Game Review: Space Invaders Invasion Day

Game: Space Invaders: Invasion Day
Console: Playstation 2
Developer: Sammy Studios
Release Date: 5th September 2003

It's been a while since I've played a Simple Series title, but I was curious to pick this game up, as it's part of the most successful D3 Publisher franchise; Earth Defense Force. The best way to describe this game is as a virtually static shoot em up meeting the original space invaders game, which is as impractical as it sounds. Players are locked to the bottom edge of the screen and only able to move left and right, as well as shoot upwards at monsters which continue to spawn until the boss appears.

There are about 10-15 rounds in every level before the boss, each taking between 5 seconds and a minute to clear, depending on the player's use of power-ups. Once the boss appears, it takes in the region of 300-1000 shots to kill, which not only is far too many, but also negates the use of any strategy as most bosses can be beaten by standing still and shooting towards them until they die (as long as you press start to continue every now and then, when your life bar is fully depleted).

There are three characters to choose from, each with their own separate story (completed by playing the same stages), although they aren't well developed or complex enough to warrant making your way through the game 3 times. The story based cutscenes are short and have low quality narrative and plot development; the route I first took amounted to a girl having lost her boyfriend searching for him, told via 1 minute of cutscenes. There's supposed to be a surprising twist at the end of the game, foreshadowed by some of the high score names and menu art, but all it amounts to is that the humans are the real invaders, sending radio waves and signals into space.

Survival mode works in the same way as Story mode, essentially only removing the continues and adding the option of two player play. As it takes around 50-100 continues to complete the entire game (unless you're a master of bullet hell games), there's no way to last very long in survival mode and it seems like a lazy addition.

Graphically the game is fairly poor both in terms of textures and effects; bosses and enemies seem well designed but lacking in terms of how they were actually pulled off in-game. The locations are generally uninteresting, with only 6 to progress through and most of them either in a destroyed city or the alien spaceship. The soundtrack is almost like that of a movie with booming orchestral themes, though they're mostly drowned out by the sounds of gunfire.

Overall this game proves once again that the Simple Series only tends to deliver one dimensional concepts and gameplay, alongside poor visuals and controls. While this attempt at modernising the Space Invaders franchise would hit the mark if they'd attempted to make a 3D action version of the original game, the developer's choice to present the game as if it was a challenger to the Resident Evil throne when it clearly isn't, is almost insulting once you actually start to play the game.

Rating: 33/100
Grade: E