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Commodore Format
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Publisher: The Hit Squad
Machine: Commodore 64/128
Published in Commodore Format #31
Super Space Invaders (The Hit Squad)
I never thought I'd say this, but visiting my Aunty Doris last weekend was one of the best times I've had in ages. Not because the old crone always chubs up my cheeks in the way that only a great aunt can (I wish she'd cut her fingernails, my face'll be scarred for life!), but because she's retired to Weston Super Mud. And ancient seaside towns like Weston always have back street games arcades. Languishing in the corner of one of the dingiest ones was an original Space Invaders machine (coloured film and all) with the original price tag of 10p a go.
I had two goes on it - that's a whole 20p then decided that i was a bit of a waste of money and went to see how Mum and Doris were doing on the bingo (rubbish as it happens!). But that small taste of the past gave me such a craving for the classics that I was over the moon when Super Space Invaders popped through the post on Monday morning. It might not be quite true to the original, but it hasn't lost any of the appeal.
Invaders descend in attack waves on various parts of the planet. Luckily, they're not very intelligent, and have all the strategic intelligence of lobotomised gerbils. Instead of attacking all over the planet at once they send down one attack wave at a time. If you manage to foil their attempt to land on one part of the Earth, they'll try again somewhere else with a little more vehemence. But no matter where they attack you'll be waiting, with your moveable missile turret, to blast them into oblivion.
![Super Space Invaders](/ills_small/c64/domark/tapes/Super-Space-Invaders-002.gif)
The bonus levels are a piece of genius. Bullocks! No, it's true. Flying saucers swoop down from the skies to steel our cattie. The cows screaming and wriggling, will be taken to the aliens home planet and kept as slaves unless you save them. The main differences between this and your bog-standard Space Invaders are that you get some funky power-ups, you progress through levels and there are even end-of-level guardians. Big, rough and tough-to-kill end-of-level guardians.
Fabulous! It may be a fifteen year-old idea but it's been reworked with a lot of style and plenty of pizzazz.
Frame Rate
Stranger and weirder than stompin' around in wellies full of mouldy custard but not quite as spooky as having a fried breakfast at the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe with Tribbles eating banana sandwiches on the next table.