Review: Aliens Invade - Plus Video and Giveaway

Overview

Aliens Invade is a Space Invaders clone with some brand new features. At the most basic level it’s Space Invaders where a group of alien ships is above you, and you shoot projectiles at them. Your ship can only move horizontally, and the aliens fire down on you. There are three degradable blocks near the bottom that protect you from the aliens' blasts.

Features

What makes Aliens Invade different is the inclusion of five power-ups. During play when you hit certain ships they drop packages that you can collect. The power-ups are: laser blast, homing missiles, shield, exploding bullets, and rapid fire. Added to the basic gameplay you can now fire a laser blasting rows of aliens. Or you can shoot homing missiles that find the alien ships rather than just shooting straight. You can add a shield to your ship, and even shoot projectiles that explode and hit more alien ships after making contact with the first.

The Good

Aliens Invade provides the timeless Space Invaders gameplay. It also gives you brand new weapons of destruction. The game feels brand new with the ability to use homing missiles or one huge laser blast. It’s so much better with a shield, rapid fire, and exploding bullets. Now you can start destroying the mass of alien ships so much faster. Not only are there new tools to use, but also the aliens are much tougher. The aliens fire missiles and blow up the three blocks covering you much quicker. The gameplay does a good job of reinventing while still keeping the great aspects of the classic. The controls work well with virtual left/right buttons and a fire button.

The Bad

The visuals are just about average, and just a bit better than the 80’s original. The sound effects are about on par with the visuals bringing nothing special. It’s only the sound of the firing from you and the aliens as well as some hovering sounds. There is only a local score board, and since Aliens Invade, just like Space Invaders is exclusively score based this is terrible. Nothing at all is included past playing endless levels, and playing again which is really disappointing.

The Verdict

Aliens Invade brings classic Space Invaders to the iPhone for a $1.99 instead of Taito’s $4.99 asking price. Also included are five new weapons to defeat the Alien Waves. No bells and whistles are included leaving just an endless level arcade game. If you liked the classic Space Invaders, this is worth a look, but also take a look at Taito's other offering Space Invaders: Infinity Gene for a brand new take on the classic game. Aliens Invade is not worth the $1.99 asking price. [gallery link="file" columns="4"] We are giving away three promo codes for Aliens Invade. To enter leave a comment below telling us about our newest reader's rating voting feature within this review. The winners will be chosen randomly at the end of the day (10/6 at 11:59 PM PDT). There are three codes and there will be three separate winners. Download codes are only redeemable through US iTunes accounts. Please remember to include a valid email address so we can contact the winner.

Related articles