Space Invaders
Game: Space Invaders
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1978
Perhaps the most classic and well known of all arcade games, Space Invaders caused a huge spike in the popularity of arcades and gaming worldwide. While there have been many iterations, clones, sequels and games inspired by the original, there's nothing quite like playing the real thing. The goal of the game is to shoot all of the invaders from the top of the screen before the reach the bottom. Doing so will move the player onto the next level and thus continue the game.
While the games industry does owe an awful lot to the creation and popularity of this particular game, the action gets pretty stale after a short while and there's not enough variation in the game as a whole to keep players interested. It's classic gameplay and design will live on in gaming history, but gameplay-wise this feels like a relic compared to games released even 5 years later.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Phoenix
Game: Phoenix
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1980
Talking of games inspired by Space Invaders, Phoenix is another Taito title that plays similarly. Instead of invaders which head slowly across and down the screen in formation however, there's a range of fast moving and proactively attacking enemies which appear to be different species of birds. Though it's hard to get particularly far in the game owing to its high difficulty, the desire to see what features in later levels sets it above the original Space Invaders.
In terms of graphics, the game looks far better than Space Invaders and is more varied; backgrounds change throughout levels as do enemy types. Musically the game is a little bit more confused with sound effects and music clashing somewhat as the levels progress. For me it's still a little too similar to Space Invaders, and would probably work better as a conventional shoot 'em up, but its a start.
Rating: 64/100
Grade: C
Space Invaders Part II
Whether or not Space Invaders needed a sequel whose gameplay so closely matched the original is debatable, but the popularity of the first game was always going to lead to attempts at making more money from the series. From the outset it appears that Space Invaders Part II is simply the first game, in colour with slightly smoother handling, short cutscenes between levels and a harder difficulty. Other than these factors, not a whole lot has changed.
Any replayability problems that the first game had are still present, and as progression is even more difficult, players are more likely to give up quickly. With less points for nostalgia value and about the same amount to offer, Space Invaders Part II needn't have really existed in hindsight. It doesn't add too much to the collection overall and adds very little to the series as a whole.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Colony 7
Game: Colony 7
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1981
Released a year after Missile Command, Colony 7 features similar gameplay which tasks players with defending a colony at the bottom of the screen, with two guns at the right and left hand sides. As attackers appear at the top of the screen, players must move the aiming reticule and try to stop them before the colony is destroyed, or their own guns are bombed by special attack units.
On the whole the game plays well and isn't that difficult to pick up. There's a choice between the regular fire button and limited shots such as the Megashot and Eradicator which deal damage in a far wider area. Once all of the fighters in a squadron have been shot down, the next wave begins. Play continues until the player's guns have been destroyed three times in total.
Graphically the game is simplistic, but features recognisible landmarks and items from outer space. Sound effects are the only audio accompaniment to gameplay, but as a fast paced shooting game, it doesn't feel as if too much is missing. On the whole this is a simple but fun little Missile Command spin-off.
Rating: 67/100
Grade: C
Electric Yo-yo
Featuring gameplay that seems like a cross between Pac-man and Qix, The Electric Yo-yo tasks players with collecting all of the dots onscreen with a yo-yo which must avoid enemies, and can be powered up by hitting special blocks. Once all of the blocks on-screen have been collected, the next level begins. Players begin with 5 lives and lose a life each time they're hit by an enemy.
Each level features different formations of dots, and progressively more enemies. There are two types of enemy; one which can only move around on the dots that moves fairly slowly, and another which bounces around the area which the dots are not occupying. As well as being able to pick up the first type of enemy and deposit them on the dot it next hits, this second enemy type also turns dots into special dots by hitting them. When collected these special blocks make the player's yo-yo go faster, and invulnerable to the slow enemies for a short time.
With a simplistic look and overall concept, the game's audio is also simply the sound effects of the yo-yo moving around and collecting dots. While common for arcade games of the time, it'd have been nice to have some sort of music behind gameplay. Overall Electric Yo-yo is a little too simple to be an enjoyable puzzle game, and feels more like a mash-up of other arcade titles.
Rating: 52/100
Grade: D
Jungle Hunt
Game: Jungle Hunt
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1982
Jungle Hunt is unusual in terms of early arcade games because it features platforming gameplay presented in what could be called minigame style, in a short but fun quest to rescue a girl from being cooked alive by natives. The player's explorer must first swing across vines to reach a crocodile filled lake which he must swim through before jumping over rocks falling down a hill which leads to where the girl is being held captive. All that remains to be done then is to jump over her captors and untie her by cutting the ropes with a knife. Each game is played using only the A button and the D-pad (in true Warioware style!).
At first things can be a little tricky to get the hang of, but with a little practice the game can be complete in around 3 minutes. This is its only real flaw; such a short runtime means that past the initial excitement and experience there is only repetition. The music and graphics are satisfactory, though both could be better in order to keep players interested past the first playthrough.
Rating: 69/100
Grade: C
Zoo Keeper
Game: Zoo Keeper
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1982
Zoo Keeper begins with a good concept; players control a zookeeper who must keep his animals in captivity by building walls around them, and make sure to jump over any that have escaped from inside the walls he has built. Unfortunately the controls and some other gameplay elements prevent this concept from being a good game. Firstly to move, players use the d-pad in whichever direction they wish to travel, until a corner is reached when the button must be changed to whichever direction they now wish to go. While this sounds fairly reasonable, it feels wrong and overcomplex when the controls could have simply been left to move anticlockwise and right to move clockwise.
Secondly, the game takes place around an invisible rectangle, making it hard to predict the movements of both the animals and the zookeeper. Many times when animals had escaped, I lost a life because I wasn't able to tell that my path was about to coincide with theirs. The last gameplay issue is jumping, as the zookeeper has a very long, but low jump which is enough to jump over animals, but very difficult to judge a landing spot from, creating problems later on in the game with more animal collisions.
There is a section of the game which features more standard platforming, but it seems to have been included only to break up the monotony of the zookeeper levels. With the only objective of the main levels being to wait until time is up, without being hit by any animals, the game quickly becomes too difficult as many animals are set loose at the beginning of the 3rd level and beyond. Overall the game was poorly designed and executed; with a little tweaking and some better ideas it could have been far more enjoyable.
Rating: 36/100
Grade: E
Elevator Action
Game: Elevator Action
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1983
Elevator Action is an innovative blend of run and gun style gameplay with puzzle platforming where players must decend through the floors of a 30 storey skyscraper, collecting secret documents from rooms with red doors on the way down whilst evading or shooting enemy agents. Once the basement is reached, with all of the secret documents in the agent's possession, he speeds away in a car, only to be taken to the next level.
As the game continues, the layout of the buildings become more complex, and there are greater numbers of enemy agents. While it's not difficult to progress through the game, keeping track of where the elevators, enemies and secret documents are can be challenging at times. Players are able to move, shoot and jump, the last of which is helpful for dodging enemy bullets.
Graphically the game is simple, and sprites are recognisible by their colours more than any amount of detail included. The music which accompanies gameplay is also fairly simple, but serves well enough to add an old arcade feel to the game, at the very least. Overall Elevator Action is a great concept for an arcade game, though it's a shame that there wasn't the hardware in 1983 to allow the game to reach its full potential.
Rating: 74/100
Grade: B
Great Swordsman
Game: Great Swordsman
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1984
Great Swordsman allows players to experience the excitement of sword based combat throughout the ages, including fencing, kendo and Roman broadsword fighting. Players control their fighter's movement and have a choice of three different attacks; high, mid and low, none of which do much on their own, but rather act as counters to opponent's attacks and are best used when well timed to score points, fencing style throughout the game.
The levels are set up so that three fencing battles must be cleared before players progress onto the next section. Unfortunately a loss in any round means game over, and starting again from the beginning. Thanks to this, and the relatively high difficulty level across the game which increases in each round, it's particularly difficult to progress.
Graphically the game is pretty poor for having been released in 1984; the fighters just about manage to look like actual people, but the effects and animations are basic at best. The music that accompanies gameplay is ill fitting and does nothing to heighten the experience of the game overall.
On the whole Great Swordsman suffers from controlling poorly, being too niche as a concept, and unbalanced difficulty. With these factors added to the uninspiring visuals and audio, there's really not a lot of gameplay value here.
Rating: 48/100
Grade: D
Game: Return of the Invaders
Console: Arcade
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 1985
Lastly for this part of my review, it's the next sequel to Space Invaders; Return of the Invaders. With upgraded enemies, graphics, and attack patterns, the series is finally given an instalment that's interesting enough to challenge other space based shooters of the time. While the game is still loosely based on the original, with bases to hide behind and some stages featuring the classic formation and attack pattern, there's far more to do in other sections of this game.
From the outset enemies move in more of a circular pattern onscreen, and are more intelligent in their attacks against the player. With a far wider range of enemy types, including some which require precision shooting to kill, players can employ deeper strategies and ideas for progressing to the next level.
Graphically the game is much improved, with interesting backgrounds as well as enemy design. With easily the best musical accompaniment so far in the collection; a sort of spacey electronic sounding track, the game looks and sounds good. While the improved AI shooting makes it a little harder to progress, it's far better to be outwitted by than the simple increase in speed of the original Space Invaders. Overall while Return of the Invaders still shares a lot of similar features with its predecessors, some original thoughts are in there which improve the game considerably.
Rating: 65/100
Grade: C
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