Titan Attacks!

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

Titan Attacks! is an Arcade-style game with Shmup elements first released on PC in 2006, ported to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita in 2014, and then brought to Nintendo 3DS in 2015. Not to be confused with the anime property Attack on Titan (with which it shares virtually nothing in common), Titan Attacks! Is a more modern update to the gameplay formula of the classic Arcade game Space invaders.

On other platforms, this update included a slick modern presentation, and while that’s still true here, the action is zoomed out so far and the Nintendo 3DS’s screen is such a low resolution that it’s hard to feel that presentation shining through. In fact, quite the contrary – everything is so squished on the 3DS’s little screen (even more, since the gameplay only takes place on the middle part of one screen). Because of this, dodging enemy gunfire becomes more difficult in this version simply because it’s harder to judge the infinitesimal distance between a “hit” and a “miss”. At the very least the game’s satisfying sound and excellent synthesized soundtrack still sounds great here

Also still great is the excellent but super-challenging gameplay, which updates the formula of the original by having a variety of enemies to fight off, as well as giving players the ability to gradually upgrade their tank-like vehicle in various ways in-between waves. This makes for not only a good amount of variety, but some great strategy as well. You’ll need it too – the game is extremely unforgiving, and losing all of your shield will give you a game over and force you to restart from the very beginning.

In the end, Titan Attacks! suffers somewhat due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS, namely its small screen. And its high difficulty level means it won’t be a game for everyone. However, if you’re looking for a brilliant re-imagining of an Arcade classic and don’t mind putting up with a less-than-ideal version of the game, the Nintendo 3DS version of Titan Attacks! is still a lot of fun, and well worth playing.

tl;dr – Titan Attacks! is a modernized take on the classic Arcade game Space Invaders, and it updates that game’s formula with plenty of fun ideas and variety. Unfortunately, the challenge level is so high that some players might find the game daunting. Also, the small screen and low resolution of the Nintendo 3DS is less than ideal when the tiniest bit of space can mean the difference between life and death. However, even if the Nintendo 3DS isn’t the ideal way to play this game, this version is still a lot of fun.

Grade: B-

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