REPLAY: 2022 Space Invasion

Title: 2022 Space Invasion
Platform: iOS (reviewed on iPad 2)
Developer: Maysalward
Publisher: Maysalward
TL;DR: 1942 on the iPad
Family Friendly? Click here for more information.

Space invasion. That means there’s aliens, right? It’s better than the recent spate of love affairs with the shuffling undead, I can tell you that much. With 2022 Space Invasion, we’ve got ourselves yet another entry into that growing romance with Bullet Hells, and this one, while lacking a little polish, still does a decent job at scratching that itch on the go. Don’t expect anything of the utmost caliber though — you’re just self-trolling at that point.

Set just a decade away in the year 2022, we are told that aliens have invaded our little corner of the grand universe. Maybe they took a wrong turn trying to get to Pluto, but since it’s not classified as a planet anymore, we doubt the Martians would have an interest in it. Maybe.

You are part of an elite squadron of military dudes who happen to know how to operate some heavy machinery designed to get you out there and shooting down these aliens. I mean, aliens just never come in peace, do they? Those damn rabble rousers!

Before starting your mission, you must pick and choose your ship wisely. The standard “each ship has different specs” applies here — the fastest ship lacks everything in firepower, but the biggest tank flies so slow that not even Fat Chocobo would have a problem smoking it in an inter-galactic race-off genre-bending whatsit.

Once you’ve chosen your ship, you’re unceremoniously launched into the midst of things, and given a quick tutorial on how to control your newly minted vehicle. There are two kinds of controls — the traditional “twiddle the imaginary touch screen joy stick to move,” or the more interesting albeit nonsensical “tilt your screen to move” schematic. They’re exactly as they sound, except the screen tilting may result in a discussion about getting your iPad over to the nearest Apple Store for a check up. It’s about as much sense as an Etch-a-Sketch. You fire your weapons by the buttons marked on the right side of your screen. One is for your traditional fire, and another is for a more powerful missile.

So what now? Your job is to dodge the bullets and kill the bad guys, simple as that. Much like 1942, enemies will fly in patterns across the screen and take pot shots at you. If things get hairier than a wookie’s ass, then you can clear out the screen by launching your missiles and bombs. Collecting falling power ups will give you upgrades as you go, but if you get hit by a stray bullet, it’s all over.

At its core, the game fulfills anyone’s itch of Bullet Helling on the go, if you’re really into that kind of self-torture. The graphics definitely aren’t the best on the block, and comparing it to the likes of Infinity Blade is just completely unfair. Simple at best, but if you’re looking for something that will really bring up the shmupping game, 2022 Space Invasion doesn’t really offer anything innovative in terms of the genre itself. It’s still fun, don’t get me wrong! It doesn’t offer anything new to somebody who’s been playing this kind of game since forever though.

The real draw here is that 2022 Space Invasion does what a mobile game is supposed to do: keep your mind off of the commute or waste a little time before your buddy shows up. Or maybe to calm yourself if said buddy stands you up. 2022 picks up easy and is easy to put down, but if you’re looking for something like Sine Mora, you are just straight frickin’ crazy.

I’m shooting them LIKE A BOSS.

• A good old fashion shmup.
• For the price of free, nobody’s losing out here.

You missed the shot, dumbass.

• The game doesn’t really offer anything new or exciting — it’s just another bullet hell title.

Curiosity won’t best you in this case. 2022 Alien Invasion is available for free on the App Store right now.

Family Focus
The story and everything presented is relatively non-graphic or explicit. There’s not even blood shed, just alien space ships exploding. And color. There’s colorful bits.