POSTED 24/9/10


SPACE INVADERS INFINITY GENE

Square Enix/Taito
PS3/PSN (also on Xbox 360/XBLA, iPhone)

Whilst some were getting down to the beat of the LinnDrum as new wave hit in the late 1970s/early 1980s, others shuffled to a different rhythm – BOMPBOMPBOMPBOMP. It was Space Invaders, and true to its name it made an incursion into pretty much any place that had room for one of the machines that housed it. It was simple, but addictive as fuck and like nothing we’d ever seen before.

Some 32 years on (eep!), Space Invaders has been remixed more times than Prince has donned purple trousers. Infinity Gene started life on the iPhone, but is all the better for the space afforded it on the – perhaps ironically - ‘next gen’ machines.

If you’re after classic kicks you may be miffed, for despite capturing the simplistic graphical essence whilst sprucing it up for more modern sensibilities, other than shooting shit and nabbing bonuses there’s not much of the original left. Instead you’ll get reminders of other past glories such as Galaga, Scramble, Tempest and more, as assorted invaders traditional and otherwise get down to more modern techno ‘choons’. Dey turk er BOMPs!

The further you progress through any of four modes (‘music’ is ace, where you play to tunes stored on your PS3 – we highly recommend Pixies’ ‘Wave of Mutilation’), the more your evolution scale progresses, yielding funky weaponry and level upgrades. Then there are the big bastard bosses…

There are flaws though – response can seem sluggish, wave spawns can be completely unfair and when a game tells us to ‘press any button’ we expect it to bloody well do something when we press any button!

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