Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition Reviews
Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition is a hardcore, uncompromising vertical scrolling bullet hell/invader hell shooter (shmup) that doubles as a techno-based lightsynth, triggering bursts of funky invaders at the pulse of a relentless beat.
App ID | 397690 |
App Type | GAME |
Developers | Entity Medialab |
Publishers | Plug In Digital |
Categories | Single-player, Steam Achievements, Partial Controller Support, Steam Leaderboards |
Genres | Indie, Action |
Release Date | 4 Sep, 2015 |
Platforms | Windows |
Supported Languages | English |
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398 Total Reviews
324 Positive Reviews
74 Negative Reviews
Mostly Positive Score
Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition has garnered a total of 398 reviews, with 324 positive reviews and 74 negative reviews, resulting in a ‘Mostly Positive’ overall score.
Reviews Chart
Chart above illustrates the trend of feedback for Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition over time, showcasing the dynamic changes in player opinions as new updates and features have been introduced. This visual representation helps to understand the game's reception and how it has evolved.
Recent Steam Reviews
This section displays the 10 most recent Steam reviews for the game, showcasing a mix of player experiences and sentiments. Each review summary includes the total playtime along with the number of thumbs-up and thumbs-down reactions, clearly indicating the community's feedback
Playtime:
6 minutes
[h1]WARNING: THIS GAME CONTAINS FAST AND BRIGHT LIGHT EFFECTS.[/h1]
There should be a warning in game or on this product page.
That can be f****** dangerous.
[i]This game was bought during Summer Sale 2016 for 0,49 Cents, which is a fair price.
The full retail of five Dollars is to much for the content this game delivers.
What you get are around 7 playable levels based on the technotracks that blast in the background.
The Gameplay (=number of enemies) seems to fit the music curremtly playing.[/i]
[b]Gameplay[/b]
For the game itself, the gameplay is acceptable, decent even.
As this is a take on classic space invaders, you are shooting at enemies coming from the
top of the screen. you can move left, right, forwards and backwards.
That, excluding the inspired sprites, concludes the similarities to the base material.
Instead of having a static screen, the screen scrolls upwards with enemies coming from
every side. Some enemies can shoot, too, which fills the screen with loads of
enemies and bullets. If your defensethingy touches anything, you're dead.
Your ship constantly fires, which was a bit confusing at first, but considering
the loads of enemies on screen, you would not want to stop firing anyway.
Alternatively, you can press the fire button to concentrate your fire into a red
beam. Doing so will deplete your powergauge, but is also the only way to
destroy enemy-bullets. This is the must strategic feature in the game.
Come to think of it, I wonder why they bothered to base this on "Space invaders".
This is a bullet-hell shooter. And as a lowprice game itself, this might be fun for an hour.
As a game compared to the genre, this game clearly has some flaws.
First, the game is light on content, which is compensated in the price.
However, the full retail is still a bit much for a shooter wthout alternate modes
(or local multiplayer).
The Shooter-part is solid, but unimaginative. wiggeling left and right, shooting,
trying not to get hit. Not much more to it.
[b]Audio und Visuals[/b]
Speaking of trying not to get hit.
The goal in a good bullet-hell is to see patterns in enemy attacks you can navigate through.
That might not always be easy, but managable, with a clear visual distinction between enemies and
bullets, powerups and so forth.
That being said, the graphics and audio of this game were a dealbreaker for me.
Shooting your way though the walls on enemies unleashes lightning effects close to the
pain level of getting laser eye surgery on the white hot surface of the sun.
It's hard enough already to navigate to the random waves of enemies, bullets and powerups
that all seem way to simliar, it gets ten times harder when, everytime you hit anything,
your game screams "FLASHBANG" and scorches your retina with explosions of
white, blue and red.
Hell, I played Beathazard Ultra and this is the first instance I needed to squint my eyes
to avoid agonizing pain.
Also, the technosoundtrack is a bit heavy for my taste, but whatever.
Considering all of this, I would recommend this game for the discounted price, you'll get
a fun hour out of it.
For full retail and as a shooter in general, there are far better titles you can play.
And considering this might be the last thing you see before your eyes are torched
beyond oblivion (and hyperspace, i guess), you might reconsider.
👍 : 10 |
😃 : 0
Negative
Playtime:
334 minutes
It has beautiful bright flashing colors and techno music and if I press the buttons correctly it validates me by saying that I succeeded. The controls are crisp, the responses perfect.
This is all that I ever wanted from a video game.
I feel that this can be the Space Invaders/Galaga equivalent of Geometry Dash. All it needs is community ability to make and distribute levels/music.
👍 : 6 |
😃 : 1
Positive
Playtime:
25 minutes
Seizure simulator should be called because they are so much enemies on screen that from level three and later i am like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho94A0sspEc plus the computer cant handle the thousands of enemies in screen and slows down making the controls horrible, soundtrack is good though!!!
Dont buy it if you dont like a lot of flashing lights on screen and thousands of enemies making it impossible for you to understand what is going on on screen!!!
👍 : 5 |
😃 : 0
Negative
Playtime:
71 minutes
You'll want to skip this one if you have problems with flashing lights. The video and screenshots don't make it justice, during the whole gameplay your screen will be flashing more than those old flash videos that purposely tried to trigger epilepsy attacks on people.
Epilepsy attacks aside the game is pretty neat. It's a fast paced bullet hell with a single button that turns your auto-firing attack into a laser. Your laser is stronger than your main attack and it can destroy enemy projectiles but it drains your score and power. Everything else is standard for bullet hell games.
The game doesn't has that much content so I suggest getting it during a sale.
Anyway, I enjoyed it even though I get a headache every time I play it.
👍 : 3 |
😃 : 1
Positive
Playtime:
10 minutes
Very fun simple game. If I could recommend anything it would be that you put an epilepsy warning before the title screen and on your store page.
👍 : 13 |
😃 : 4
Positive
Playtime:
190 minutes
[h1] Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition is an extremely flashy combination of Space Invaders, Galaga, and Cave-style bullet hell shoot 'em ups like DoDonPachi. It's a fast paced shooter that is both hard, yet somewhat forgiving since you can easily destroy and shield yourself from some bullets. All levels are entirely based on the tempo of a techno soundtrack and enemy waves and patterns are procedurally generated. HIIIPE severely needs an epilepsy warning, but some gamers will be able to adjust to it's apperance with time. The Fire Mode arguably makes this game easy, but the onslaught of enemies, bullets, and colors will make this game hard for casual shmup players.[/h1]
I learned of this game from the developer on the Shmups facebook page. I finally got around to it after about a year and in some aspects, it reminds me of Really Big Sky, in which I reviewed in 2013. I have revised the review at http://steamcommunity.com/id/capt_blakhelm/recommended/201570
You start by choosing a level based on a song (I suggest going in order), and you are push into a scrolling space background where your ship automatically shoots. You generally will only need to strafe left and right, but you can move freely which will be needed for a few enemies that chase you. Your gun shoots a straight bullet shot, which can be upgraded by collecting blue drops from every enemy. Killing enemies also increases your power meter and a multiplier. Some enemies drop gold squares that give you a temporary additional wide shot. They drop frequently, so the majority of the game is trying to dodge bullets to survive and and grab these squares to kill a screen filled with dozens of enemies. Some enemies like bigger ships, minibosses, and snake like enemies require alot more hits, which can more easily be dealt with your beam by pressing the fire button, which also slows your movement speed. This beam also seems to provide a shield and can destroy enemy bullets. The beam depletes from your power meter, though, I never felt like I would ever run out since by the time you need it - the drain doesn't seem heavy and you usually have enough power to deal with the amount of bullets sent to you at a time. I feel you will only loose it if you hold Fire the entire time, which is a bad strategy since it slows you down from dodging.
I found many big budget games come with unnecessary Epilepsy warnings, but HIIIPE doesn't, which should be a crime because I can't think of a better candidate for one. Besides colorful, flashing enemies, bullets and items, some level seeds have manic rainbow patterns that I would imagine to easily trigger somebody's epilipsy. That said, I was able to handle it (since I'm not epiliptic). The game is too visually busy for me to stick with and finish, but my shmup gaming skills kept me entertained in the few levels I did complete. Each level is based on the tempo of a techno track, though the way enemies generate are random, so this game would be near impossible to master and somewhat tough to one credit clear because of this. Many of my deaths were my fault because it is VERY EASY to cancel bullets, but often times, bullets or enemies are hard to see because of the visual noise which lead to a few semi-unfair deaths. Player deaths doesn't really stop the the action besides some invicibility frames and maybe killing some enemies, so you can still keep playing at the fast pace this game wants.
[h1]I can't recommend HIII to a casual shmup player if you are expecting to beat the game. If you're willing to pay the price to get destroyed in it's colorful environment, you might find some fun in the early levels before you are overwhelmed. If you are an exprienced shmup player, you'll find a game that is both easy and hard and the extreme visual design will be the deciding point in whether HIII is worth your time and money. [/h1]
👍 : 3 |
😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime:
828 minutes
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
👍 : 2 |
😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime:
232 minutes
One glorious shmup. It has all the colours and then some more! It needs the mother of all photosensitive epilepsy warnings!
I have a feeling my eyeballs are going to hate me tomorrow, but they love me today. Oh, they love me today!
If you look at the trailer, you will have no idea what's going on. At least, I didn't.
What's happening is you're a little shooty thing that forever shoots upwards (autofire! nice and relaxing!), and all the hundreds of other things on the screen heading downwards are enemies, bullets and power-ups.
All you really need to pay attention to, in order to survive, is you need to not run into anything that's not a power-up. It's fairly simple; there are only two power-ups, and one of them are "souls" that auto-target you when you hit an enemy. Oh, and - you can move anywhere, you're not restricted to left and right. :)
As well as your autofiring gun, you can push the fire button to shoot a second gun. This gun kills (most) enemy bullets, and is powered by the souls I mentioned earlier.
Each level lasts as long as the music that's playing in it. The idea is to shoot as many enemies as you can in that time, keep up a chain, and not get killed too much.
So - fun, simple, classic arcade-style mechanics, a challenge that seems *just right* (well, it scales up as you go through the levels, but it seems eventually doable), plus crazy visuals (this is an understatement!), good music, tight gameplay that doesn't give you a split second to blink - all makes for a great, exhilarating time!
But I think this is a game to play in short bursts.
Just in case my eyes decide to go "you know what? this is too much! we quit!!". Haha!
UPDATE: Just so you know, the next day arrived and I turned out not to be blind after all!
👍 : 17 |
😃 : 4
Positive
Playtime:
111 minutes
[b][i]Hyperspace Invaders II: Pixel Edition[/i] is a truly outstanding arcade shmup that finds the perfect balance between precision shooting, strategy, and trippy chaos.[/b] Well worth the small asking price. Dim the lights, crank up the volume and get comfortable with a controller, and enjoy the awesome experience.
[i]Essentially, in this schmup, you only need the left stick and a button.[/i] Shooting is on auto, so all you gotta do is dodge. As you kill stuff and collect 'souls', your main weapon becomes stronger. If you push the button, you fire a beam that kills bullets, but weakens your main gun. Simple mechanic, yet jam-packed with possible strategy.
[b]Pros:[/b]
+Awesome trippy bullet hell experience that is totally unique
+Too cheap
+Music is really great, and the game goes along with the beat
+Visuals find that sweet spot between being really overwhelming, yet never too chaotic that it is frustrating
+Steam leaderboards keep me coming back for more
[b]Cons:[/b]
-There isn't a ton of content, BUT it'll take you a good bit of time to finish
[b]If this looks like your thang, don't hesitate - I assure you that it is.[/b]
👍 : 15 |
😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime:
1805 minutes
[h1]Inspired by [b][i]Space Invaders Infinity Gene[/i][/b], this lovechild from Tetsuya Mizoguchi’s [b][i]Rez[/i][/b] and Kenta Chao’s [b][i]rRootage[/i][/b] surpass in each of its 5 minutes songs the dazzling intensity found in an entire [b]Cave shmup[/b][/h1]
Heavily influenced in its design philosophy by Tetsuya Mizoguchi’s magnum opus [i]Rez[/i], [i]HyperSpace Invaders II: Pixel Edition[/i] is a love letter to abstract japanese shmups such as Kenta Chao’s cult classic [i]rRootage[/i] or Taito’s contemporary classics like [i]Space Invaders Infinity Gene[/i] or [i]Groove Coaster[/i].
And do you remember [i]Half Minute Hero[/i]? In this game from japanese studio Opus, the premise was to doing a postmodernist retelling of a classic JRPG structure by synthesising all its mechanics in 30 frenzy seconds. [i]HIII[/i] does something similar with the shooting genre. Each one of its 10 main levels is played individually with separate leaderboards. And each level is designed based on the structure of a musical track, transforming incorporeal sounds in fascinating musical allegories that talks about the overuse of drugs and the mysticism found in [i]Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+[/i]’s neon glow corridors.
With the duration of each track running in the 3 to 10 minutes range, [i]HIII[/i] does a magnificent work condensing in such a limited time frame the refulgent 0rgasm sensation of doing an entire 50 minutes loop in your all-time favorite shmup. Each song has a very different taste and feeling based on the pulsing tempo of its BPM. Sometimes, playing [i]HIII[/i] is an experience similar to enjoy the classic approach of a [i]Galaga[/i] derived shmup full of charisma and cheerful love like [i]Eschatos[/i]. And in other occasions, it’s more close to play a Bullet Terror Hell Madness that occurs inside Michael Haneke’s perverted mind.
The key to express why [i]HIII[/i] is an instant classic and one of the better shmups conceived in the last decade is the term Destruction. For years, the shooting games have been obsessed with the idea of putting more an more bullets on screen. In the mid-‘90s, this increase of the number of bullets on screen had a sense. It was a manner of breaking the technical limitations of its time period, pushing the hardware to make captivating and almost impossible dreams of the past come true. But with this race to increase the number of bullets on screen, comes a problem. In the last years a lot of shmups have focused its experience in the immaterial act of dodging bullets, rather than in the physical and sensitive pleasure of spreading the Chaos and Destruction causing a lot of things to explode.
[i]HIII[/i] is able to put put dozen of billion of bullets at the same time on screen. But it never lost its focus from the infinite pleasure of Destruction. And even its smart scoring system is centered around the idea of Total Destruction. Every single ship destroyed makes more an more powerful our main weapon. And we have an even more destructive secondary laser weapon that can trespass small bullets, clearing the screen of enemy fire. Because [i]HIII[/i] is conscious that making a billion of things explode at the same time in an utopian chain while it burns our retinas with abrasive flashing lights, is much more fun that simply see some solitary bullets floating in the vastness and solitude of space.
After decades of playing every single shmup classic, I can say that none other game has been able to equal the frantic sense of intensity and absolute level of Destruction found in [i]HyperSpace Invaders II: Pixel Edition[/i]. And the proverbial idea of making of each track a full playthrough, highlights this captivating-senses joyful destructive feeling, fusing Eros and Psyche in a dazzling and cosmological 0rgasm. Condensing in 5 minutes runs the sense of realization of be able to complete an entire shmup classic. Distilling only the most intense and significative parts. And showing in every second the reasons we play videoagmes. The reasons we love videogames.
And the random nature of each level and its adaptive level of difficulty, makes of each playthrough a completely new experience. Every time that you play [i]HyperSpace Invaders II: Pixel Edition[/i], you have this magic sensation of going to your favorite arcade in the 90s, seeing that a new shmup cabinet from Toaplan has arrived. This incomparable feeling of experimenting for the first time a completely new universe full of flashing lights and captivating electronic tracks. That comes packed with masterful bullet patterns and a perfect crafted scoring system.
[i]HyperSpace Invaders II: Pixel Edition[/i] is the most accomplished occidental shmup to date. That feels like one hundred of forgotten japanese classics in the same game.
[i]( The writer of this review is not an English native. So you should expect occasional grammar errors. I apologize in advance. )[/i]
👍 : 94 |
😃 : 8
Positive