- Release Date: 1980
- Genre: Shooter
- Style: Fixed Screen Shooter
- Similar Games: Asteroids Deluxe (Arcade), Galaga (Arcade), Galaga (Commodore 64/128), Galaxian (Commodore 64/128), Gorf (Arcade), Gorf (Commodore 64/128), Invader's Revenge (Arcade), Space Invaders (Arcade), Asteroids (Game Boy), Arcade Classic No. 3: Galaga/Galaxian (Game Boy), Space Invaders (Game Boy), Space Invaders (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Asteroids (Atari Video Computer System), Asteroids (Atari 7800), Galaxian (Atari Video Computer System), Space Invaders (Atari Video Computer System), GORF (Atari Video Computer System), Galaga (Nintendo Entertainment System), Galaga 3 (Arcade), Galaxian (Arcade), Gaplus (Arcade), Asteroids (PlayStation), Asteroids (IBM PC Compatible), Space Invaders (Nintendo Entertainment System), Galaxian (Nintendo Entertainment System), Galaxian (ColecoVision), GORF (ColecoVision), Asteroids (Arcade), Space Invaders (Atari 5200), Galaxian (Atari 5200), Galaga (Atari 7800), Asteroids (Game Boy Color), Gaplus (Commodore 64/128), Space Invaders (Nintendo 64), Space Invaders (Game Boy Color), Space Invaders (PlayStation), Space Invaders (IBM PC Compatible), GORF (Atari 5200), Galaga: Destination Earth (PlayStation)
Game Description
Astro Invader is a 1980 space shooter from Stern Electronics, the same folks who developed classic arcade shooters like Berzerk and Frenzy. In this one, you pilot a ship capable of side-to-side movement while under attack from a hostile group of aliens. A mother ship drops 200 alien ships into ten columns at the top of the screen. A column is at its capacity when clogged with four alien ships. Therefore, any additional aliens dropped into that column forces the bottom ship to hurl toward earth. Use a laser cannon to destroy these alien ships before they hit the ground, or, at the very least, get far enough away from their impact point to avoid their explosion. Occasionally, large ships will drop from the right, left, or center of the screen, so be sure to shoot these larger ships before they hit the ground or they destroy your ship. Once you have destroyed (or evaded) all 200 alien ships, the mother ship returns with 200 more aliens and the game's speed increases. Players get three ships to begin and when all three are destroyed, the game is over. Astro Invader features a three-color layout: red at the top, white in the middle, and green on the bottom. Two players can play Astro Invader in alternating turns.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
A glut of space shooters hit the market in the tide of Space Invaders' success, and Astro Invader was one of them.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Astro Invader, a slight revamping of the arcade classic Space Invaders, features enough similar premise and graphics to make Astro Invader a clone of the original space shooter, even if it does have some of its own features.The developers at Stern made limited use of color in Astro Invader, which, like many early arcade games, uses bands of green and red to give the illusion that gamers aren't playing with black and white graphics. The graphics themselves are decent for 1980, but are the same boxy shapes that fill the screen in games like Space Invaders. The developers apparently spent most of their time designing the mother ship featuring the company name since it's the only graphic in the game with any real detail or originality. Sound in Astro Invader is typical for its day with scratchy effects, and music that is a repetitive hum of some vaguely familiar tune.
As to the meat of the game, Astro Invader is only somewhat enjoyable. Its twists on the space shooter genre are good experiments, but don't take space shooters to a higher level. For example, you don't have to destroy all of the aliens to advance to the next battle. If you simply avoid them, you can continue to advance. Your point total may be low, but points are secondary to actual advancement in a game. To me, allowing the alien ships to plop on the ground simply to advance is almost like cheating. Still, you may be lulled into doing just that, because shooting the aliens is a lot harder than letting them commit suicide. Sure, the larger ships that occasionally float to the ground give you some reason to move, because they will destroy your ship no matter where they land. If it weren't for these guys, there would be no reason to move at all.
And the sheer volume of aliens concerns me. Two hundred of these things come at you without a break. It seems like too much to me. You may need an occasional break to breathe and rest your trigger finger but you don't get one in Astro Invader. So, while Astro Invader is a decent shooter that tried to cash in on the Space Invaders craze, it doesn't work as well as the aforementioned classic. But, it still might be worth a play.
~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
Hit or miss, depending on your love of shooters.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
Limited use of color, but on par with other 1980 releases.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
Again, no new ground covered.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
Fairly weak because this game can become quite tedious.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
Decent documentation, but demo screens could have offered a lot more help.~ Anthony Baize, All Game Guide
