Super Destronaut DX-2

When I reviewed Space Invaders Forever earlier this year, I came away a little disappointed that it didn't contain any new content. Just like pretty much everybody who played it, I loved Space Invaders Extreme when it was released back in 2008, and all I really want is a shoot 'em up that gives me more of that. Good news, everybody, because that's exactly what we get from the new game Super Destronaut DX-2. While this throwback shooter may be part of a six-year-old franchise that started on the Wii U, what it really feels like is an extension of the Space Invaders Extreme series. From the look to the gameplay to the pixel enemies, this shooter picks up right where that other franchise left off. But does it lose a bit of its identity in the process? That's what I wanted to find out.

Much like the classic shoot 'em ups that inspired it, Super Destronaut DX-2 is all about the alien-killing action. There's no story, no setup, no characters and certainly no emotional ending. This is a game where you move a spaceship left and right, all while shooting at the aliens and UFOs that are slowly descending from the sky. You'll dodge bullets, snag power-ups and, if you stay alive long enough, rack up big points by exploiting the score multiplier. In other words, it's a stylish throwback shooter with more than a passing resemblance to Space Invaders Extreme.

While the concept isn't especially original, that doesn't mean that this is just a carbon copy of that other game. This is something you'll discover the moment you jump into the game's main mode, which sends the player on a 30-stage adventure with a nice variety of objectives. It's a grab-bag of cool challenges, most of which can be completed in less than a minute. In fact, a number of them center on a timer counting down, something that only adds to the urgency of the explosive action.

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A good example of one of these challenges is when the game tosses the player into a firefight with only a handful of bullets. The good news is that all of the enemies have been made weaker and you don't have to worry about a timer, but once you've run out of bullets, it's game over. Another level may flip that by giving us unlimited lives and bullets, but only a few seconds to kill the different waves of bad guys. These, along with the other challenges, start off easy enough, but quickly become punishing as we get closer to clearing all thirty stages.

When you're not going through that mode, the only thing left to do is to play longer versions of the challenges. Remember that mission I told you about where you only had a handful of bullets to play with? Well, you can play that as a full mode, complete with its own leaderboard. And best of all, now you can shoot down UFOs to collect more bullets, prolonging the game well past a minute or two.

Don't get me wrong, these modes are great and the main campaign is a lot of fun to play through, but they don't really shake up the formula all that much. You're not going to come away from this game raving about its originality. It's the kind of game that could have been mistaken as new DLC for Space Invaders Extreme. It's even priced like DLC, retailing for just $5.

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I don't bring this up because I disliked the game. Quite the contrary. I'm going to have no problem recommending Super Destronaut DX-2, especially at the budget price. But as I continued to hunt for high scores, I couldn't help but feel like the game's personality was getting lost amongst the explosions. From the all-too-familiar weapons to the predictable power-ups to the enemy formations that are all eerily similar to the other franchise, there isn't a whole lot about this game that I could classify as unique. I'm not looking for a shoot 'em up to reinvent the genre, but there isn't much here that stands out as being exclusive to the Super Destronaut brand.

Probably the closest this game gets to having a unique identity is when it lets you slow down time to dodge bullets. Or how the corpses of the killed enemies will sometimes prevent you from killing more aliens. Or how you're not locked to the bottom of the screen and can fly around. These are interesting enough wrinkles that make it play differently from Space Invaders Extreme, but we've seen all this and more in other shooters.

What we get isn't very original, but it still gets the shoot 'em up action right. I like the variety of challenges, the different modes, the cool retro backgrounds and all of the different types of colorful space invaders. While it's not very long and there are one or two arcade modes you'll likely want to skip, Super Destronaut DX-2 is still a well-made shooter that is an absolute steal at five-dollars. It's a slight game that scratches a very specific itch.