Review: Space Invaders Extreme

Rated G for PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS

SPACIES RETURNS: Space Invaders Extreme will give warm fuzzies to old-school gamers, and a fresh challenge for younger players.

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Thirty years after the first invader was blasted, Taito celebrates one of the world's most popular and influential video games in style.

Space Invaders has been masterfully updated for today's handhelds and should entertain newcomers and nostalgic old-timers.

Those iconic invaders are unchanged, as are the controls (just left, right and fire).

But everything else was overhauled to make a fresh, vibrant and hugely entertaining experience; including a dynamic, pumping techno soundtrack in which new beats are added as you hit each invader.

Enemies are colour-coded and shooting like-coloured aliens in succession not only boosts your score but also causes the foes to drop power-up items that provide a shield or enable your cannon to fire lasers, multiple shots or cluster bombs. But you won't have it all your own way: rather than simply marching backwards and forwards, your alien opponents can now dive-bomb and even deflect your shots.

Like the 1978 original, players need to look out for UFOs to bolster their score, especially now that they sometimes also fight back. Shooting special UFOs also triggers timed bonus rounds and frantic,

high-scoring "fever" stages.

Each of the five brief stages in the one-player arcade mode has a boss encounter. It takes less than an hour to breeze through but the replay appeal is strong as you try to better your score.

Head-to-head matches against online rivals are also fun, with players able to make life more difficult for their opponent by using power-ups to create more invaders.

And you can check how your scores compare to the world's best players on the online leaderboards.