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Titan Attacks (Puppy Games)
I hate to admit it, but I remember when Space Invaders first came out ... Ahh, the good ol' days. Video games were new, exciting and mesmerizing. To me, video games must have created that same sense of awe that television created for my parents and grandparents. Not only were you watching something on TV but you were actually controlling it. Games were simple in design, challenging in play, but always fun. Many other games around at the same time like Galaxian, Galaga and Centipede were precursors to a genre called the "shooter," the "shoot'em up," or more commonly known today as the "shmup."
In the early 80s, minutes would seem like hours, and one dollar would get you 4 quarters which translated to playing any one game 4 times, or all 4 games 1 time. Yes, life was good back then. If you were skilled enough or lucky enough, you too could have your name etched in the electric hall of fame or the blinking epileptic-seizure-inducing glow of the highscore table on one of the arcade machines for all to see. A high score entitled you to bragging rights. You could show off to your friends, rivals, and any passerby for the rest of eternity ... or until someone beat your score ... or the corner store closed ... or the arcade machine was unplugged ... or a fuse was blown... or... well, you get the idea.
Titan Attacks brings back all the great shmup elements from the classic 80s games, the era of origin, and transforms them into a game that is absolute frenetic fun and addictive gameplay, pure and simple! In fact, I will go on the record and say that Titan Attacks is even more fun than all of those old classic titles combined. This game is a retro style shooter on steroids at a body building contest, and the judges agree, it's a winner!
The idea behind a classic shooter such as Titan Attacks is so unbelievably simple that it's crazy someone would even think of remaking the game today. Those aged titles have probably been cloned a thousand times, but Titan Attacks is probably one the most impressive and pleasing remakes out of the bunch.
The story is the same old, same old. Invaders are coming from outer space, it's your job to stop this invasion by shooting them down. That's it. The story is unimportant though and is only there to provide a backdrop. The heart of this game is it's gameplay and Titan Attacks has a lot of heart. The play style is very similar to the classic Space Invaders configuration where your lone ship has to shoot down endless invaders before they reach the earth's surface. Wave after wave, enemy after enemy, the invasion seemingly has no end.
Titan Attacks, however, introduces some new gameplay elements. Enemies are initially slow (in all meanings of the word) to start in the beginning, but with every new wave or level that is completed the invaders become faster, smarter, and more difficult to challenge. They also come in different shapes and sizes. Upon the completion of several levels, players earn a chance at bonus rounds for extra score; and, after completing sets of levels, gamers enter into boss battles where they must shoot down the mothership while avoiding being shot in return.
Luckily, players can combat the increasing strength of the enemy by purchasing shields, upgrades, and smartbombs. Players earn points and cash by destroying the enemy. After every enemy wave, the player has the option of purchasing upgrades such as increased speed, rate of fire, primary gun power and ship attachments that enable a secondary shot to occur and increase the potency of the primary weapon. There are also smartbombs which are one time use items that wipe out all enemies on the screen (which is great when you're in a bit of a pickle). The downside to these bombs is that they don't score any points when they're used. In effect, players must time the use of the bombs wisely if they're aiming for a high score. Shield charges can also be purchased between rounds. Having a shield is great, but getting hit at all during a level or wave makes the point multiplier go back to zero. Every level completed unscathed increases the point multiplier which ultimately leads to a very high score if you're able to avoid being hit long enough. Get a high enough score, and you might see your name in the top 100 online scoreboard.
Titan Attacks is everything our classic titles could ever hope to be and does all of the things that made those games better than any other shooter that has adopted the nostalgic gameplay of the originals. In fact, its features provide an experience that one could only have dreamed of back in the day when classic shooters were born.
Controlling your ship is made easy by using either the mouse and mouse buttons or the keyboard arrow keys, ctrl key, and space bar. These controls can also be configured to some extent.
The graphics are retro-tastic. The entire look and feel of Titan Attacks just oozes a retro quality but is cleverly brought up-to-date with great particle fx and quirky, but charming, glowing neon graphics. There's a similarity when you compare these graphics with those that belong to the games of yester-year but it has a unique style all of its own. If anything, the graphics will put a smile on the faces of older gamers and probably hypnotise the younger audiences as they desparately try to beat one more level.
The sound is also quite original with it's own retro feel. I'm sort of reminded of the classic Atari games, only as if they were remade into a techno soundtrack. Normally, techno music could become annoying in a game situation, but here it just seems right. Every new level just intensifies and the music actually does its part to keep the feeling of an intense action game. The sound fx are along the same lines with sounds that feel like they came from the Atari era but have been re-vamped and re-vitalized.
I only have 2 gripes that have no real baring on playing the game: first, I think there should always be an offline scoreboard to compliment the online scoreboard. Not everyone is skilled enough to get their name up on the online rankings and, because this is a family friendly title, I think people in a household might enjoy simply competing with each other. Second, even though the controls are simple and easy to use, it would have been nice if gamepad or joystick control had been implemented, especially for this type of game.
Regardless, there is a lot of amusement to be had here. Titan Attacks is a formula one racer in a grand prix of classic style space shooters that brings fresh ideas to a simple game design while remaining entertaining, addictive, and most importantly - fun!
Presentation
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A
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Gameplay
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A+
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Graphics
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B+
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Sound
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B
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Innovation
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A+
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Overall Score: A+
August 31, 2007
