The Earth is in danger again. Battle through countless alien hordes using incredible new power-ups and bonus stages to help you defeat the alien bosses with style. It's Space Invaders, but now it's extreme...

Space Invaders Extreme takes the solid old Space Invaders arcade classic and gives it a funkier, more manic lease of life. The end result is a fun, addictive game that will appeal to both fans of the original, as well as a new generation of gamers.

There are three main modes. Arcade Mode is a single-player game consisting of five stages. It's also the only mode in which you can save your progress. Ranking Mode is the same as Arcade Mode but without the ability to save your game. You can, however, save your score on the global rankings. Multiplayer Mode allows you to engage in a two-player game via the Wi-Fi connection or Wireless Communications.

There are also a wider variety of aliens, which makes the game much more challenging. These include aliens that have shields that need to be destroyed; drop weapons for you when they are shot; explode causing damage to the other aliens; fire in different directions when they explode; and ones that turn sideways making them more difficult to hit.

There are also a number of power ups and new weapons that you can use, once captured from the aliens, for a limited period of time. These include lazer, bomb and broad shot. There are also special rounds where you have to shoot a certain amount of ships in a set time, as well as other mini challenges.

To be honest, if this had been released as a single player game only, it would have got old very quickly. Thankfully Square Enix (bless 'em) has packed in plenty of options for wireless multi-card play as well as single-card play (so you can play against a friend even if you don't both have a copy of the game).

While Space Invaders Extreme is enjoyable, I'm still waiting for an intense version of Galaxians! Now that will be a game worth having. It's also a shame there wasn't a version of the old classic Space Invaders game tacked on as an option too.

For £20 this is well worth owning. There's hours of fun to be had and it's certainly a game you'll keep coming back to.

8

Pete Boomer