We've been hyping Space Invaders Extreme relentlessly since we saw the first screens. And now that Ruliweb has made a gameplay video available, we're going to have to up our efforts. The screens and description do nothing to convey the brilliance of this game, which not only speeds up the pace of Space Invaders significantly, but adds power-ups and quickly shifting challenges, all set to a thumping soundtrack (which, to some DS Fanboy ears, evokes Genesis's "Invisible Touch") and flashy visuals.
Space Invaders Extreme, in imitation of Rez, seems to time the collisions between bullets and enemies to the music, such that every explosion sets off an appropriate sound effect in time to the music. It worked to give Rez a rhythm-game feel without actually making it a rhythm game. Along with, of course, the cyber-psychedelic visuals and the optional Trance Vibrator, the musical integration just helped to make the whole experience more hypnotic. We knew that Space Invaders would probably feature something like that, but seeing it in action really shows how effective the technique is. We have watched this video at least five times already, and we're going to keep watching.
