"A great but inaccurate port."

What can be said about Space Invaders? The real question is, what hasn't been said about Space Invaders? If you grew up in the 1970s and 80's, you have definitely heard of this game and if you haven't, then you would not have the technology to look at this web page . We all know that the objective is to destroy all aliens before they reach the planet, we all know that you have a limited amount of shielding, and we all know that that last alien guy to survive is going to be ridin' so fast, our heads will spin. Atari 8-bit follows most of these Space Invader guidelines, but also has a few quirks all it's own.

Gameplay is as Space Invaders gameplay always is (say that ten times fast.) You are a tiny triangle located at the bottom of the screen. Upon pressing start, the aliens randomly materialize out of nowhere....... wait. One of the first things you should notice is that the aliens no longer randomly materialize at all, but come out of the blockiest looking spaceship my poor eyes have ever seen. Anyway, out they come, charging from the spaceship in droves until the screen is full of 'em. Your mission is to destroy every last one of them before they meander their way down the the surface of whatever desolate planet you are protecting. Another thing you should have noticed in all this excitement is the lack of shield. In previous versions of Space Invaders, you were given a limited amount of shielding to duck behind when the going got tough. Not so in this version. You will have to rely on your own agility to stop those alien jerks from reaching you.

After awhile of button mashing, there will most likely be less aliens on your screen. Get enough, and they will begin to move even faster towards the home planet. Finally, with one alien left, you struggle to keep up as the ship comes charging toward you at a dangerous speed. With some skill, coordination, and luck you manage to hit him and destroy the alien race. Now now, don't get too excited, for you may notice that that the ugly green ship on the side is slowly moving downward. It gets about one aliens width down, and the manifestation begins all over again. Destroy the fleet enough times, and the ship will reach the surface. At this point, if you blink, the game is over, because the aliens cannot even make one round before they hit the surface. So, the basic same old, same old in the gameplay department, with a few trickles of independence from the original game.

Graphically speaking, this game was eye candy. Several colors filled each screen with action and (towards the end) there is even a cut scene! The only thing keeping the graphics from perfecion is that huge ugly mother ship taking up one sixth of the screen on the left side. Had this ship been tuned up a little, the graphics would have been anything that could be expected from the 8-bit computer, and more.

Sound was accurate, but nothing to praise. Everything just sounded in place and.... that's it, which is all that was really looked for in early games such as this one. Slightly impressive is the constant marching sound which played throughout the aliens invasion. Faster and faster it would get until your heart was racing as fast as the aliens were pacing. Got a little carried away there. Yeah, so the sound was accurate.

Controls were controls. Not much to be said here. Things moved and shot when you told them to.

If approached with the opportunity, but this game, but don't go out of your way. It was great and all, but with so many Space Invaders clones out there, it's not worth being hunted down. Still, it's unique spin will keep you busy for a little while longer with this downright classic game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/07