As you progress, the stages get more complicated. The enemies change from classic Space Invaders aliens to complicated battleships. Minibosses appear more frequently. The backgrounds become more vibrant and colorful, and the music becomes more complicated. It begins and ends with a minimalist graphical style, but the simple (or non-existent) textures and trippy backgrounds create a uniquely modern version of a retro style. The graphics evolve so much that, by the end, the camera occasionally switches to an alternate viewpoint from behind your ship, as opposed to above it. (The graphics become 3D, but the gameplay stays 2D. You can move forwards and backwards and from side to side, but not up and down. The action is still stuck on a 2D plane.)Your ship can evolve, too. You start off with the classic Space Invaders ship, which can only move from side to side. You quickly unlock new abilities, such as the ability to move in any direction and phase through enemy fire after firing your own shots. Of course, you also unlock new ships (which the game simply refers to as new weapons). These are great. Each weapon feels completely unique. There’s the standard Space Invaders ship that fires normal shots straight up, there’s a ship that fires a homing laser, a ship that generates a circular field around itself and fires at everything inside of it, and more.

My personal favorite is the Wave weapon, which fires a horizontal line that gets longer the farther it moves from your ship — great for clearing out large groups of enemies. That’s important, considering that the enemies never stop coming. They are relentless, and it’s wonderful. It’s not uncommon to come up against a sea of weak enemies that you literally need to blast a path through to avoid death. There’s a chain counter that keeps track of how many enemies you’ve killed in a row, and breaking 1,000 is pretty common. You can also “evolve” a bunch of extras. I don’t know how one “evolves” a sound test song or a bonus level, but I’m not complaining. (Bonus levels are essentially regular levels that don’t fit in the main campaign.)

The stage evolutions are basically confined to the Normal mode, but there are two other modes which can be played to further evolve your ship. The Challenge mode is a series of 99 randomly generated stages. I don’t like randomly generated stages in most games because I’m old fashioned and prefer my levels actually be designed, but it works in this type of game.

My favorite mode is the Music mode. Music mode takes the songs stored on your hard drive and makes levels out of them. It doesn’t work quite like Audiosurf, though. Curiously, slower songs produce more frantic and difficult stages. When I tried a stage based on the Pictobits theme song, I didn’t make it past the intro. Faster songs are a bit easier but also more fun. Especially high energy chip tunes. Those are fun, and they fit the retro style of the game perfectly.I can’t recommend Space Invaders Infinity Gene enough. It’s one of the best games on the PlayStation Network, and one of those games that, like Super Mario Galaxy, reminds me why I play video games in the first place. It’s just pure, nonstop shmup fun that isn’t afraid to tug at your nostalgia strings, but has the gameplay to back up the contemporary-yet-retro style. Pick this one up, or at least try the demo. You won’t regret it.

The Tanooki Rating: 9.5

Related Posts

• 
  Space Invaders Infinity Gene landing next week on XBLA/PSN
• 
  Space Invaders Infinity Gene launch trailer decends
• Switching sides: Space Invaders Get Even

The next title in the insanely long-running arcade classic Space Invaders series is upon us. Space Invaders Infinity Gene is set to invade consoles next week, when the game releases on the PlayStation Network on 9/14, and Xbox Live Arcade a day later.

Originally released as a mobile game to mark of the 30th anniversary of the franchise, Infinity Gene shakes up the once familiar gameplay elements you know and love, and adds role-playing to the mix. With a real-time rankings system, simplistic monochromatic 3D environments and an addictive musical selection, you’ll enjoy a fresh take on a beloved shooter classic.

Take a gander at some fresh screenshots of the game, coming your way in a few days.

SquareEnix

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

Related Posts

• 
  Space Invaders Infinity Gene launch trailer decends
• 
  Space Invaders Infinity Gene (PS3) – Review
• Switching sides: Space Invaders Get Even

At $4.50 per double sided sheet, this Space Invaders gift wrap is a gift in and of itself. It should come with a card that says “This is it, that’s all you’re getting”. I mean, $4.50, geez. That’s more than I spend on my own mom.

WhimsyPress
via Geeksugar

Related Posts

• Space Invaders styled guitar strap
• Space Invaders! They’re real! (and other Threadless tees)
• 
  Space Invaders Infinity Gene landing next week on XBLA/PSN

It only takes about five second of browsing on Threadless before getting a serious case of the I Wants. If you haven’t had the pleasure, you should take a look at the (cheap!) shirts they have to offer. Their unique, user-submitted and user-voted designs are often the most fresh and innovative on the Web. Take the above T for example. “Real” space ships casting Space Invaders shadows? Its the type of stuff that makes me worry that with all the awesome ideas snapped up, there’ll be nothing left for my own brilliance someday. Its almost depressing.

Check out the gallery below for more awesome video game themed T-shirts from Threadless.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Threadless
via Geekologie

Related Posts

• Mario shirt from Threadless
• 
  Threadless’ $9 tee sale is a perfect 10
• Tanooki shirt on Threadless