8-Bit Invaders!

Are all games like this now more like skirmish mode? I bought this hoping to take my time building a force and experimenting only to find that NO you cannot do that, you must complete all levels in the fastest time possible! Arrrrgh what is it with modern games why can't they be more strategy based not speed based? I'm so dissappointed with this that I'm seriously thinking of building a pc and playing all my win 98 SE games instead of this modern crap at least the old games provided longevity and a challenge..If I'm being too harsh then please let me know otherwise if you want a game that even on the hardest setting you can still complete the mission objectives in under 5 mins then this is the rubbish to buy! If you find any POSITIVE write ups for this game, will you please ask them how much they're getting payed to say nice things about this rubbish!

8-Bit Invaders takes Petroglyph’s funky Lego-looking RTS game series into space, and if you liked the 8-Bit series up to now then you’ll like this. While the core game actually has an impressive amount of content, this isn’t really a game that’s meant to be played by itself. You’re meant to play it with the other two 8-Bit games, Armies and Hordes, which when combined give you a glorious six factions to mess around with on dozens of beautiful included maps plus whatever the community can come up with. Underneath that, the basic RTS mechanics remain the same, but with plenty of twists to make it distinct from its predecessors such greater stealth, unit armor, and the new “Conquer the Multiverse” mode for a long-term campaign of progression. 8-Bit Invaders (and the series as a whole) feels like a giant toy box. There are lots of little bits to amuse yourself with and plenty of whacky fun in Skirmish and Multiverse modes. If you already have the other 8-Bit games, then you can’t go wrong with this one. It’s a solid entry bursting with personality. If you’re new to the series then this is an excellent point to jump in. It’s surprisingly good as a standalone game, but the real enjoyment of the 8-Bit games comes from having all of them together. Sure it’s expensive, if you’re willing to take the leap and purchase the others as well then there’s hours of quirky RTS fun to be had in mixing them.

[b]8-Bit Invaders![/b] is the third entry in [i]Petroglyph Games'[/i] current [i]8-Bit[/i] real time strategy game series. The gameplay style of the series resembles the classic [i]Command & Conquer[/i] games, modernized and slightly simplified, and anyone familiar with those will feel right at home, down to the UI button placement. Each title offers two factions, with [i]Invaders![/i] adding space marines ([i]Galactic Marines Corps[/i]) and a clichéd alien race that draws upon the likes of [i]Tim Burton's Mars Attacks![/i] and [i]The War of the Worlds[/i], the aptly-named [i]Cranioids[/i]. Owners of [i]8-Bit Armies[/i] and [i]8-Bit Hordes[/i] can pick the units from those games in all game modes but the campaign levels. [i]Armies[/i] use the classic refineries, their buildings require sufficient power plants, and they have the expected super weapons (ion cannon & nuke). The [i]Warcraft[/i]-inspired [i]Hordes[/i] take the population cap system from that series, necessitating the construction of farms, and instead of super weapons there are magic spells to gain vision or do damage. The [i]Invaders![/i] continue this mixing and matching of gameplay systems both from this series as well as from other classic RTS titles. Both sides have harvesters that occupy resource spots until they are depleted; however the marines need power for their buildings and all their units and buildings have self-recharging shields akin to [i]Starcraft's Protoss[/i], while the aliens have a population cap and the ability to temporarily have all freshly constructed units materialize at a location of choice. Both new sides furthermore field a massive [i]Supreme Commander[/i]-style walker unit, which are – like the previously mentioned super weapons / spells – rebuilt periodically at no cost beyond their production buildings. Balancing between the different games' units is achieved via different types of attacks, armor, and most infantry being crushable by the more imposing vehicles. Only the space marine faction is entirely immune to their units being crushed. [h1]CAMPAIGN[/h1] The gold standard for a campaign in a real time strategy game no doubt was set by [i]Blizzard[/i] and [i]Westwood[/i] classics, with professionally animated or live action cutscenes in between missions. For many players, the high quality of those interludes was the primary motivation to play the campaign of [i]Warcraft III[/i] or [i]Red Alert II[/i] in the first place. Even [i]The Bitmap Brothers'[/i] 1996 low-budget RTS [i]Z[/i] employed rendered cutscenes featuring banter between the game's robots. In-engine cutscenes are the minimum one would expect from a story mode. Unfortunately, the only story found here lies in the mission descriptions. Otherwise it boils down to "you're shooting things because there are things to be shot". The 24 missions (split evenly) have simple, preset objectives, with nothing dynamic about them. Unit / technology progression is achieved by having the player unlock better technology and more starting units for completed missions and bonus objectives, and the game explicitly encourages returning to previous missions with more powerful later-game forces, in order to both complete the missions with all their bonus objectives as well as on hard difficulty (for Steam Achievements, personal satisfaction or merely to obtain those extra units). Overall, the campaign is decent, but by itself it only justifies a purchase for players who don't require engrossing cutscenes in their RTS. Completionists might like that there's good reasons to play all the levels multiple times instead of just breezing through them once. For some other players, there will only be the hope of [i]Petroglyph[/i] including a fleshed out story and more dynamic levels in a future [i]8-Bit[/i] title. [h1]COOP CAMPAIGN[/h1] Ten cooperative missions offer two players the challenge of completing all bonus objectives, however without difficulty settings or persistent progression beyond '3-starring' each level. The coop campaign is very fun for me as a fan of cooperative strategy games, but lacks the replay value to play through it more than once or twice. [h1]METAVERSE[/h1] [i]Conquer the Metaverse[/i] is a new game mode in [i]Invaders![/i] that was also backported to the previous two games in February 2017. It resembles the world map seen in [i]Westwood[/i] titles like [i]Dune II[/i] and [i]Emperor: Battle for Dune[/i] as well as [i][url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/24810/]Command & Conquer: Kane's Wrath[/url][/i] where each territory is a map to fight over in a real time battle. Owned territories can be upgraded with buildings that can build the same units they would produce in the RTS mode. Capturing a new territory for the first time awards research points, and said research points unlock more advanced buildings and thus also units – simultaneously for the world map and for the RTS battles in this mode. Neutral armies from the other [i]8-Bit[/i] titles also make an appearance here, making for varied AI opposition. [h1]MULTIPLAYER / SKIRMISH[/h1] Up to eight players or AIs can compete on official or user-created maps, with the latter being offered via a convenient Steam Workshop system. Multiplayer is available using unranked matchmaking, custom lobbies, as well as LAN. The multiplayer mode is shared between all the [i]8-Bit[/i] games, including the free but feature-limited version of [i][url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/594960/]8-Bit Armies: Arena[/url][/i], making for a very cost-efficient way to enjoy this game with old friends and jolly strangers alike. [h1]PROS / CONS (SUMMARY)[/h1] + smooth, fast-paced gameplay + variety of game modes and user maps + successfully includes different gameplay styles in one game, making for asymmetric gameplay + nicely detailed unit graphics, and some fun Easter eggs to be found + Frank Klepacki score, 8-bit themed + free multiplayer option to get friends into the game without them committing to a purchase - a few pathing and unit selection issues, especially with harvesters getting themselves killed - campaign itself is not worth the price; no cutscenes and no real storytelling (-) neither the rank system nor the perfect balancing needed to be a 'competitive' RTS (-) doesn't lend itself to turtling

Just an opening remark: alot of the negative reviews you will see for this game seem to be from 2016 when 8-Bit Armies only had one to two factions and very limited content. Very recently, a multiplayer stand-alone for this game was released called 8-Bit Armies: Arena, which costs $5 and gets you all 6 factions that have been released as of the writing of this review, though multiplayer-only, so I suggest you check that out: I already wrote a review for 8-Bit Armies and 8-Bit Hordes but I'm gonna repeat what I said at the start for 8-Bit Invaders as it applies to this game as well: 8-Bit Invaders is the latest throwback to the "golden-age of Real-Time Strategy" in the 90's and early 00's, back before Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas like League of Legends were a thing. The gameplay is fairly simple: you build a base, gather resources, mass up units, and throw them at the enemy until one of you are dead. The graphics are designed to be fairly simple to reduce the strain of the game on your PC, particularly with the army sizes the game can reach. Since its initial launch, two other standalone games have been released, 8-Bit Armies and 8-Bit Hordes, which are cross-compatible (meaning you can play the factions against each other), so if you care about single player you might as well get those two as well. The main thing that makes the gameplay unique is that building additional buildings provide a multiplier bonus that stacks infinitely, so while one Barracks will train an infantry unit 100% fast, five Barracks train infantry 500% quickly, ten train 1000% quickly, and so on, allowing you to grow armies to ludicrous sizes quickly. As a consequence, though, even larger games tend to last no more than 10-15 minutes, especially as you get lots of harvesters and resources on the map run out. In addition, random crates spawn when you destroy neutral buildings and objects, giving you effects that range from free units to healing to damaging the unit that collect it, adding a factor of randomness to your games. Like 8-Bit Hordes, 8-Bit Invaders has a single-player campaign of 12 missions in one campaign and 12 missions in another. They are pretty similar in terms of quality, so what I said for 8-Bit Hordes holds true for Invaders. The missions have more variety to them compared to 8-Bit Armies, but I still wouldn't expect much out of the campaign: the missions still take place on skirmish maps though, there are no cutscenes, and the only story is pre-quest dialogue. The side objectives that reward you with new starting units have become more varied, however, and are easier to obtain as they don't require you to win in a short amount of time. The skirmish mode is pretty good with a decent selection of maps (and much more if you decide to get the expansions). 8-Bit supports up to eight player gameplay, and the AI is pretty good too. Finally, with the launch of 8-Bit Armies: Arena, multiplayer is much more livelier and it's fairly easy to find someone to play with. Replays and observer mode have also been implemented for more competitive players. 8-Bit Invaders has two factions: the Marines and the Cranoids, based on sci-fi RTS like Starcraft or Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. The Marines use the power system: buildings cost power to maintain, insufficient power reduces their functionality. The Cranoids use the food system: units cost one food, hitting your food cap stops all unit production until you build more food-producing buildings. Both factions use harvesters that collect automatically at a resource site without need to return to base, but gathers slowly. Both factions have two special powers unlocked through their tech structures, and an epic unit automatically spawned at a special building. -The Marines are an expensive, powerful faction (kinda like a hybrid of Terrans and Protoss from Starcraft). They are unique as their buildings and units are wrapped up in a shield on top of their normal HP that quickly regenerate outside of combat, making them well suited for hit-and-run tactics. Their epic unit is the Titan, a powerful mech (inspirated by the Terran Thor from Starcraft II) with rocket launchers, a plasma gun, and a heavy cannon that can all fire at the same time. A great faction for players that like controlling a few, powerful units. -The Cranoids are a more tactical, aircraft-oriented faction (kinda like the Zerg from Starcraft). Their units tend to be cheaper and more disposable, and tend to lean on their infantry and aircraft. Their epic unit is the Destroyer, a powerful melee unit that can recover health by eating enemy infantry, fire a burning beam at aircraft, and turn enemies into Xenodogs. A good faction for players that care about mobility and aggression. The 8-Bit Invaders factions tend to be more expensive and slower, but more powerful than the other two races. They have the most racial differences between the two sides, so if you just want to buy one 8-Bit game out of the three released with singleplayer, I recommend Invaders as it's the best standalone. Final impressions? 8-Bit Invaders is a great game if you're new to Real Time Strategy in general, as it's simple to learn but hard to master. I highly recommend it for both fans of older RTS games (particularly Command and Conquer) and newer gamers interested in getting into the genre.

[h1]Basic Information[/h1] [b]Title:[/b] 8-Bit Invaders! [b]Developer:[/b] Petroglyph [b]Publisher:[/b] Petroglyph [b]Genre:[/b] Real Time Strategy [h1]General Impression[/h1] Petroglyph can be regarded as a vetern team of game developers that have tended to the classic strategy genre, while still offering some fresh elements and perspectives. Apart from the 8-Bit trilogy (as of 2016), they also created Grey Goo and Star Wars: Empire at War, two RTS games that I am very fond of. So yeah, I might be a bit biased towards liking their style and approach to strategy, but I still played Invaders! through both SP and MP modes to make sure they are as good as so many other reviewers pointed out on Steam. 8-Bit Invaders! is a dynamic RTS, as I like to call all those that share the DNA and heritage to the gameplay mechanics, first made popular by the Command & Conquer franchise. Base management, resource gathering and quick reflexes (as far as issuing commands through the mouse/keyboard peripherals allow) are important features and a mission or scenario can be won or lost based on how fast you can adapt your army to greet and destroy your enemy. Such real time strategies have no tolerance for “turtling” since defense comes second to your required offensive skills. It is true that protecting your base, still matters as well as guarding the resource harvesters, but in the end you either get swarmed by your foe or you apply this tactic (also known as a “Zerg rush”) upon them. I may not be an avid player of this particular type of strategy, but I can appreciate its similarity to real life blitz chess, since it takes great skill and knowledge of the gameplay mechanics, to fully dominate your opponent within the timeframe of a few minutes. Discipline as well, since losing many units or even entire armies (no matter how quickly they can be replenished) does take a toll upon your self-restraint. The Co-Op campaign at just 10 mission-long, is a prime example of patience paying off as well as a test of willpower eventually. And I kid you not. The AI most likely has an unfair advantage as far as resource and unit recruitment go, as even two human players have difficulty accomplishing all the mission objectives. The single player campaign is fortunately more forgiving with units, tactic pacing and even a less aggressive Artificial Intelligence that manage to offer a more stable playthrough while presenting the different new troops and buildings over the course of 24 missions. Two distinct factions and subsequently gaming experiences in which you can either control the Galactic Marines or the alien Cranioids. Both factions have clear weaknesses through troop and building types, but the balance seems to tip in favor of the Marines. “Conquer The Multiverse” is a very nice game mode similar to the planetary conquest from Empire at War, minus the epic outer space battles. Completing secondary objectives represents a perk system that allows players to use a bigger unit roster from one mission to the next one. As far as incentives go, it is a far better implementation than just a highscore to show off. The bread and butter of any strategy game, shall always remain the multiplayer component where you can test your mettle against other human strategists. I was indeed pleased by the fact that you don’t have to “grind” in any certain game mode, in order to unlock and enjoy the entire unit roster for either in-game faction. You can always train yourself in the skirmish mode against the AI, before fighting against your fellow Steam players of this game. As it is expected from this developer, Invaders! looks great (emulating an almost retro-like pixelated style) and the ability to zoom in or out on the battlefield truly highlights the well-thought-out level design on each distinct stage. Do not mistake this game for Starcraft with visible pixels, as it has a charm of its own. Sounds felt repetitive but ironically, quite sparse. Some units offered no audio feedback upon selection or when a command had been issued. In the end, one thing is certain: The 8-Bit series has managed to revive the old school feel of real time strategies from a long passed gaming era. What is even more fascinating, is that it acomplished this difficult feat while also adding it’s own spice and flavor into the mix, ensuring an RTS that can stand on its own even without the homage it addreses to its many genre predecessors. [h1]Strong Points[/h1] + Beautiful graphics and level design. + Diversified unit roster and challenging AI. + Steam Achievements & Trading Cards. [h1]Weak Points[/h1] - Lacks a proper sound variety. - “Zerg rush” tactic too prevalent within the co-op campaign. [b]Rating 90/100[/b] [quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews]Imperial Reviews[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/redhillcro]RedHill[/url].[/quote]

Another 8-Bit blah. The best thing about this one? Yeah, you guessed it, the soundtrack by Frank Klepacky! To be fair, they did at least try. New features: - Harvesters stay at resource node and continuously mine instead of travelling back and forth for both new factions. - Some gimmicky units and faction differences - Titan units There are 2 new factions, the Marins and the Cranioids. The Marines field pretty much exclusively mechanised units. Even their infantry is mechanized. The theme here is pretty good and cohesive for once. The tech tree on the other hand is really weird. Why do I need a barracks to build anti air turrets, but a tech lab or whatever to build ground defenses (which are slow firing aoe pulse towers with laughable range)? I mostly just skipped the barracks later on alltogether, because the units produced from there are just pointless in big fights. The only real highlight here is a unit they copied from SC2 (the Reaper only with a melee attack), which can jump up and down cliffs, just like its better pendant. They are useless in fights, however, due to their ridiculously low HP, so you either just use them once in the campaign when you're forced to, or maybe to sneak into the enemy base and destroy a key building, which you will most likely also just do in the campaign to suicide win (yes, that's still a thing...no matter how many thousand units are bearing down on your already destroyed base, you still win by just eliminating some key buildings...sigh). Marines also get some air units you will hardly ever use and a big Titan unit that for some reason doesn't attack if units are too close or too far away, even if you give it a move command and even though it can move and attack at the same time. Theoretically a melee unit could kill that Titan without it ever trying to fight back...sigh. Marines are also perhaps the most overpowered faction in the 8-Bit universe so far. Why? Half their HP on buildings and units are self regenerating shields! Especially in small skirmishes with good micro you should always be able to beat an opponent with the same amount of units (or even more and better units). Unless you one shot one of these units they'll just rejoin the fray a few seconds later with almost fully recovered shields. Add to that flying repair units that can thus only be targeted by ground to air units and you have an almost unbeatable army, unless the enemy gets 5 times the number of units to throw at you (in the campaign this happens on almost every one of the later maps). Buildings once again need power by the way, so this is the 3rd faction that builds generators. In contrast the Cranioids are a menagerie of all silly alien beasts you can think of: small green martians, alien xenomorphs (complete with acidic blood that will constant damage all enemy units standing in the pool after a unit is destroyed, which can easily mean they take massive amounts of damage, as everything just clumps up again), War of the Worlds striders, UFOs, bugs and a giant Titan beast reminiscent of a big Ape-Lizard that can wipe out whole armies if you don't pay attention for one second (lingering AOE damage field). This faction once again uses farms and food supply like the Hordes factions. They behave like every other faction in that their units don't auto-regen and have no shields. Run of the mill. Boring in the end. Their healer unit is a giant flying saucer with an aoe heal. The campaign is once again completely uninspired, but to up the difficulty the game just likes to throw hundreds of enemy units at you at every turn. That is not difficulty, it's simply boring and frustrating to get swarmed after 3 minutes by a vast horde of enemy units for the next 5 minutes, after which there is a brief lull of 1 minute before everything gets repeated. Buy it for potential MP only.

[h1][i]Short Review[/i][/h1] [h1]TL;DR at Bottom[/h1] [b]Let me know what you thought of this review in the comments below![/b] [h1]Verdict : [/h1] [b][i]Just not quite enough; grab it on a sale[/i][/b] [h1]Space Invaders[/h1] 8-Bit Invaders: a game that I so desperately wanted to like, yet can’t find myself playing for anything longer than a few hours. Understand that if I had the option to go for a mixed rating then I would, but as it stands I do believe it’s worth a purchase. Invaders is the third, and last, game in the 8-Bit series, precursed by 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Armies, and keeps the formula almost exactly the same from both previous games. This means there’s no story whatsoever, besides a brief paragraph on the campaign screen giving some context to your mission, which is an extremely bold move for any game to make. I’m not entirely sure a decent story could even have been made here, and am even less sure as to whether or not it’s better without one, but it does kinda feel lazy that they didn’t even try and just went with a campaign of skirmish matches. The problem with having no story and focusing exclusively on gameplay is that you have to make sure that your gameplay is top-notch to make up for the complete lack of narrative. This is something 8-Bit Invaders tries to do, but ultimately I’d say that it fails because of just how average everything is. That’s not saying anything negative necessarily, it’s a solid RTS and clearly quite well made, but it’s still the exact same game as the rest of the 8-Bit series. As I mentioned before I can’t really keep myself playing this game for more than a few missions, and I think the reason for that is just how much of a slog it is, doing the same things repeatedly each mission only to finally win and have to do it all again in the next one. I have no problem with a game that takes something already done before and solidifies it with extremely well-crafted gameplay, look at Company of Heroes and you’ll see a perfect example of that. I do however have a problem when a game simply copies its previous iterations and pastes them back into the Steam store, each as a full priced release instead of the DLC they should have been. That’s really what this comes down to: 8-Bit Invaders would have been a nice expansion to 8-Bit Armies, but I’m extremely conflicted as to whether or not it has enough to stand on its own as a $15 release. [h1]Unique But Useless[/h1] Now for some more detail. 8-Bit Invaders is an RTS, so that means you’re going to be commanding a host of units in your attempt to bring the opposing faction ruin and annihilation. It’s important in an RTS game that every unit has both a viable role and a certain uniqueness, and this is where Invaders falls off. I can’t overstate how much I love the unit design visually, with appealing pixely robotic war machines and aliens, but I also can’t overstate how boring most of the unit roster is. Generally, the units are enjoyable to look at, but significantly less enjoyable to actually use. There’s a handful of exceptions to this rule, but since most of them are heavy end-game units you aren’t even going to be able to deploy them most of the time. This is a huge bummer since a lot of these endgame units are actually fascinating, like giant slug robots or huge UFO motherships. I think that how cool the units are is somewhat irrelevant when you consider that you more than likely are never going to be able to use them, since there’s no reason to. That’s what hits me the hardest when it comes to 8-Bit Invaders: a lot of the stuff in this game looks so extraordinarily fun to use and just beautifully designed, but is completely useless because instead of producing super-units you’d be better off just building a massive ball of expendable ones. While these units are definitely unique, they aren’t unique enough for me to want to handicap myself by trying to build them and they certainly aren’t unique enough to make up for the lack of general strategy and tactics. While I enjoy 8-Bit Invaders, I feel that if there is enough content here to warrant a purchase, it’s just barely; most of the missions are the exact same and the uniquely 8-Bit aesthetic wears off pretty quick after you realize that, even for 15 bucks, there really isn’t much here. [h1]TL;DR[/h1] 8-Bit Invaders has me asking the question “Are well-crafted graphics enough to make up for laughably monotonous gameplay?” to which I find myself just about always answering no. [h1]If you found this review helpful or entertaining then feel free to leave a comment and join my Steam Curator Group at [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9577715-Mudkips-Gaming/]Mudkips Gaming[/url]

Basically everything you need from a strategy game. 9/10. Really need the equivalent of the C&C "crane" building so I can build more than one building at once. But seriously. These developers get it. Game works perfectly on release. Looks good. Runs good. Decent co-op campaign, 2 normal campaigns, plenty of skirmish with steam workshop for more maps after the fact. They deserve your money. They did it right.

[h1]The Premise[/h1] 8-Bit Invaders is the third game in Petroglyph's series of 8-Bit RTS (real time strategy) titles. If you missed the last two games, those were 8-Bit Armies and 8-Bit Hordes respectively, with each taking a different sort of spin on the classic gameplay found in some of the more popular RTS titles out there (hey, can you tell which one is like Command & Conquer and which one is like Warcraft?). Honestly though, the 8-Bit RTS games play like Command & Conquer more than anything, which makes sense - some of Petroglyph's staff are old Westwood Studios veterans. If you're not familiar with that series, it essentially boils down to building the biggest, baddest, and coolest army out there in order to smash your opponents. 8-Bit Armies was aesthetically similar to C&C, 8-Bit Hordes was graphically more similar to fantasy RTS games like the Warcraft series, and of course, 8-Bit Invaders tackles the sci-fi side of things with a look somewhere between [i]The War of the Worlds[/i], the Alien series of films, and Starcraft. It's nothing massively different for RTS fans, but I think that this is perhaps the best game yet in the 8-Bit RTS series. [i]Note: I've only played 8-Bit Armies, but all 3 games in the series are designed to be pretty similar, so I think not having played Hordes shouldn't affect my review too much.[/i] [h1]The Breakdown[/h1] 8-Bit Invaders features a few different modes for you to mess around in: 2 different five to ten hour long campaigns, a typical skirmish mode, cross-game multiplayer (between Armies, Hordes, Invaders, and the free multiplayer-only "Arena" client), a co-op campaign, and perhaps the most noteworthy new addition to the series, the Metaverse mode. The campaign mode is pretty fun and definitely fairly challenging. As someone who's only played a few RTS games, I had a rough time with some of the missions while breezing past others. In particular, some of the missions mixed up the gameplay in ways that threw me off guard, like a stealth mission involving only melee units (against mostly buildings thankfully) or a mission with only aircraft. Of course, there's also the typical RTS missions with such riveting objectives as "smash the enemy", "smash the enemy in 10 minutes", or even the incredibly unique "defend your base for 15 minutes". I'm being a little facetious of course - the game actually has a surprising amount of depth to its campaign mode. There's multiple difficulties, stuff to unlock, side objectives for each mission that permanently reward the player with extra starting units or buildings in every mission, and even a cute (and powerful) little penguin hidden in a box somewhere on every mission. Oh, did I also mention that there's not one, but [b]two[/b] campaigns? The only significant downside to the campaign mode is that there's no cutscenes or a real story of any sort - instead, there's a brief text box before each mission explaining why you're fighting. It would've been nice to have more of a substantial overarching narrative, but it's understandable why one wasn't really included - most of the production costs went into creating a solid game, which is totally fine. In terms of the other modes, skirmish is exactly what you'd expect: pick a faction (including any from the other 8-Bit RTS games if you own them), and duke it out with an A.I. opponent, or multiple, if you'd prefer. There's a decent number of options available to you, including the opportunity to use custom player-made maps. 8-Bit Invaders has a pretty fun multiplayer mode as well, which is to be expected of most RTS games at this point. It lets you play as not just the two factions this game presents (the Marines and the Craniods), but also the ones in the other 8-Bit RTS games if you also own them. I think it's honestly fine if you don't though, because I was able to hold my own against four human opponents for a while as the Marines after my teammates had all died, so the factions they give you in Invaders are pretty solid overall. The game also features a co-op campaign that's pretty decent. I really enjoy when RTS games let you play together with others, and this game's co-op mode was no exception. Me and a buddy had a pretty fun time doing missions together, some of which were pretty challenging. I have to give props to the developers for one map in particular that was similar to the melee-only stealth mission in the Marines campaign. My friend and I really struggled with getting all 3 stars on that map and we had to work together and plan things out pretty well to succeed, so it was definitely a fun map to play. What might be the biggest addition to the series as a whole though (especially since they ported it back to the other two games) is the inclusion of the new "Metaverse" mode. Similar modes have been in other RTS games so it's not massively unique, but it's certainly a very refreshing and welcome addition to the 8-Bit RTS franchise. Essentially, the mode is what it sounds like - you have a world map of tiles and your goal is to conquer your enemy's home base and/or every tile on the map, depending on what setting you picked. Like most modes, you can build units and buildings, but in this mode you also can research new buildings/units using resources you get from conquering new tiles. To conquer tiles, you have to attack them with your army, which means you either physically fight the battle out yourself or you can auto-resolve it if you think your forces are large enough. The Metaverse is pretty challenging on higher difficulties and it can be pretty heavy on micro-managing regardless, but it's definitely a lot of fun. Aesthetically, the game takes a lot of inspiration from other 8-bit/pixel games, but more significantly in my opinion, it looks most similar to other "voxel" games out there (like Minecraft, Trove, or Ace of Spades, just to name a few) - that is, the game employs uses 3D graphics to emulate a retro look, and in my opinion it looks pretty nice. It's kind of the whole graphical gimmick of the series, so if you're into the game's look, it should definitely deliver on your expectations. The 8-Bit RTS games have always had some pretty kickass music, courtesy of the same composer as the Command & Conquer series, Frank Klepacki. This game's soundtrack does sound super similar to 8-Bit Armies', but regardless, I think Klepacki's tunes still capture that mix of action-packed battles and strategic thinking pretty well. [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*]Simple and accessible gameplay for RTS newcomers while also being super engaging for veterans of the genre [*]Two fairly lengthy, fun, and varied campaigns with a nice mix of mission types and optional objectives that reward the player for their efforts [*]Typical RTS modes like skirmish, multiplayer, and co-op, in addition to the interesting new Metaverse mode [*]The graphics are pretty spectacular if you're into the pixel/voxel look [*]Frank Klepacki's music is still great [*]The game has Steam achievements, Workshop support, cloud saving, and trading cards [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*]Some of the missions can get somewhat repetitive - most of them involve destroying the enemy in whatever manner the mission tells you to go about, with not a whole lot of variety in terms of how you accomplish that goal [*]There's no cutscenes and the "story" isn't particularly interesting or well done [*]There was some minor bugs (of the non-alien kind) I encountered while playing, like the game refusing to start in fullscreen or how it would send me back to the menu after every mission in the second campaign when it was supposed to put me back on the mission select screen [/list] Overall, I was really pleased during my time with 8-Bit Invaders. It felt like it took all the things that 8-Bit Armies did well and expanded upon them. It's a great title for both newcomers and veterans of the RTS genre. [h1][b]Final Verdict: 8.5/10[/b][/h1]

As a little background, I have played all previous games in the 8-Bit [Armies] franchise. The first game wasn’t all that remarkable with both factions looking identical other than their paint colour. Then the Guardian’s Campaign DLC was released. This made a whole new faction with a whole new playstyle turning 8-Bit Armies into a really nice retro-RTS game from the previous slightly dull game it had been. Next 8-Bit Hordes launched which was in stark difference from the original game. In my opinion, it was far superior in almost every way with both factions looking and playing completely different from each other and the graphics being overhauled. Now with 8-Bit Invaders! it feels like more of a successor to 8-Bit Hordes than the original 8-Bit Armies. If you have never played any of the previous games, it is basically a true to form classical Real Time Strategy game. You build your bases and units and try to destroy your enemies as you complete your objectives. Which units and buildings you construct and when is completely up to you. As with 8-Bit Hordes, there are two factions for you to play as, each having its own campaign. There are the Marines, which is your typical futuristic human army full of power-armored soldiers and mechanized vehicles. The other faction are the Aliens, which have a striking resemblance to the Martians from Mars Attacks! They tend to favour the energy weapons so you are treated to ray gun sound effects rather than the standard ballistic sound effects of the Marines. The vehicles and infantry of the two factions are completely different, which is really a step up from how it was in the original 8-Bit Armies. The campaigns here are basically the same as they were in all of the previous 8-Bit Army games. Mostly the same pros and cons exist in this game as they did in the previous ones. The timer element is back in this game; however, it isn’t as prominent as it was in 8-Bit Hordes or the other previous ones. You are still pitted against the clock on some missions if you want to complete the Gold objective, but it isn’t in every mission. This means you don’t have to rush quite as much as you may have had to in previous entries in the series. If you go back and replay a level once you completed all the objectives, you can enjoy it far more. You are able to explore the map, find the hidden boxes, and enjoy the detailed units and scenery. The fact that completing bonus objectives gives you permanent rewards is something that I have enjoyed about this series. Having the unlocked extra starting resources/units/buildings retroactively added to all previous missions can really help you out come later on in the game. In fact, the game even suggests if you are having too much trouble with a bonus objective that you should wait and come back once you unlock more stuff as it will help make the challenge that much easier. Graphically, the game is an improvement over the earlier games. It still has the blocky charm of the previous games but the units appear far more detailed now. Much like as in 8-Bit Hordes, the units are also far more diverse than they were in the previous 8-Bit Armies. The Aliens and their vehicles all look like something you would find in a science fiction B-movie with the tri-pod walkers, floating brains, acid-spewing dogs and UFOs making up just part of their repertoire. Each of the units is quite well detailed considering this is meant as a retro styled game. The Marines had the standard human in a battle suit for their infantry and had mechanical units reminiscent to the MechWarrior or Battletech series supporting them. As with the previous games in the series, you still can’t rotate the buildings, which takes away a certain charm from the base building elements, but I can overlook that. Other than sometimes making a building fit into a spot it wouldn’t have otherwise fit, rotation serves an almost pure cosmetic function anyway. Also like the previous games, you still need to spam additional copies of buildings to speed up production which can really clutter your base, but also saves you from losing valuable production capabilities if the enemy breaches your base. This is perfectly fine but it would be nice if you could just add to an existing building to enhance its output too. If you have already beaten the campaign or have reached a mission that has you stumped, you can always play a skirmish map or play the meta-verse game. Skirmish Map is simply you picking a map you want to play on and the faction you want to play as and go to it. There are no special mission conditions, just good old fashioned kill the enemy. The Meta-verse is far more interesting though. In the Meta-verse, you are set on a grid where each tile represents a battle/base location. At a friendly base, you can construct up to three buildings, and produce units until you reach the unit cap for the tile. You use these units to capture adjacent territories. The object here is to either capture every tile, or capture the enemy headquarters depending on which mode you opted for in the start. It adds a fun twist to the game because you will be playing on maps and encountering factions from the previous games. There is something satisfying about sending my squad of Aliens against the Horde of Orcs. When moving on the offensive, depending on how strong your force is and how heavy the enemy resistance is, you can choose to either fight the battle on a standard battlefield, building your base and training units to wipe the enemy out, or you can choose to auto-battle and let the computer battle it out for you. Auto-battle is a bit luck of the draw though, as I have won an auto battle when I only had a 26% chance of victory and lost a battle when I had an 84% chance of victory. There is even an online co-op or versus mode available for you to play in as well. Unfortunately, during the time that I spent with the game prior to writing this, I was unable to find a co-op match to play. It could just be the time of day when I was trying or it could be the fact that people are not willing to wait around long to see if a lobby opens up. Most likely the best way to play a co-op match is to find some friends with the game and set up your own lobby. As for the online skirmishes, I did manage to play a few of those. The neat thing about those is the fact it lets you cross-play with people playing other games in the 8-Bit [Armies] franchise. There were never that many games available in the lobby, but that was okay, generally it didn’t take long to get a match going and I never particularly cared which map we were going to play on. Overall, 8-Bit Invaders! is a welcome entry in the 8-Bit [Armies] franchise. It and 8-Bit Hordes are the best of the series in my opinion, although I’d still recommend picking up the original with its DLC as well as it is quite reminiscent of the old Command and Conquer games prior to franchise killing C&C4. The missions in all of the games are basically the same, so if you are looking for something completely different, you won’t find it in the main campaign, but really, how many variations of gameplay can a traditional Real-Time Strategy game offer? It’s the new factions that are the real selling point of 8-Bit Invaders!, with the Alien race being my favourite in the entire series. The story elements, which are displayed as a brief text box prior to the mission sets the reason why you are doing what you are doing. They do not really feel like they are driving any kind of overarching story but are more just there for atmosphere. Overall, if you liked the previous games, especially 8-Bit Hordes, then you will most certainly like 8-Bit Invaders! With the addition of its new meta-game mode, 8-Bit Invaders! is likely the best game of the series to pick up if you only plan to get one of them.