Space Invaders - Virtual Collection Review by: MechaMento - 8.7/10
A Classic in 3DSpace Invaders (Virtual Boy)Now vizzed is great website known for it's huge spread of retro games. Not long ago 3 very rare consoles were added the Retro Game Room (RGR), one of them being the long lost Virtual Boy. Nintendo throughout the years have been very ambitious, for instance they were the first company to use a motion sensor controller (wii). In 1995 they had created the Virtual Boy, the console would play games in 3D though glasses were required. Eventually the console disappeared from gaming history to a point that not many people had forgotten it or never knew.
Since the console made it's debut vizzed I had played most of the games, some of them were not so good like Virtual Fishing and others were great like Wario Land and Super Mario Tennis. However there is one game that dominates the rest, puts nintendo to shame. That title Being Space Invaders.
3D Mode (3D Remake)The Game
select screen consists of 3 game modes, Classic 2D mode, 3D mode and Challenge mode.
Selecting 3D mode will take you to into a remade version of Space Invaders.
The first thing you will notice is the fact that game is not in it's classic camera angle. 3D mode gives you a visual almost as if you were looking up at the turret you play as. A blocks are smooth and 3D, you can easily imagine how great it would appear in actual 3D.
To your benefit the battle ground is much wider than the original, so large you have an extra shield to hide behind. As great as it sounds Nintendo are not going to make life that easy for you. A wider course means there is more space for more invaders!!
Difficulty wise, the game mode is generally easy. Though small mistakes like hitting your own shield can ruin your chances of success. The levels are most probably endless, every time the invaders get faster. Having only reached level 2, this game mode is not easy.
I also noticed the fire rate being very slow and that made the game hard since you had to almost always be accurate. However I have played a Space Invaders game where you can constantly spam the fire button.
The sound is the same 8-bit sound effects you would normally here in any space invaders game. It is nice the developers kept the game with that same arcade feel and environment. Though I love the sounds I only gave Space Invaders 4 out of 10 since keeping the original sounds was rather lazy for a remake.
Classic 2D Mode
This is when the retro fans begin to crave the port. Even though nothing at all has changed from the original (apart from maybe the fire rate but I am still not sure on that one) fans will still play this mode for hours on end! Not only that but Classic 2D Mode contains Space Invaders Part II, though respectively that is the same thing.
The hit has made a giant influence on the gaming industry so I may as well talk about it since it is a mode in the port.
The game moves at a fast pace with it's slick graphics (This is comparing to other retro arcade games) and engaging sound effects will have the player hooked for hours on end. The endless levels test you and test you until you break into frustration or you thumbs lose the will to play video games, which in my opinion makes a good arcade game.
Space Invaders will make you come back when someone beats your high score, or if you have the odd coin in your pocket or maybe you just want some more space invading!
Overall
The game goes into a reasonable amount of depth by having the original and a remake in the same game. Also there are extra ways to play the games like Space Invaders Part II and Time Attack mode. However Space Invaders is just Space Invaders, you can not really get any more out of it other than shoot those strange aliens.
I would recommend this game for fans of the original version or those who just like to compete for high scores. It is a good play and it is only up for 10 viz so it is also a really good deal!
This has been MechaMento reviewing Space Invaders for the Virtual Boy. Be sure to rate or reply to tell me how I did and how I can improve for my next review. Also I would quite like some suggestions for what I should review next time around.
~ Peace :)
Graphics
8 Sound
4 Addictive
9 Depth
3 Difficulty
6