Space Raiders (video game)

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Space Raiders

Developer(s)	Taito Corporation
Publisher(s)	Tommo
Release date(s)	April 19, 2004
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen
Platform(s)	GameCube, PlayStation 2
Media	1 × GameCube Optical Disc, DVD
Input	Game controller

Space Raiders is a 2003 update to the original 1978 Space Invaders arcade game. Re-imagined for the 128-bit home consoles, Space Raiders takes the surface-to-air shooting action of the original title and puts it into a third-person urban street setting on the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 (the latter only in Japan and Europe). This update features detailed opening cinematics of the alien invasion, story and survival modes, boss battles and three playable characters, each with their own backstory.

[edit] Gameplay

The playable characters include Justin (street teen), Ashley (fashion photographer) and Naji (police officer), and while they look different, all three play about the same. From a fixed height behind the character, you will shoot at increasing waves of various aliens as they march down the street toward your position. You can move side-to-side as in the original arcade game, but you also have limited movement both into and away from the screen.

Occasional power-ups become available giving the player temporary access to special weapons. Strategic use of power-ups is required as the variety of aliens and diversity of their attacks will not allow for the straight forward shooting of the original arcade game. Unfortunately, Space Raiders contains only six missions and can be completed in under two hours. A port of the original Space Invaders aracade game is not included either. The game was not well-received by fans or newcomers to the series, and the engine received heavy criticism for it's departure from the original. One reviewer summed up the attitude of the games players by saying, The old game style that they were trying to preserve is so mangled that the only way to find the similarities to the original game is not by looking for them, but looking for where they would be if the game worked the way it was originally meant to.[1]