin, which also gives
smaller budget developers a chance to shine. With DLC, game companies
also seem much more willing to take chances, such as reviving old
games or series, as we continue to see with games like Space Invaders
Get Even.

Space Invaders Get Even is yet another
game that attempts to pump nostalgia into new gameplay. Fortunately,
yet again, it works. It’s 30 years after the original attack of the
Space Invaders. This time you control one of the infamous UFOs, as
seen in the original Space Invaders, surrounded by a swarm of
colorful 2D invaders. The gameplay in SIGE is best described as
an arena shmup (like Geometry Wars) combined with simplified,
high-speed strategy elements.

The Wii remote controls an
in-game reticule that allows you to send invaders out to attack that
area, returning soon after. You have five attack types to choose from
at any time, which changes how the invaders will attack. This delayed
return means you have to watch your accuracy as well as what attack
types you use much more than the average arena shmup. Taking damage
can even drop your dispatchable invader count from it’s initial count
and maximum of 100. Luckily, waggling the nunchuck and remote can
summon more invaders but you must be stationary and not taking
damage. It’s also possible to switch into a mode allowing quick
movement but no attacking. If all else fails, you can summon a
gigantic UFO to do a large amount of damage to everything on screen
but usage of this is limited. Adding to the desperation of your
invasion, UFOs can only stay in Earth’s atmosphere for a limited
period of time though your time limit can be increased by destroying
anything on Earth.

The level design is challenging and varied
and, despite being spread across a few mission packs, seems to get
progressively harder. Each area of each stage has different
objectives such as ‘free this many invaders’ or ‘destroy these units’
and so on. You’ll be up against all kinds of humanity’s wild land,
air and sea units as well as some huge bosses. Oh, and you can abduct
the occasional cow for extra points. Yes, cow abduction simulation
is confirmed.

The graphics are very well done with a
combination of shiny futuristic modern shmup graphics design with
retro 2D arcade inspiration blended in. There’s even a bit of B movie
inspiration in the UFO’s sleek 50s design and the game’s excellent
yet amusing voice acting. The game has an excellent spoken intro with
a voice that sounds a lot like G-Man from Half-Life but more
sinister. During gameplay, you can hear the humans’ radio chatter,
much of it being quite comical as they seem to think they’re facing
the same kind of threat they faced 30 years ago (in the original
game).

For the most part, SIGE is a lot of fun but I do
have some complaints, mostly small. The controls work fine but having
one button to cycle through 5 attack types is a bit too simplistic. A
button to go back to the previous attack type would help a lot. Also,
the reticule is a bit too large and makes it a little trickier to aim
precisely. That said, this game works best on the Wii since the Wii
remote reticule allows you to aim at specific points, not just in a
certain direction like a twin-stick arena shmup.

The scoring system
in SIGE allows for a lot of improvement on your highscores but
it annoys me a little that the game gives you no notice when beating
a previous highscore. During the game your current highscore isn’t
displayed either. So you have to actively take note of what your
current highscore before you try to beat it. It’s a small problem but
hardcore shmup fans will find it a bit annoying. Using ships other
than the main UFO (see below) appears to disable highscores as well
and while this is acceptable, the game never warns you.

Lastly,
my biggest complaint is the pricing. The game plus 1 stage (3 areas,
the 3rd being a boss battle) is 500 points ($5 USD). It ends up
feeling like a demo that you paid $5 for. That said, there are 3
mission packs available for 500 points each. Each pack comes with 2
stages (3 areas in each) and a new ship to replace the UFO (for
example one of the ships is the Silver Hawk from Darius). Once I
shelled out the whole 2000 points for everything I felt like I got a
lot of content for my money, but I think the initial download should
have been a free demo with the extra mission packs being about 650
points each. The whole package is arguably worth even more than $20
but people are still warming up to some DLC games actually being
better than some more expensive retail games.

Overall, Space
Invaders Get Even is a great game that takes a little more
getting used to than Geometry Wars. Fortunately, it rewards your time
with a different, slightly more strategic experience. It bends the
shmup genre just enough to please a hardcore shmup fan like me, while
also appealing to my love for innovative gameplay.