iPhone App: Space Invaders
= 3 stars
The seventies arcade classic comes to the iPhone.
The Good
- Essentially the same game as us oldsters remember it. Move left and right, shoot missiles at steadily downward marching aliens, hide behind the bunkers, and die.
- Knowing the game itself wouldn’t be enough, Taito has added a fair amount of amusing extras: several screen sizes, different color modes resembling the original overlays, cabinet art, different controls, and some art from the game’s original development.
The Bad
- Despite all the extras, the price feels rather steep at $4.99.
- The touch screen can’t simulate the leaf-switch joystick of the original. No match for MAME and an X-Arcade stick.
- Younger gamers with no nostalgic attachment to the original shouldn’t bother.
Conclusion
Despite my nostalgic love for the original, Invaders is expensive for what it is — 99 cents would be a fairer price.
iTunes App Store Link: 
Wow — this is interesting. My feelings of nostalgia are rising to the fore remembering the many lazy but tense hours spent playing Space Invaders for 25c a go during my university years in the US. Of becoming proficient at knowing when the bonus flying saucers would meander across the top of the screen whilst making a repetitive low booming sound and then being able to hit it despite the unusual trajectory of the missiles. Yet another reason for me to consider making the move to the iPod — so far resolutely resisted!
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