As you all know, we here at G3 pride ourselves in caring for our community. We allow them to submit reviews, news, and editorials, and who knows, maybe they’ll end up on the site. Murgatroyd7, a member of our forums, submitted a review of xbla title Space Invaders Extreme, and so we bring it to you here. And remember, just pm a staff member if you would like to have a piece of your own featured on our home page!For its 30th birthday, an old classic goes Extreme on Xbox Live Arcade with this latest remake. If you’re like me, you’re probably sick of all of these old games being remade and either offering nothing new or not being all that fun. Thankfully, Space Invaders Extreme is a rare exception. It gives a deep breath of fresh air to a game that many thought couldn’t get better. If you’re a veteran like me who’s been playing the game since the days of Atari 2600, you know the drill: shoot a bunch of invading aliens as they drop, increase speed, and change position. Doesn’t sound like much, but we sure loved it. Now, let’s take that original idea and amp it up a bit with pretty backgrounds and catchy tunes. That is only the beginning, of course. Our invader friends now have various characteristics and abilities to challenge you and help you build up new defensive techniques. They’ve also got an array of different formations and styles of manuevering, as well as new (and sometimes frustrating) ways of attacking you and defending themselves. But fret not, as you are given a good variety of weapons and power-ups at your disposal.

You can earn temporary weapon upgrades by collecting power-ups that are dropped after defeating a certain amount of like-colored foes in succession. You can also beat random challenges in the bonus rounds, which will unlock Fever Time, a temporary boost of awesomeness that allows you obliterate waves of space invaders before they even know what’s coming. If that’s not enough, you can also try your luck at the roulette, which may grant you extra lives, bonus points, and more. My favorite feature, however, is the addition of boss battles. Once you have defeated enough waves of invaders, you are greeted with exciting and challenging boss battles. Figuring out a strategy for each boss is relatively easy, but actually executing it may be another story. The game is relatively short with only five stages to play through, but there are alternate stages that can be unlocked by achieving certain ranks.

This game is certainly easier than the original, but I honestly think it is a lot more fun, and even after beating the Arcade mode a couple of times, I still find myself going back for more. And that’s not even where most of the replayability lies. I’ve never been a big fan of multiplayer mode, but for me, this is right up there with Uno for best multiplayer action. That may not sound all that impressive to some of our more hardcore gamers, but I live for the Arcade games and I absolutely loved the multiplayer on Uno, so please just work with me here… Online gameplay is basically broken up into three different modes: Survivor, Score Attack, and Co-Op, all of which allow up to four players. In Survivor mode, you’re pit up against your opponents to see who last the longest against wave after wave of invading aliens. Everyone plays on separate screens (which you can see on the left side of your own screen), but you can interact with your opponents by sending additional invaders for them to attack. The concept is very simple, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you aren’t going to last long. Score Attack has players go through one of the stages from Arcade mode. Everyone plays on the same screen and is fighting against the same foes, but you’re also competing against each other for the highest score. Co-op, as you would imagine, allows you to play through Arcade mode with a couple of buddies. But everyone shares the lives here, so make sure you don’t play with people who are going to let you down.

And if you’re lucky, you may just run into one of the developers online, as they like to play when they have some free time. Last Friday, there was a scheduled play-date with the developers, which was a real treat. They played for a good portion of the day and they were all cool people; it was one of the only times I decided to be social and actually talk via Voice Chat. My favorite part of the day was when I got to spend a couple of hours playing Co-op with designer Glen McKnight and two other fellow Xbox 360 gamers. We never managed to beat the game, but we had a blast playing and discussing various aspects of the game, including techniques I was unaware of. It was one of my more enjoyable gaming experiences. Upcoming DLC has been hinted at, but so far, no promises have been made.

Now, with that said, the Online Multiplayer has two major drawbacks: the lag is horrible and there are only a handful of people who play online. Not being at all involved with the game, I haven’t the slightest idea what accounts for the lag, but Backbone is aware of it and they are hopefully trying to do something about it. The lag certainly doesn’t make the game unplayable, but it is more than just a slight annoyance. It could perhaps be part of the reason why many people aren’t playing the game online. It’s an excellent game with lots of fun to offer, so there is no need for it to meet a demise so soon after its release. Those problems aside, I encourage everyone to download the demo and give it a try. My wife and I played it for only a few minutes before deciding we had to buy it.

Space Invaders Extreme is a great addition to anyone’s Arcade collection and well worth the 800 MS Points. It has its faults, but I have confidence that these will be addressed in the near future. Until then, you can still find me online most nights.

7.5/10