1st January 1992
The original alien invasion may well have been the dumbest attack since Custer last rode a horse, but this time around, the aliens are a little smarter - and a heckuva lot better armed. Stuart Wynne tries to save Earth one last time...
Super Space Invaders
Space Invaders may arouse all the excitement of a Metro 0.1 nowadays, and a remixed version can't be that good can it?
The disk is put into the drive with real trepidation, the 1541 whirs a bit and whammo! Stunning intro sequence which begins with your hurtling through space, credits scrolling by, brill loading screen and then some very impressive parallax scrolling. It's not astonishingly innovative, but it certainly gets your attention and sets a super-slick standard which carries over through the game as a whole.
The Space Invaders essentials are the same as they've ever been. One or two players control guns which can move left/right across the bottom of the screen, trading laser bolts with the descending aliens. The guns can't move forward, unlike Electra's Better Dead Than Alien remix of the Invaders format, but they now have a super-weapon - activated by pressing down on the joystick.
You collect the spanking brand-new hardware by shooting a rotating pyramid which flies across the top of the screen. There's a spectacular smart bomb, four laser beams which bounce around the screen, a hyper laser which knocks out a whole row of aliens and a vertical laser that fires upwards, erasing all the aliens in its way. Other goodies include extra lives, freeze enemy and a collectable which gives you some much-needed bases to hide behind!
Whirligig Xenos
The game is structured in twelve multi-loaded levels, each with its own superlative backdrop - they really are works of art. But there's no time to ogle - the alien attack begins immediately the loading finishes.
There are three Attack Waves in each load, with over a dozen different ways of attacking, from the standard "left/right then descend" march to a swirling, circular "polar" attack.
The alien ships vary substantially and some of them expand when hit! All these ships are shown in a great little booklet which comes with the package, enhancing superlative in-game presentation.
It also contains drawings of the super-monsters or Guardians. There are three of these described in the book, and very mean they look too, but they look even better on screen: superbly drawn, quick moving, brilliantly animated - and very tough!
Getting through to these monsters is a real graphical treat and they compare to any C64 villain we've seen, even those in Turrican.
The only problem is that there's not more of them! When you complete a level you either get one of these monsters to defeat, or the hilarious Cattle Mutilation screen where aliens nip down to carry off cattle! You must defend the moo-moos for loadsa bonus points, but fortunately you can't die on this bonus screen!
Unfortunately both end-level scenes are multi-loaded, which isn't so bad on disk but tape could be a bind. I asked Domark about this and they promised a radical new system using an automatic sort of fast-forwarding, on your datasette! - which should make things a lot quicker.
Invasion Routes
Should all the variety of alien hardware still not be enough for you, hold on to your socks because the new restyled Invaders also offers you a choice of how to progress through the levels. When you begin the game you get to choose which of two loads to begin with, then whenever you complete a level there's a neat whirling around of the map and you're given a limited choice where to go next.
In short, Super Space Invaders is amazing. Space Invaders really has been hit by lightning, becoming not only a hugely playable update of the original, but also one of the slickest C64 games to come along in some time.
A great game in one-player mode and even better in two-player mode, this is simply unmissable. Domark have started 1992 in astonishingly good style!
Verdict
Presentation 90%
Brilliant opening sequence, simultaneous two-player mode and choice of keyboard or joystick help compensate for heavy multi-loading. Radical tape loading system for improved speed.
Graphics 92%
Superlative backdrops, great aliens, brilliant end-level guardians. A real treat for your peepers!
Sound 62%
Okay intro tune, the usual blip-blap effects.
Hookability 92%
C'mon, could there be a game easier to get into?
Lastability 88%
Twelve levels with a choice of routes makes a reasonable challenge, and it's so playable you'll come back, even if you finish it.
Overall 90%
Brilliant!
Screenshots
