Titan Attacks! review for PS Vita, PS4, PS3

Platform: PS Vita
Also On: PS3, PS4, PC
Publisher: Curve Studios
Developer: Puppygames
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: Leaderboards
ESRB: E

Titan Attacks! is not a game that tries to hide its influences. Basically, itโ€™s equal parts Space Invaders and Galaga.

And thatโ€™s it, really. There are upgrades and powerups and whatnot that may or may not have been around in the early โ€™80s, but at the end of the day, the gameplay in Titan Attacks! will be familiar to virtually everyone under the age ofโ€ฆ50? 60? After all, Space Invaders and Galaga are two of the most widely-played, influential games ever, and itโ€™s hard to imagine thereโ€™s anyone out there with even a passing familiarity of gaming thatโ€™s not acquainted with how those two games work. Aliens move sideways across the screen, getting closer and closer to the bottom, while you โ€” as a tank โ€” shoot them down. Like I said, itโ€™s something everyone is familiar with, and if youโ€™re notโ€ฆI just have so many questions as to how you came to be reading this review.

Titan Attacks 2

Because Titan Attacks! is so heavily indebted to those two games, Iโ€™m not really sure what there is to say about it. When youโ€™re basically directly copying one of the archetypal ways of gaming, thereโ€™s not a whole lot you can do wrong. The aforementioned powerups add a little bit of variety, but they still donโ€™t fundamentally change what youโ€™re doing. As youโ€™d expect (seeing as there have been all kinds of advances over the last thirty years), it looks a whole lot nicer, with vibrant neons combining with moody darker colours to give it a retro sci-fi feel. Titan Attacks! also sounds like a combination of old and new, with old school โ€œpew pewโ€ laser noises sitting alongside distinctly more modern downtempo electronic music.

Obviously, thatโ€™s about the only thing new going on in Titan Attacks! By any standard, itโ€™s the very definition of an old thing getting a new coat of paint, so if youโ€™re going into it hoping for something new and fresh, youโ€™ll be sorely disappointed.

Titan Attacks 1

However, if you go in simply expecting a nicer-looking take on an old classic, you should be a little happier with what you get out of it. Titan Attacks! wonโ€™t surprise you (unless, again, youโ€™ve somehow come to this review without ever having played Space Invaders or Galaga), but it is a good reminder that sometimes those old games knew exactly how to make a virtue of forced simplicity. Itโ€™s basic, but itโ€™s also super-addictive, so if you donโ€™t mind a walk back in time, it might be worth checking out.

Grade: B
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