You know I don’t review any AR game on the app store, although it sometimes feels like it. Anyways, I download many games and try them for a few seconds. If the app is really bad, I just skip it. Today I download an AR app called Space Invasion AR, it’s a 360-degree take on the Space Invaders classic.
I’ve already played a similar game called Alien Invaders AR and I liked it. I looked at the screenshots and they looked cute so I’ve decided to download the game and give it a shot. I played it for 30 seconds and the shooting felt good, so I’ve decided to play it more.
What is Space Invasion AR?
Space Invasion AR is a modern interpretation of the old school arcade game Space Invaders. Instead of shooting the aliens straight up like in Alien Invaders AR, the action happens 360-degree all around the player.
I m actually not a big fan of these type of 360-degree shooters because they just annoying and make me dizzy. However, Space Invaders AR doesn’t overwhelm you with lots of enemies shooting you from everywhere. There are a few enemies, randomly located around the player and spawn in certain intervals. It’s up to you to scan the area around you, spot them and shoot them using your Cannon.
The shooting feels nice, more like sniping than shooting. The sound of the gun makes the shooting feels quite nice.This is actually one of the reasons I’ve decided to play it more.
Now, don’t expect anything spectacular, because you won’t find it in this game. This is just a simple 360-degree shooter. The shooting is well-balanced. I actually felt good turning around fast and shoot a single bullet onto the target. It felt like quick-sniping, it felt good. Although I’m still not a fan of these game design, the game wasn’t as stressful and didn’t make me dizzy as some of the other 360-degree AR shooters that I’ve played.
To make it work you need to balance the action well and give the player some room to rest a bit. It’s better to create a gameplay made of short sessions, than a long level with very intensive gameplay. I mean, you can make the game intensive, but you need to make the session shorter not to cause any discomfort. I played ghosthuntAR: Survival, Ghosts ‘n Guns, and Air Monster – all are 360-degree shooters that designed the game very well. Some made the gameplay in 180-degrees and the boss fight 360-degrees, other, create a delay between enemy spawns and other just designed the level to be short.
Difficulty
Space Invasion AR is still a difficult game. It’s was actually more difficult than all that games that I’ve just mentioned. The main reason for that is that I think the developer made it so the aliens spawn in places opposite of where you are looking in random height but I’m not sure. He did play with the height well, some aliens spawn high, others very low.
You have 5 lives. The aliens will try close on you if an alien hit you lose one life. So the game isn’t intensive, but it is challenging, which is nice.
Now keep in mind that I wasn’t that good in this game, and failed quite a lot. You might reach a level where there are many more enemies.
Collectible Invaders
The game is made of levels. As you progress you’ll be unlocking various types of Aliens, which also appear in the game itself. You can visit the “Unlocks” screen and see all those Invaders that you’ve unlocked. The list is not that short, so I assume that there are around 30 levels to the game based on the number of unlockable invaders, which is 30.
It’s nice having collectibles in the game, something to work toward for.
Conclusion
Space Invasion AR was much less exciting than Alien Invaders AR and Ghosts ‘n Guns. There were no boss fights and it felt much less exciting than those two other Space Invaders inspired AR games. Still, it’s a fun little shooter. I liked the low-poly graphics, the gun design at the bottom and the shooting felt good overall.
If you love Augmented Reality (AR) shooters and you’ve already played all those other AR shooters that I’ve reviewed, you might also consider trying out this one as well.
Download Space Invasion AR from the App Store here.