| Space Raiders | |
|---|---|
North American GameCube cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Taito Corporation |
| Publisher(s) | Taito Corporation, Mastiff, Tommo Inc. |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation 2[1] GameCube[2] |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | 1 × GameCube Optical Disc, CD (PS2) |
Space Raiders, known as Space Invaders: Invasion Day[1] in Europe, is a 2002 update to the original 1978 Space Invaders arcade game from its creators. Re-imagined for the sixth generation 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 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.
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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 arcade game is included and unlocked by a cheat. The game was not well-received by fans or newcomers to the series, and the engine received heavy criticism for its departure from the original.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 50.5%[3] |
| Metacritic | 40 / 100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Nintendo Power | [5] |
| The Laser | C+[5] |
| VGPub | 9.5 / 10[5] |
Space Raiders received generally negative reviews, earning a score of 40 out of 100 from Metacritic.[4] Criticisms included poor graphics, repetitive gameplay and infidelity to Space Invaders.[6] ScrewAttack named it their number one Worst Remake or Reboot in video gaming because of it being virtually unrelated to the actual Space Invaders franchise it was drawing influence from in the first place.[7]
| Book: Space Invaders series | |
| Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print. | |
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