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Space Invaders: Get Even Review for Nintendo Wii

Space Invaders: Get Even Review for Nintendo Wii

This is the year of the Space Invader – or so it seems. All of the stops are being pulled out in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the classic series that pits a lone group of laser cannon-wielding humans against an unstoppable marching swarm of cute pixelated aliens. Earlier this year, the pocket-sized Space Invaders Extreme provided one of the best updated remakes of the arcade game in recent memory. For its WiiWare debut, Taito gives the series’ some special attention and a completely charming overhaul.

Space Invaders: Get Even screenshot

Space Invaders: Get Even is a highly imaginative and very humorous take on the classic. Instead of defending the Earth from destruction as the last bastion of human salvation, you’ll be seeking to further its annihilation by any means necessary. That’s right; this time around you get to play as the aliens. Get Even pits your small extraterrestrial force against not one group of pesky humans but the entire planet. Systematically blasting pockets of civilization completely off the planetary surface and rescuing your captured alien buds proves to be extremely addictive.

The chuckle-worthy cheesiness of the voice-over intro sets the tone perfectly for a great retro-inspired story that plays directly into the simplicity of the original game. The tale recalls the first alien attack on the Earth 30 years ago (see what they did there?), when the invading creatures swarmed the planet. The humans developed the core cannon and were able to obliterate the Space Invaders one-by-one until they were driven off completely. With the aliens gone, the powerful weapon sparked an arms race on the planet which led to war. Three decades later, the aliens have come back to get their revenge.

Space Invaders: Get Even screenshot

Get Even brings entirely new gameplay to the series. Instead of controlling individual aliens directly, you’ll pilot a small UFO capable of launching them out in colorful swarms to strike at human targets in different ways. Once all of your alien swarms have been launched, you’ll have to wait a brief moment until at least one of them returns to your ship before firing another round. You can switch between their attack behaviors on the fly, which is handy in some situations. For example, using the drill attack causes the alien swarm to attack a target repeatedly for a few seconds before returning. Another attack causes them to bounce like a ball, destroying anything they touch. While these neat variations offer different approaches to taking out the human infrastructure and enemy forces, few are quite as effective as the straight-forward blasters when the onscreen chaos builds to a crescendo. The only exception is your special attack, which calls down the mothership to completely obliterate practically everything on the screen – very cool.

With a variety of attack methods at your disposal, your general goal is to blow anything and everything up. Since your space ship can only spend a finite amount of time on the planet, you’re given a time limit for every stage. This can be extended slightly by a few seconds for every building or unit you destroy, so rampant annihilation is highly encouraged. Getting hit reduces your available level of aliens to fire out and also shaves seconds off the clock. There’s slightly more to Get Even than blowing stuff up, though. Each area has its own objective. In some cases you’ll have to destroy certain installations or specific units, while in others you’ll focus on rescuing your captured alien brethren. Exploring the map is a chaotic and cathartic process, since you’ll be constantly seeking new things to destroy to boost your time while dodging incoming fire and pursuing objectives.

Space Invaders: Get Even screenshot

Leveling a city is quite satisfying. However, technological advances have made the humans far more powerful than they were back in the 8-bit days. This makes your task all the more interesting. Along your rampaging path of destruction you’ll face a broad array of resistance. Piddling little tanks, choppers, and mini-turrets are easily dodged or taken out, but massive, building-size battle tanks and armored towers that launch lasers and heat-seeking missiles are far more dangerous. Then there are the hulking boss battles against all manner of mechanized creatures and contraptions.

Space Invaders: Get Even screenshot

The control setup for your default ship allows you to move your UFO in any direction using the Nunchuk’s control stick. Tapping Z gives you a boost of speed and the C button calls down the mothership’s rain of fire. At the same time, you can also fire aliens in any direction by pointing the Wii Remote at the target and hitting the A button. You can easily cycle through the different attacks by pressing B. Generally, the controls work well, but they can sometimes feel sluggish when the battle is raging across the entire screen. It also doesn’t help that the onscreen HUD has large elements that tend to obscure some of the action.

Get Even’s presentation just screams retro, right down to the menu interface. It’s graphically on par with a full-blown retail release, which is a nice surprise. The explosions and visual effects are particularly impressive, and there’s a lot of detail packed into each screen. Though the graphics hold a certain amount of charm, the game’s tongue-in-cheek humor greatly adds to the fun. Among other minor gags, you can have your UFO abduct cows from nearby farms for scientific research (and a time boost), and a short landing amidst the mini Stonehenge located in some levels recharges your energy. Also, near-constant radio chatter throughout each level provides often hilarious banter between human forces as you tear them to bits.

There’s one important thing to note before going into Get Even. While the initial game download is a mere 500 Wii Points, it only contains two areas and a boss battle. To get access to additional areas, you’ll have to shell out 500 additional Wii Points each for three add-on level packs. Each offers a new ship, new objectives, and new levels. Given the amount and quality of the content, $20 isn’t a bad price for all the game has to offer. It’s also cool to be able to buy it in chunks as you go. Once the game gets its hooks into, you’ll probably want to pick up whole thing. Space Invaders: Get Even is a delightful new twist on a classic that mixes addictive gameplay with a lighthearted spirit and plenty of humor to create one of the better WiiWare-only releases we’ve seen in some time. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.0 Graphics
The impressive detail and effects rival full-blown Wii releases. 3.9 Control
Simple and effective Nunchuk and Wii Remote controls make trashing humans joyful. 4.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Cheesy voice work and constant goofy radio shatter are actually a great plus. 4.0

Play Value
Buy the full 2000 Wii Points worth and you’ll have an excellent amount of content to plow through.

4.0 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Space Invaders takes over the Wii, putting players in command of an army of Invaders in the ultimate battle against mankind!
  • Five attack types provide an exhilarating, action-packed experience.
  • Players can put their skills to the test by comparing scores against fans around the globe via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection.
  • Three mission packs will be available as add-on content for 500 Wii Points each, offering a total of seven unique missions when added to the main product.

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