When I first saw Space Invaders Get Even I fancied the concept. After years of shooting Space Invaders, you take control of them and get revenge on the Earth. I was already sold on Space Invaders Get Even before I found out the game was a remote pointing shoot ‘em up.
The goal in stage 1, area 1 is to blow up five replicas of Tokyo Tower. Tanks and stationary missile towers impede your progress. You can dodge their lasers by moving the UFO with the analog stick and return fire by pointing at a target with the remote and pressing the A button. The UFO shoots Space Invaders in one of five ways.
Straight Laser – deals the least damage, but it has the fastest firing rate and uses the least amount of invaders.
Homing Laser – locks on to a target at the cost of more invaders than the basic laser.
Ground Bomb – a slow firing weapon, great for knocking down a group of buildings.
Spring – a coil of space invaders that bounces between targets and/or buildings.
Drill – utilizes lots of invaders, but sticks to a target and continually damages it.
Like I mentioned before, the Space Invaders are your ammunition. After you fire a laser or launch a drill the disoriented Space Invaders take a moment to return to the mothership before you can use them again. The reload rate prevents players from holding down the A button and clearing the entire screen without any strategy. And almost everything on a map can be shot. Blowing up buildings and tanks adds time to the clock on the top left hand corner of the screen. Getting shot reduces the amount of available invaders and subtracts time from the clock. If you run out of invaders you can shake the remote and nunchuck to make more. If time runs out the game is over and the humans cheer.
Stage 1, area 3 is a boss fight with an armored tank. This was the hardest mission since the tank unleashes a flurry of missiles to either shoot or dodge. However, the camera zooms in too much on the UFO and you can’t get a clear view of the missiles. You have to hold the Z button to activate the UFO’s boosters and fly away fast, but while the boosters are on you can’t shoot.
Here’s my experience with the boss fight…
It’s time to unleash my most powerful attack, a blast from the mothership, and clear all of the missiles on the screen.
Alright, I blew up the tank! Awesome! I can’t wait to see what’s next…
Oh, cool the next stage looks like an ocean level. Hmm… how come there isn’t an option to pick Stage 2? I only see Stage 1 and Shop on the menu. I have to buy the next set of stages already? WHAT?!?!
You can beat Space Invaders Get Even in about fifteen minutes since the base pack only contains three brief areas. Stage pack A, which costs an additional 500 Wii Points ($5), has stages two and three. I haven’t bought these yet, but I probably will. Space Invaders Get Even is fun aside from the short length and disappointing please buy more ending.
Images courtesy of Taito.
