In this post, I review Steemit's new RetroGames offering - Space Invasion.

🔰 Introduction

As a child growing up, we were lucky enough to have an Atari 2600 in the house. I'll struggle to remember what games we had beyond Space Invaders and Q-bert although if I see some old skool game screenshots, I'm sure that'd jog my memory.

The reason I mention this is fairly obvious - the game Space Invasion (delivered by a collaboration between @italygame and @time.foundation) resembles this original Atari offering.

Follow this link for a tutorial on how to play and the prizes on offer.

🕹 Gameplay

There are some key differences between Space Invasion and Space Invaders, the most significant of which took some getting used to and significantly changes the game strategy compared to the Atari version.

On the Atari, you wouldn't just shoot the aliens that were lowest on the screen - you'd take out those on the edge. This would give you a lot more time to blast them to bits before they get closer.

Space Invasion doesn't work like that. The aliens get lower, irrespective of how many you've killed - the original block size, remains that block size.

There's also another frustrating element to the game that took me some time to understand. The aliens don't need to reach the row that your ship is on for you to lose a life!

Numerous times whilst playing, I died before any aliens reached the bottom of the screen. The screenshot to the right explains why - as soon as the aliens cross the red line - you're losing lives.

This doesn't make sense to me.

Given that there are only 9 rows available to the aliens (and 1 of those rows kills you), with up to 6 rows and 6 columns of aliens by wave 17, you've got to kill 6 aliens before they've dropped twice. I've timed that at 3 seconds from the point at which you first see an alien on the screen (see Tips later for how to beat this).

👽 The Aliens

Throughout the game, you'll essentially see 3 types of alien.

Green: These take 1 shot to kill
Blue: These require 4 shots
Bosses: These require the number of shots indicated on the screen.

It's fairly simplistic in its format but you're not playing Call of Duty - It's Space Invasion.

So as mentioned above, 3 seconds to drop 2 rows = 1.5 seconds per row.

On average, there are 2 blues per row which gives us a minimum of 8 shots to kill each row at an average speed of 1.5 seconds per row.

Your Space Bar's going to take a pounding.

🎩 Tips and Tricks

1. Start Shooting Early

I said that you've got 3 seconds from the point at which you first see an alien on the screen but you can start killing them before the entire swarm is visible. In fact, this is crucial if you've got any hope of scoring highly.

2. Think about your Laser

I haven't mentioned this weapon yet - it comes in 2 forms, "light" and "heavy". Unlike your standard shot, the laser shoots through the entire column of aliens so if you have a column that's heavy on the blue, it's worth pulverising them with the laser.

To back this up - the temptation is to wipe out the aliens as quickly as you can. Don't! If you've only got 1 alien left and they're fairly high up, keep calm, take your time and let it get close whilst your laser charges up. Which links to...

3. Use your Lives

With each new wave, you get 2 new lives. Since you want to start shooting early, how you take out that last alien is important for how prepared you are for the next wave. If you've got lives to spare, once the last alien gets below the red line (and not down onto your line), waste a life by taking it out with your ship and scatter a stream of shots, already aiming at the next wave.

4. The Bosses are weak

The bosses are easy to beat. You know how many shots are required to kill them so definitely don't waste your laser here. Linked to point 2 above, this is the perfect opportunity to recharge your laser to full power. Take this opportunity.

5. Double Taps

I couldn't think of a good name for this but old skool gamers who played Athletics games will know what I'm thinking. In those old skool games, you'd use 2 fingers, one on each button to make your athlete run. Do this with hitting the space bar - it's much quicker than trying to tap it with one hand.

6. Rest Regularly

Mashing buttons like this is hard work. Rest when the big boss comes. Swap hands (I like to mash the space bar with my dominant hand). And if you're still getting tired, swap windows. Huh? That's right, if the game's not in your visible browser window, it pauses. Have a break. Rest those forearms and come back more focussed.

🔚 Game Over

Since there's a method and strategy to this game which I've essentially solved, I believe that an infinite score is possible if you have the patience to set it. I've set a new Top Score of 5,840 and as a "proof of concept" in anonymous mode, I've smashed that number.

I don't plan to "break the game". I don't plan to take the highest score prize every day because one of 2 things will happen:

1. I'll get banned
2. I'll ruin it for everybody else and kill the initiative.

And I'm incredibly supportive of the work that the team have done so I'm not keen on either option.

If you beat my top score though, I'll be back.

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