Space Invaders Extreme is not just the original game ported to the PSP; it's a celebration of the original game. Instead of dragging such a wonderful 8-bit game kicking and screaming into 3D, they left it in its 2D glory. However, the Invaders have evidently realized that they are only 2D and occasionally use this to their advantage by turning "sideways", leaving only a single line exposed to your gunfire. This game features the same 8-bit pixelated sprites found in Space Invaders, but plays with scale. In some rounds, you'll face large Invaders that are about the size of six or eight normal invaders. There are also tiny Invaders that appear in a block of four and all together take up the space of one Invader. At the end of each level, there is a fight against a boss Invader, which can be something like 35 times the size of a normal enemy, taking up almost an eighth of the screen.
Additionally, instead of a plain, black background as was found in the original version of Space Invaders, the Extreme version has wildly animated CG video playing in the background. If you find this feature too distracting, you can adjust the brightness of the background or even turn the background off in the Options menu.
The sounds of the original Space Invaders are clearly identifiable in Space Invaders Extreme, but not necessarily where you might expect them. You'll here old, familiar sounds when you make selections in the menus, as well as when you're shooting enemies in-game. The music in Extreme is a tribute to the original, again, a celebration of the original and modernized variations on the theme. In layman's terms, it's fast, pumping dance-ish music with the familiar four note progression (thinking of the bass notes that used to play as the Invaders - you remember... "bomp, bomp, bomp, bomp..." ...basically the first four notes in the base line from "Pink Elephants on Parade.") They take that short progression and then simply go crazy. It's a very adrenaline-filled score that helps add to the excitement of the game.
