Well, here it is, the great granddaddy of Vectrex homebrews, Vector Vaders! Not really an earth-shattering (pardon the sci-fi pun) first choice of a homebrew game for the old lady, but definitely a very logical one when a person starts out on this kind of thing (i. e. fairly simple to do).

 

Of course, the game consists of angry aliens that march across the screen, firing at you all the while, then they drop down a notch when they reach a screen edge; come all the way down, you're "invaded" ("vecvaded", maybe?), and the game is over. Also get hit by their bombs too many times and it's game over there too, but making things better for you is the high-scoring U. F. O. that flies overhead that taunts you to try to shoot it, along with an extra laser base awarded after 3,000 points.

 

The game runs pretty slowly until you shoot several vaders, then it speeds up...quite a few times, actually. There's not many sounds either, not even the ever-present 'Space Invaders pulse', which HAS to be in a game like this! The few sounds are ok, but the graphics are the best out of the other two 'Vader' games John Dondzila would create (More Invaders! on the All Good Things cartridge, and Vector Vaders 2: The Director's Cut on Vecmania), even though none of them look like monsters: the bottom invaders look like spaceships, whereas the top ones look like some kind of a strange bird. The middle ones are my favorite though, looking like walking television sets. The control is perfect too, using the buttons to move, rather than the joystick, making it feel arcade-like.

 

Due to the addiction factor, this gets a 6 from me, although I should probably rate it lower. The reason? Lets look at a quick few Invader stats: Vector Vaders-$20 (U. S., plus shipping), one (mostly slow) game All Good Things-$20, with the improved More Invaders!, complete with secret bonuses to make it more interesting, along with four other games on the cartridge Vecmania-$20, with the (again) improved Vector Vaders 2, along with eight other games Protector/Y*A*S*I-$12.50, complete with several unlockable variations (cloaking invaders, moving bunkers, guided missiles, etc.), along with the great Defender clone Protector Space Invaders (Atari 2600)-twenty five cents (U. S.), with 112 variations, including ones for two players alternating and onscreen at once.

 

See what I mean? Out of the approximately nine million Space Invaders-type games ever created, this one doesn't have a lot to make it stand out.

 

However, homebrewers like Dondzila should be supported, this should still be ok if you’re a Space Invaders nut like myself (I currently own 11 Space Invader-type games on several gaming systems right now, and there’s more I want), and plus you get to see where it all began with the Vectrex homebrewing scene, which has been (again, pardon the pun) out of this world in supporting this ‘dead’ machine. So c’mon, vaders...give me your best shot.

 

 

Score 6/10

 

Review written by Darryl